General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIf Sanders enters the ring, the 2016 primary will get VERY interesting. I just
saw a story datelined yesterday that suggests Sanders is leaning toward entering and running as a Dem.
Sen. Bernie Sanders is only days away from making a decision on a 2016 run, and leaning towards yes, according to his top strategist.
I think were coming to the critical moment of truth here. Hes now spent enough time traveling around the country talking to people and feels there is genuinely a large audience of people who are with him, veteran Democratic strategist Tad Devine, who is advising Sanders, told msnbc.
A formal announcement of his candidacy is expected to occur later in May.
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/04/25/bernie-sanders-run-president.html (Emphasis in original)
Autumn
(45,120 posts)rec
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)HRC encouraging a Warren candidacy as a stalking horse to divide the left.)
daleanime
(17,796 posts)a Warren candidacy would be the end of chance for the White House and I believe she's aware of it.
LWolf
(46,179 posts)participate in the primaries, which is the only real time I get to be actively involved in campaigning for someone I want to vote for.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)Initech
(100,102 posts)We don't need another Clinton, and we especially can't afford four more years of the BFEE fucking things up. We need Bernie.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)govern with a fascist Congress (assuming his coattails do not cause either chamber to switch hands)?
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)He would go on TV and say that he has a mandate and the people have spoken. He would use the bully pulpit. We would be in for a battle.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)perhaps ridicule). Is Sanders prepared to govern by presidential decree? Because that's what the fascists will force him to do.
Cal33
(7,018 posts)are available. It would be tough for any president with both Houses plus
the Supreme Court being against him.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)99Forever
(14,524 posts)...of his own party. I, for one, don't think that's the way it should be done. If I wanted a President that pushed Republican policies, I would have voted for a Republican. I THOUGHT I was voting for a Democrat, now I'm not so sure.
aspirant
(3,533 posts)using Sherman Anti-Trust and break up the monopolies
Appointing an AG with guts to prosecute Wall Street, war criminals, police brutality, voters rights etc.
Undo privatization and pay all govt employees a living wage, just to start.
Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)but I sure would LOVE to here him tell Boehner and McConnell what he thinks of the crap they try to pass as legislating! GOP heads would detonate with such ferocity that they might qualify as WMDs!
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)Vinca
(50,303 posts)SamKnause
(13,110 posts)KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)the nomination of my party for a term as your president
(Shout out to fans of the history of 1968!
procon
(15,805 posts)How do you think he can overcome that disadvantage and raise the millions -- or Billions! -- a presidential candidate needs?
sendit
(58 posts)KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)upsets (in Iowa where his retail style of politics lends itself to the caucus method) and New Hampshire (where he will be something of a 'favorite son'), it opens up a whole new primary dynamic heading in to South Carolina, Super Tuesday and beyond.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)Agschmid
(28,749 posts)In the first three months of 2007, Clinton and Obama raised more than $20 million each and Edwards raised more than $12 million. The three candidates quickly became the frontrunners for the nomination, a status they held all the way through the end of 2007.
FEC Fillings Q1 2007.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)Sanders in fund-raising prowess. But I thought the post I was responding to concerned Sanders' showing in the polls vis-a-vis SenatorClinton, i.e., not his fund-raising per se, and was contrasting that to Obama's showing in the polls in the corresponding time frame in 2007.
I have no idea where Sanders' fund-raising efforts are currently; IIRC he has no official presidential campaign fund-raising apparatus yet. But I'm not enough of a wonk to follow all the ins-and-outs.
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)April 2023, 2007
Hillary Clinton 36%, Barack Obama 31%, John Edwards 20%, Joe Biden 3%, Bill Richardson 2%, Dennis Kucinich 1%
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)Iraq went to shit, so stand corrected. Looks like Sanders has a much steeper hill to climb than Obama did at this point.
Thanks for the annotations and for sticking with it.
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)procon
(15,805 posts)For someone as behind as he is, without any ground team or national organization, no presidential war chest, and a PAC that only started this week, he's not competitive. This isn't the kind of political infrastructure a serious and winning campaign demands, and even if I wish him success, it just seems a bridge too far.
treestar
(82,383 posts)Or his supporters would have to desert him. Because then he can be bought.
procon
(15,805 posts)I never thought it was a possibility anyway. It's not a matter that "he can be bought", any presidential candidate needs a massive amount of money to be competitive. Thanks to Citizens United, it's estimated that the front runners will spend between $1 and $2 Billion, so there's simply no getting around the need for obscene amounts of money. The bulk of it has to come from somewhere, and it's not going to be the average voter, but rather those wealthy mavens of industry and finance that we all love to hate.
HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)No one is going to keep spending on a candidate that's looking more and more like a loser.
Certainly any candidate who wins the nomination will have lots of money move to them for the final campaiagn.
And yes, I think you are right, some of the get-on-the-bandwagon-type money would probably move to him with quid pro quo expectations.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)Name-recognition goes a long way in polls like that, when non-candidates are included.
I'll happily donate to Sanders.
sendit
(58 posts)He needs to run as a Democrat
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)3rd-party independent (a la Nader 2000) in the General Election.
