February 18, 2016

Sanders opens up leads in Alaska +14%; Maine +15%; Massachusetts +7%; Vermont +76% (WOW - 76%!)

Alaska = Sanders 48%; Clinton 34%

Maine = Sanders 56%; Clinton 41%

Massachusetts = Sanders 49%; Clinton 42%

Vermont = Sanders 86%; Clinton 10%

In addition, there are lots of within the margin-of-error ties and other great signs of progress in Arkansas (wow - Clinton's home state is in play!), Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, with more and more states to be added to the battleground list by the day!

This is exciting!

February 18, 2016

"Bernie Sanders better-liked, runs better against Republicans than Hillary Clinton: poll" Quinnipiac

link; summary; excerpt:

Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont is better-liked among overall voters and runs ahead of 2016 Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton in match-ups with top 2016 GOP candidates... Mr. Sanders led Ohio Gov. John Kasich by 4 points, businessman Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida by 6 points each and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush by 10 points each... Mrs. Clinton, the former secretary of state, trailed Mr. Kasich by 8 points, trailed Mr. Rubio by 7 points, trailed Mr. Cruz by 3 points, trailed Mr. Bush by 1 point, and led Mr. Trump by 1 point.

Fifty-one percent of U.S. voters said they have a favorable view of Mr. Sanders, compared to 36 percent who reported an unfavorable one. Mrs. Clinton had a negative 37 percent/58 percent favorable/unfavorable split.... "The Vermont firebrand leads all potential GOP rivals in raw numbers and raw emotion with the best scores for favorability and several key character traits,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

Mr. Sanders had the best favorability rating of any candidate in the survey, Democrat or Republican. Among Democrats only, he had an 82 percent/7 percent favorable/unfavorable split, compared to Mrs. Clinton’s 76 percent/20 percent split.

Nearly seven in 10 voters said Mr. Sanders is honest and trustworthy — also better than any candidate — while about the same percentage said Mrs. Clinton is not honest and trustworthy. He also narrowly edged Mrs. Clinton on having strong leadership qualities

February 17, 2016

Rubio and Cruz both DEFEAT Clinton (by 7% & 4%), but Sanders BEATS Rubio and Cruz (by 3% and 7%)

In both Iowa and New Hampshire, the live phone polling was accurate but the robo-phone polling was way off the mark.

Here is an aggregation of all live phone polling of the head-to-head match ups between Clinton and Cruz (Clinton LOSES by 4%):



Here is an aggregation of all live phone polling of the head-to-head match ups between Clinton and Rubio (Clinton LOSES by 7%):



Here is an aggregation of all live phone polling of the head-to-head match ups between Sanders and Cruz (Sanders WINS by 7%):



Here is an aggregation of all live phone polling of the head-to-head match ups between Sanders and Rubio (Sanders WINS by 3%):



Both Clinton and Sanders beat Trump, but Sanders wins by a bigger margin.

We cannot afford to gamble on Clinton's weakness against Rubio and Cruz!

February 17, 2016

WOW! Sanders pulls within two and a half % in the aggregation of nationwide polls of likely voters!

Here is the aggregation of all polls (including likely voter polls, registered voter polls, and polls of all adults), which shows Clinton with a slim 7% lead:



Among likely voter polls, registered voter polls, and polls of all adults, the likely voter polls are by far the most accurate (and the polls of all adults are the least accurate). If we consider only the likely voter polls, the gap between Clinton and Sanders narrows to a mere two and a half percent:



Bear in mind that national polls do not correspond to any real election (i.e., there is no national primary), but with Super Tuesday coming up soon, the national polling tread is a good indication that the Sanders campaign is on the right track!

The Nevada polls are also showing an incredibly close race:



Keep up the great work!

February 16, 2016

Sanders a big hit at red-state University of South Carolina

Source: Dallas Morning News

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Republicans can count on winning South Carolina in November. And the state’s flagship campus is likewise overwhelmingly Republican. But there are still plenty of Democrats, and while they’re badly outnumbered, boy were they thrilled to see Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

The self-proclaimed democratic socialist packed an auditorium at the University of South Carolina with hundreds of cheering students. The line stretched far out of the door of the student union building, and Sanders gave 10 minutes to over 100 students shut out of the main event by fire marshals and police.

“Democracy is a big deal. … Democracy — and I know I say this in South Carolina — unlike football, football is a spectator sport. Democracy is not a spectator sport… It’s your job to fight for your rights,” the 74-year-old Sanders told the overflow crowd.

...

“I want everybody here to know that the major recipient of welfare in America is the wealthiest family in America – the Walton family,” Sanders said, speaking in front of a banner that read “A FUTURE TO BELIEVE IN.” “Let’s get the wealthiest family in America, the Walton family, off of welfare. Let’s have them pay their workers a living wage.”

