How Bernie Sanders Plays in Vegas

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

That’s because, while Mr. Sanders’s message of taking up policy arms against the billionaire class may sound like so much heated campaign rhetoric, in Nevada — which was not only the state hardest hit by the recession and housing crisis but also has been the slowest to recover — it speaks to unfinished business. The state has some of the highest rates of unemployment and child poverty in the country. In our glacially recovering housing market, one out of four homeowners still has negative equity in their homes.

(snip)

At least, that’s how things should play out. But if the 2016 Democratic race has shown anything, it’s that the party establishment woefully underestimated the breadth and depth of voter support for progressive policies, not to mention voter anger with centrist Democrats whose support for a moderate course looks suspiciously like the status quo.

There’s no denying that Mr. Sanders’s insistence that income inequality is the most pressing issue of our time, that this more than anything else limits the freedom and opportunities of ordinary Americans, is a more accurate depiction of the experience of Nevada’s largely working-class population. Particularly in Las Vegas, many young people, and their parents, live at the mercy of billionaire casino moguls, and they’re tired of it.

(snip)

Nevada’s recent history testifies to the tragic ramifications of corporate greed and power, but also to the benefits of worker-centered policies. Mr. Sanders speaks directly to those themes, and to voters’ growing concerns. Nevada, more than any other early contest, will show how well he is getting through to them.


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/19/opinion/campaign-stops/how-bernie-sanders-plays-in-vegas.html?_r=0

[Live and Learn]

1. K&R nt

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. Thanks to his first two performances, I don't think there's any single state that can knock Bernie

out of the race. But that doesn't mean that we're not still in the danger zone if he suddenly starts falling seriously behind expectations. If, by some horrible luck, malevolent shenanigans, or just plain better ground game by Clinton, he does really badly in Nevada, it might still be a 'firewall' for Clinton, damaging him badly and destroying momentum. If he loses by a few points, it drags a bit, but if he ties where he was once so far down, in a 'diverse' state, he keeps his current momentum. If he wins, especially if he wins with Latinos, it's another serious blow to Clinton's campaign, and her assumption that Bernie only wins white people.

[Uncle Joe]

3. I agree, the article addresses that as well.

Few people think Mr. Sanders can win outright here. Nevada is a Clinton stronghold. She has a successful history of campaigning here, and her support is longstanding, particularly among Latinos, who make up 27 percent of the state’s population. She seems to have improved her previously strained relationship with local unions (although a major labor organization in the state, the Culinary Workers Union, Local 226, has said it will not endorse a candidate). She opened her first office back in April 2015, six months before Mr. Sanders arrived, and her campaign claims well over 3,000 volunteers.

And because the Nevada economy is recovering, albeit slowly, Mrs. Clinton’s more modest economic proposals, and her less aggressive stance toward Wall Street, may prove more attractive to voters.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/19/opinion/campaign-stops/how-bernie-sanders-plays-in-vegas.html?_r=0