His candidacy will make for some very dramatic and (I think) healthy campaign optics, should Sanders run in the Democratic primairies and ignite a prairie populist wildfire.
sendit
(58 posts)KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)houses of Congress in control of the fascists. This is a question Sanders should be prepared to and have to answer.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)he is like the professor that loves to think and listen to his students. the college kids love this type of professor and he hits on the veyr subjects they are so so so concerned and pissed about.
i think that will be an excellent and exciting demographic for him
and as i said else, the reality is, he will appease the white male. sexist, but our culture and our reality
i think he has a chance and i think it can be interesting.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)polichick
(37,152 posts)enough to make her team up with Sanders or run on her own.
MissDeeds
(7,499 posts)They would be a formidable team.
tritsofme
(17,399 posts)He is not a top tier candidate. It is doubtful that he will ever poll much outside of the margin of error.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)Social Democracy) will offer a vibrant contrast to HRC's centrism? I guess we're going to have to disagree on that.
tritsofme
(17,399 posts)And he would be lucky to have the same impact on the outcome of the race.
The optimism about his candidacy and his chances in this thread, if sincere, is truly delusional.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)about (then-Senator) Obama's chances in 2007. Perhaps 'delusional' is just a heightened perception of reality, eh?
tritsofme
(17,399 posts)Along with Hillary and Edwards (at the outset), and perhaps Biden to a lesser extent.
Obama was polling 20-30% in national polls at this point in 2007, and even better in the early states, so you will have to hang your hat on something else.
If someone like Warren got in, that would be a top tier challenge. But in this race, Sanders is wearing the Kucinich suit.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Martin Eden
(12,875 posts)However, I think the "socialist" label will be nearly impossible to overcome. Hell, even his initials (BS) would be used against him.
But not entirely impossible. If he can convince a good chunk of voters in the middle AND young people can be rallied to turnout in record numbers, Bernie will have a chance.
ladjf
(17,320 posts)kentuck
(111,110 posts)The biggest challenge for Bernie is the "socialist" label. He will neef to convince the voters that his ideas are stronger than his opponents, regardless of Party label.
sendit
(58 posts)It's that corruption in government has run so deep that
the people just don't trust big government .
That will be his biggest hurdle to over come
How to convince people to trust government
KoKo
(84,711 posts)We need his voice and to have a Dem Primary where issues can be discussed. Bernie supports the issues I care about.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)Sanders" would be prepared to govern with a fascist congress. I think he should answer that question (as should HRC).
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)WhaTHellsgoingonhere
(5,252 posts)MSM. Will they marginalize him because they can make more $ if it's Hillary?
Rhetorical question: of course they'll marginalize Bernie.
PosterChild
(1,307 posts)... the mainstream media, it would be the mainstream voter. Nobody will vote for him.
cali
(114,904 posts)mainstream dems.
I don't think he has a snowball's chance of getting elected president. I am convinced he could get a sizeable number of votes in the primary.
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)Because he has zero name recognition.
The first thing people will hear about him is....socialist.
Marr
(20,317 posts)Thanks in no small part to our for-profit healthcare system, ironically enough.
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)Ask the average american what they think of the democratic candidate that is a proud socialist and see what they say.
Even FDR did not go around claiming to be a socialist did he?
The reich wing controlled news media will be portraying his socialist views as risky and dangerous while Fox "news" and Hate radio will be screaming from the rooftops 24/7 DIRTY GODLESS COMMUNIST!
The right wing are hoping and praying that the democratic party is so blind and stupid that it will do what they cant, knock Hillary out of the race to ensure a republican victory in 2016.
And if our candidate is Senator Warren or Bernie Sanders, the republicans will win for sure.
WhaTHellsgoingonhere
(5,252 posts)Hillary will have the support of Wall Street. This country needs stronger unions but Democrats will vote against their best interests, just like poor and middle class Republicans.
WhaTHellsgoingonhere
(5,252 posts)It's a classic clash of ideologies...unlike the General Election.
As I said, MSM will torpedo him and Labor one way or another. Only asking him why he considers himself a socialist will be one way to marginalize him. Portraying him as the wild, nutty professor will be another.
sadoldgirl
(3,431 posts)because I just received e- mail to attend a
"Bernie" house party. I will definitely try to
go.
PDA would not organize this, if Bernie would
run as an independent. I hope that this group
will be excelling in organization, because that
will be a very important factor.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)be very good news indeed.
Marr
(20,317 posts)actually do well.
I hope he enters the race. I expect we'll see a panic not unlike the one our government and business establishment showed towards Occupy when it seemed to spring up out of nowhere. They are so used to disregarding the public, they don't realize how widespread the resentment is and how desperate people are to hear something other than 1%er bullshit.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)beyond his wildest dreams. Jesus: 1% of the population controls 40% of the country's wealth and 10% controls 80% of the wealth. Even Adam Smith would probably find that state of affairs objectionable.
Pooka Fey
(3,496 posts)K&R
Lee-Lee
(6,324 posts)That if you have 2-3 great progressive choices on the ballot, then Hillary, the progressive voices end up divided between the 2-3 others and Hillary gets the nomination by having the progressives split thier votes- and centrist mediocrity comes out ahead.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)in HRC's campaign already have contingency plans to promote various leftist stalking horses so as to dilute and divide the progressive bloc. Sanders may instead be playing the role of Eugene McCarthy ca. 1968 when Gene demonstrated the then-inevitable LBJ's actual vulnerability, clearing the way for Robert F. Kennedy to enter the race (and LBJ to drop out).
99Forever
(14,524 posts)Run Bernie run!!!