2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumYour guide to the Bernie Sanders kickoff
May 24, 2015
Tuesday's big Bernie Sanders presidential campaign event will be equal parts homecoming and political spectacle.
The independent senator has pulled together plenty of Burlington symbolism: Sanders expects to stand on public land he fought for in the 1980s as he announces his presidential ambitions while spectators munch Ben & Jerry's ice cream at the free, non-ticketed event in Waterfront Park.
Burlington-based band Mango Jam will play in the park. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, of ice-cream fame, and Bill McKibben, the Vermont environmentalist and author, are expected to speak.
Plans for the event came together less than week before the big day, as Sanders campaign staffers unpacked a national campaign headquarters on Church Street. Volunteers on Friday had begun to call New Hampshire residents. The workers were surrounded by cardboard boxes and "Join the political revolution today" T-shirts.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/politics/2015/05/23/bernie-sanders-kickoff-guide/27811735/
Fun history:
Nov 24, 1971
Sanders announces U.S. Senate run
Bernard Sanders, 30, announces he is running for the U.S. Senate in the special election following the death of Sen. Winston Prouty, R-Vt. Sanders describes himself as a carpenter who has worked with "disturbed children." Asked why he was running, Sanders says, "What the two major parties are saying is irrelevant regarding the problems facing this country. ... A democracy is made up of people, and they are not making the decisions. The concentration of power makes the average man feel irrelevant; this results in apathy. As for my qualifications, I am not a politician."
appalachiablue
(41,171 posts)opening next Tuesday, May 26, 5 PM ET. How I wish I could go, it sounds like a terrific, festive affair at the Waterfront Park. And it's beautiful country up there. I was in Putney, VT a couple years ago and have visited the Vermont and New Hampshire border area, lovely.
Fortunately news commentator Ed Schultz will be attending the event and featuring it on his evening program the same night on MSNBCs "The Ed Show", 5PM ET that we'll be watching.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)appalachiablue
(41,171 posts)davidpdx
(22,000 posts)davidpdx
(22,000 posts)What a great influence he was on Bernie. The picture in the OP does him a disservice though, he's much more handsome now.