"Bernie Sanders: From Curiosity to Phenomenon"-- Conservative NC Columnist Reports
(This is the most positive post about a Democrat that I've seen from this Columnist--I take it as a good sign for Bernie) 
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By Rob Christensen
GREENSBORO
The last time Sen. Bernie Sanders was in North Carolina he filled the sanctuary of Raleigh’s Pullen Memorial Baptist Church. On Sunday night, 9,000 cheering, foot-stomping supporters packed Greensboro Coliseum and an overflow hall to chant “Bernie, Bernie, Bernie.’’
Clearly, Sanders has passed from curiosity to phenomenon.
So far this is shaping up as the year of the outsider who can tap into voter frustrations with Washington. For the Republicans, we have seen the rise of Donald Trump and Ben Carson, two people who have never held public office.
For the Democrats, a 74-year old democratic socialist from Vermont is now threatening Hillary Clinton’s front runner status. CBS released a poll over the weekend showing Sanders up over Clinton by 20 points in New Hampshire and by 10 points in Iowa.
That has led to talk that Clinton’s firewall in the nominating process will be in Southern state primaries like those held in the Carolinas early next year.
“You don’t need a firewall if there is not a fire,’’ quipped Mike Briggs, Sanders’ communications director, shortly before his boss took the stage. Briggs knows the state well, having worked as press secretary for former Sen. John Edwards.
The Greensboro crowd was likely the largest one that Sanders has drawn in the South. (Sanders drew 8,000 in Dallas in July.) It was an unusually young crowd much like the ones seen during the presidential campaigns for Barack Obama, except it was overwhelmingly white.
Sanders may also benefiting from the polarization of politics. Just as there are many on the political right who are fed up with the Republican Party’s leadership, which they view as too moderate and temporizing, there are many on the left who feel the same way about the Democratic Party’s leadership.
The Sanders stump speech is a populist message about how he says the “billionaire class,’’ is dominating politics and squeezing out the middle class, leading to the greatest income inequality in the country since 1928. He pushes for universal health insurance, public financing of elections, fairer trade policies, better treatement of veterans, higher minimum wages, and fewer jobs shipped overseas.
“The people are sick and tired of establishment politics,’’ Sanders said. “And they want real change in this country.’’
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Sanders had a long history in support of civil rights that goes back to his arrest in Chicago as a college student for participating in a desegregation demonstration, according to Briggs.
In Greensboro, Sanders was introduced by black labor official. During his speech, Sanders cited high unemployment among young black people, the need to overhaul the criminal justice system, and said more had to be done to prevent the deaths of unarmed black people in police custody.
“Our goal must to be to end all forms of institutional racism and to make make major reforms in a very broken criminal justice system,’’ Sanders said.
He also criticized a U.S. Supreme Court decision altering the Voting Rights Act, that enable lawmakers to make changes without getting pre-approval from the U.S. Justice Department.
“Hours after that decision you had Republicans all across the country figuring out ways to supress the vote of poor people, of old people, of people of color,’’ Sanders said. “They are doing it all over the country including North Carolina. I say to those governors and those members of legislatures who are too cowardly to stand on their ideas and are working hard to try to prevent people from voting – get another job.’’
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/rob-christensen/article35361507.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
and has loosened up a bit in the past few years since the truly Crazy RW Repubs took over the NC House, Senate and Governorship, but to me he has always seemed Conservative in his writing.
Anyway....I give him credit for this article in fairly reporting about Bernie. 
