Feel the Bern: Sanders’ support is deep and passionate

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article40484376.html

IOWA CITY, IOWA

Bernie Sanders doesn’t attract supporters. He draws believers. Isabel Storey, 22, is taking a year off school to volunteer for his campaign. Rachel Joselson, a voice teacher and opera singer, plans to send him her latest CD – songs created in the concentration camps during the Holocaust – in hopes of singing at a Sanders’ inauguration. “He’s my soul mate, I love that man,” exclaims Joselon, 60, a University of Iowa professor, leaving a house party here for Sanders. “He’s the salt of the Earth. There’s no hidden agenda, he’s just about justice and fairness for the American people.”

As the Vermont senator looks to transform a surprising summer insurgency into an enduring campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, he’s fueled by deep enthusiasm from voters weary with a long-faltering economy who cherish what they say is his unvarnished authenticity and outspoken advocacy.

“He’s for the little guy,” says Becky Davis, 65, a registered nurse from Burlington who wore her blue “Feel the Bern” T-shirt to a Sanders’ town hall in Fort Madison, along the Mississippi River. She thrilled from the second row as the 74-year-old delivered a nearly hour-long stem winder and took audience questions, railing against a “billionaire class” he says has rigged the economy in favor of the wealthy.

Whether that grass-roots enthusiasm can gain widespread traction, let alone match the precision of a campaign conducted by Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, appears unlikely, according to recent polls that show Clinton maintaining a wide lead over Sanders. Undeterred, many supporters recall a little-known presidential candidate, Barack Obama, taking Iowa in 2008. Others backed John Edwards with his warning about two Americas.

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