Sorry, Bernie but the Democrats know whose side they are on and whose side they have always been on

[Tom Rinaldo]

266. Generalizing from relatively small numbers is tricky of course.

I think most had voted Democratic before, but not reliably. Uneven participation in general rather than hard core third party types. If a specific Democrat appealed to them enough, or a specific Republican repulsed them enough, they would vote Democratic for that election. The significant change, in my mind, was an increased awareness of the importance of becoming involved in the literal machinery of politics, the process by which potential candidates are identified and promoted to actually become viable. That includes becoming active in politics at a local level. And that led many to involvement in the Democratic Party as the most logical vehicle available to elect people with shared values.

It was breaking the ice for them to become involved in organizing to influence the results within county and state Democratic parties for a Democratic Primary. Some became acclimated to that arena and therefor became more comfortable working within it even after the Presidential nominating process was over. Sanders has consistently called on people to become involved in local politics, even to become candidates.

I am describing a critical subset of Democratic Party activists; the ones who literally flesh out our ability to have a Party infrastructure at the local level. Only a small percentage of Bernie supporters crossed over into that category, but that category is a critical one, and that influx has been important. In my area the Democratic Party has slowly been aging out, literally. Bernie has made the Democratic Party itself, not just voting for a Democrat, relevant again to a younger wave of activists. Their energy in general is making a positive difference for us at a local level.