Bernie Sanders campaign in disarray....California director leaves campaign

[Cali_Democrat]

Sanders' California director leaves campaign
By GABRIEL DEBENEDETTI 05/11/16 02:28 PM EDT

Bernie Sanders’ campaign parted ways with its California state director Michael Ceraso on Wednesday morning, 27 days before the primary in the state that Sanders has repeatedly said is crucial to his effort to capture the Democratic nomination.

The surprise move came after a period when Ceraso advocated for a California strategy that involved more investment on field and digital organizing than on television advertising — a staple of Sanders’ campaign elsewhere so far — he told POLITICO.


Sanders’ campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ceraso, who was Sanders’ deputy state director in New Hampshire and helped lead the teams in a series of March-voting states, had been working for the Vermont senator in California for weeks. As the campaign turned more of its attention to California and its 475 delegates late last month, it also brought in Robert Becker — Sanders’ Iowa state director and another veteran of a series of other contests since then, including New York — to work in the state.

California, the state with the most Democratic primary delegates on the map, has long loomed as an important ending point for Sanders, whose campaign believes it can win over a significant portion of the state's liberal and working-class population.

Read more:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/bernie-sanders-california-michael-ceraso-223077

[pat_k]

1. Horrible. There's no one on the planet who could take Ceraso's place. (nt)

[imagine2015]

6. Yup. He will be missed. Time to shut down the campaign.

E

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Was he in danger of being indicted for something?

Oooop. Wrong person. Sorry.

[imagine2015]

3. There is absolutely nothing in the article indicating the campaign is in disarray. Nothing at all.

Just more wishful thinking on your part.

In fact, over 300 campaigners have been put on full-time staff in California!

Some disarray that is. I suppose you interpret that as indicating the entire California campaign operation is falling apart!

Now in my opinion you're getting just darn silly with that kind of post.

You're just joking with Bernie supporters .... right?

OK.

I had a good laugh.

Thank you.

[Hortensis]

11. Perhaps just a shake-up? Here's the LA Times' report:

Bernie Sanders’ plan to win an upset victory in California was dealt another setback Wednesday when the staffer directing all of the insurgent’s California operations left the campaign. California state director Michael Ceraso, who has been working with the Sanders campaign since the early days of the race, parted ways with it on Wednesday. The Sanders campaign did not respond to questions about the reasoning for the staff change.

In a two-sentence email, spokesman Michael Briggs wrote the position has been taken over by Robert Becker, who was the campaign’s state director in Iowa. “Becker is one of the most seasoned and savvy people working on our campaign,” Briggs wrote.

Ceraso's departure comes as Sanders faces a fundraising slowdown that already threatened to severely diminish his impact with voters in California. Sanders told the Sacramento Bee this week that he may not do any television advertising in the state.

While Sanders has drawn spirited crowds at large rallies in California, he has struggled to match front-runner Hillary Clinton in campaign infrastructure. Most of the state’s seasoned Democratic operatives who are involved in the race are working with Clinton.

Sanders has relied more heavily on progressive activists with experience organizing in California, including leaders of the National Nurses United union. They have helped him draw large crowds to events. But catching Clinton in the biggest state in the country will prove difficult without a robust advertising campaign and an extensive, well-organized ground game.

Changes are to be expected as campaign realities change. They're often unfortunate, bad, good all at once, regrettable and necessary. Hil and Bern, we're not voting for which staffers, but for America's future.

[CrowCityDem]

4. Sounds like he's not atually trying to win.

[imagine2015]

8. I don't think that's atually truu.

[msanthrope]

15. No...Devine gets a percentage of ad buys.....that's

Why the campaign head quit...... instead of the Sanders campaign spending money is the head of the California campaign thought best, ad buys which benefit Tad Devine were bought.....

In an interview, Devine acknowledged that he has made more money than expected from the campaign, but he noted that he is working for a much lower rate than usual. While he usually gets a double-digit percentage of a campaign’s ad spending, the veteran admaker is instead splitting a single-digit-percentage commission with the media buyers at Old Towne Media.

[msanthrope]

16. link....

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sanders-is-biggest-spender-of-2016-so-far--generating-millions-for-consultants/2016/04/28/600170ce-0cf2-11e6-a6b6-2e6de3695b0e_story.html

[KingFlorez]

5. That is hilarious

Sanders is definitely not going to win here and probably won't even come close.

[texstad79]

20. IMHO, Hillary wins CA by 20 pts n/t

Similar demographics as NY.

[NurseJackie]

7. Abandon ship! Abandon ship!

Sanders’ campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

They must be "worried".

No, wait ... "worried" is when you DO respond ... that's right, I forgot. When you don't respond, you're "scared".

[AzDar]

9. Since that campaign soundly kicked Hillary's ass last night-we'll take all the 'disarray' we can get

Here's To 'Disarray'...

[Codeine]

14. He can win every remaining primary

and he'll still go home as first runner-up.

[AgingAmerican]

24. Every time he wins a primary, she looks weaker and weaker and weaker

[Demsrule86]

18. Yeah and 30-40% were Republicans playing games.

Without the GOP who have no intention of voting for him in the general ,if he was the candidate, he would have lost.

[Tarc]

19. With Republican ratfuckery in the whitest non-diverse state in the nation, sure

[okasha]

10. PLOP! goes the first rat!

[bjo59]

12. "Disarray," huh? Interesting choice of a word.

[msanthrope]

13. Makes perfect sense.....Devine and other campaign officials, including Sander's family members,

make a percentage off of ad buys. So....as the article states... if the BS campaign is more concerned with ad buys than implementing the strategy that the head of the California campaign thinks is best for winning... No wonder he resigned.

[Sheepshank]

17. He's been heavily involved with so may previous/important Primaries

and now drops off the payroll?

Yeah, there's something not quite right in Denmark

[Jitter65]

23. It's Hillary's fault...whatever it is. nt

[Wilms]

21. Why you so mad all the time? n/t

[DCBob]

22. I suspect their internals are not looking good in CA.

He's getting out now so he doesnt get blamed for the massacre on June 7.