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/national-politics/20160216-sanders-a-big-hit-at-red-state-university-of-south-carolina.ece

February 16, 2016

Salon: "Thomas Piketty says Bernie Sanders can 'change the face of the country'”

link; excerpt:

French economist and author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty credits Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders with waking the larger American political establishment up to the problem of rising income inequality and channelling the Democratic electorate’s righteous outrage. Piketty says that Sanders’ campaign proves that a leader like Sanders—if not Sanders himself—“could one day soon win the U.S. presidential elections and change the face of the country.”

“Because he is facing the Clinton machine, as well as the conservatism of mainstream media, Sanders might not win the race,” Piketty observes, but, “in many respects, we are witnessing the end of the politico-ideological cycle opened by the victory of Ronald Reagan at the 1980 elections.”

Both former president Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama have failed to even attempt real tax reform, allowing for inequality to run rampant, according to Piketty. “Sanders’ success today” however, Piketty argues, “shows that much of America is tired of rising inequality and these so-called political changes, and intends to revive both a progressive agenda and the American tradition of egalitarianism”:

Sanders makes clear he wants to restore progressive taxation and a higher minimum wage ($15 an hour). To this he adds free healthcare and higher education in a country where inequality in access to education has reached unprecedented heights, highlighting a gulf standing between the lives of most Americans, and the soothing meritocratic speeches pronounced by the winners of the system.

February 16, 2016

Spike Lee: I'll Vote for Sanders

February 16, 2016

Clinton Campaign Is Having a Panic Attack in Nevada and South Carolina

link; excerpt:

This is hardly the first time it has looked as if Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential ambitions were on the ropes, and each time she has found a way to bounce back. But as she heads into critical Democratic primary contests in Nevada and South Carolina, the former Secretary of State’s campaign seems to be reeling.

After the 22-point shellacking administered by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire last week and her squeaker of a win in the Iowa Democratic caucuses the week before, Clinton has been counting on a couple of solid performances in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday and the South Carolina primary a week later to demonstrate her appeal in more racially and ethnically diverse terrain.

But as hard as she tries to portray Sanders as a Johnny One Note on income inequality and the evils of Wall Street, with little appeal beyond college campuses and progressive strongholds, he continues to confound her with shrewd tactics, mass rallies, aggressive and well-staffed ground operations and a gold-plated media campaign — all thanks to unprecedented grassroots fundraising.

Clinton’s one-time air of invincibility has given way to pangs of desperation and lowered expectations of how well she will do in Nevada and South Carolina. Jon Ralston, a veteran political reporter in Nevada, wrote on Tuesday that “the Clinton panic is palpable” ... Saturday’s Nevada Democratic caucuses were once touted as a field day for the former First Lady and New York Senator ... Yet Sanders has made inroads with the young, working-class Latinos and rank-and-file union members.

February 16, 2016

Esquire: "Stephen Colbert Had Some Fun With Hillary Clinton's Pathetic New Youth Initiative"

link; excerpt:

After an ode to Presidents Day, Stephen Colbert dove into the gladiatorial mudpit that is the 2016 election. He touched on Hillary Clinton's crushing New Hampshire defeat to Bernie Sanders, a rout fueled in part by young voters breaking Bernie's way 83-16. It's a setback, especially because the only group Clinton won was voters over 65, and even young women went for Sanders by big margins. But luckily, Clinton's crack team of campaign strategists has the answer:

"Her team is nimble," Colbert said. "They sprung into action, and they reached out immediately with an ad on the youth-friendly social network, America Online."

It's perfect: a candidate struggling with The Youth completely whiffing on medium she chose to try to reach The Youth. Colbert couldn't resist:

"I can't wait to see how they appeal to the youths next. Maybe hand out some leaflets at bingo night, or team up with Netflix to sponsor a Murder She Wrote reunion."

Other options we'd suggest: sponsoring an episode of Antiques Roadshow, or inviting Steely Dan on tour with her.

February 16, 2016

"Amazing archival video appears to show the arrest of a young Bernie Sanders as a student activist"

link; excerpt:

On August 5, 1963, Jerry Temaner was a young filmmaker on location of the growing protest movement emerging in Chicago. On the South Side of the city, in a community called Englewood, black families were coming together to boycott the proposed "construction" of a new school on the corner of 73rd & Lowe. The plan, which sounds just as ridiculous today as it likely did 53 years ago, was to build the entire school out of a collection of mobile homes called Willis Wagons.

As expected, families in the community weren't having it and the protests on the proposed site where the mobile homes would be placed were fierce. Of course, nobody there had any idea that one of the young men in their midst, protesting the racism among schools and housing on the South Side, was a man who would one day run for President, Bernie Sanders.

As a student at the nearby University of Chicago, Sanders served as chapter president of the Congress for Racial Equality at the university. A Chicago Tribune press clipping from August of 1963 shows that during a protest, right there on the corner where the mobile homes were being placed, Bernie Sanders was charged with resisting arrest and taken to jail. This isn't conjecture or revisionist history. Bernie Sanders was a student activist and was arrested during this protest.

Now, it appears obscure archival footage filmed on that very day by Temaner, one of the co-founders of Kartemquin Films, a legendary documentary film company in Chicago, shows the arrest of a young Bernie Sanders.