Meet Campaigners Hoping to Make Sanders US President & Views from Va., FRANCE 24
*MEETING THE CAMPAIGNERS HOPING TO MAKE SANDERS THE NEXT US PRESIDENT*, France 24 News, Feb. 7, 2016
~ Bernie Sanders supporters Marta and David at the regional campaign headquarters in Richmond, Virginia ~
Bernie Sanders has delivered one of the biggest surprises of the US presidential race by proving to be a genuine contender for the Democratic nomination. FRANCE 24 met with some of the campaigners helping him take on the Clinton political machine.
"Going door to door, talking to your neighbours, your friends – that’s what’s going to get Sanders elected," says Peter Clerkin, Sanders’s 35-year-old campaign manager for Virginia, as he motivates his troops. The team of local supporters, numbering a little more than 50, are gathered in a municipal hall in the state capital Richmond to inaugurate their new headquarters. Clerkin’s speech is interrupted by a chorus of Sanders’s campaign slogan, “Feel the Bern!” followed by a burst of applause.
The atmosphere is electric. Sanders has been dubbed the new political idol of Democratic “Millennials” – in the Iowa caucuses he won 84 percent of the votes among the 17-29 age group – as well as a certain section of white middle-class voters.
At the Virginia HQ, however, people of all ages and backgrounds have turned out to offer their support. Many are completely new to the world of political campaigning. When Clerkin asks people to raise their hands if this is their first experience in politics, arms shoot up from at least half the people in the room.
‘The American dream hasn’t happened for us’ What they all share is their enthusiasm for the self-proclaimed democratic socialist, as well as a sense that the current system is not working. Sanders has promised to fix the economy, break up banking giants, end collusion between politicians and the world of finance, provide universal health coverage and make affordable the exorbitant costs of university tuition.
They are proposals that resonate with many Americans who are struggling to make ends meet. Americans like Marta Powers, one of the millions of Americans working two jobs in order to get by – in her case, as an accountant in an architecture firm and as a seamstress.
Marta and her husband David are busy writing on a large piece of paper on the wall, asking people to list the reasons they support Sanders. “There are so many people like us who have been working all our lives and the American dream hasn't happened for us,” she says. “We are getting close to retirement ourselves and things have only gotten much, much worse." They are afraid, says Marta, ”that we won't be able to retire with any dignity". David, who works in a factory, adds: "We have children and we need to have a future to believe in.”
For Jessica, a 31-year-old self-described Sanders “fan”, the senator’s appeal is that “he is very honest” and “supports the people”. Jessica must use a cane to walk after recently having surgery on her spinal column, and she says she cannot afford certain drugs because she does not have health insurance. This is her first foray into political activism.
>“I used to not be into politics at all because I didn't have any faith in them until Bernie Sanders came along,” she says.
~ Evandra Catherine, a member of the Bernie Sanders campaign team in Virginia ~
<snip> "Sanders doesn't have much of a chance to beat Clinton unless he improves his numbers with non-white voters,” says Kyle Kondik, a political analyst at the University of Virginia. According to Evandra Catherine, a 33-year-old African-American member of the Sanders campaign team, it's only a matter of time until he does just that. “I think that once African Americans know Bernie Sanders’s civil rights legacy and that he has been fighting for us for the past fifty years, they will start to [come round],” she says. Continued...
~ Derek Toro says he is confident Sanders will win the Democratic nomination ~
More and Taking on the Clinton Machine, Winning over Minorities:
http://www.france24.com/en/20160207-bernie-sanders-campaigners-us-presidential-race-clinton
= new reply since forum marked as read
Feb. 3, Manchester, NH
"That's unprecedented," said Paul Begala, a longtime Clinton ally who advises a super PAC backing her candidacy. "She cannot be president without the enthusiastic support of those Sanders voters."
More than 8 in 10 caucus-goers under the age of 30 came to support Sanders, as did nearly 6 in 10 of those between 30 and 44, according to a survey conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks by Edison Research.
Topping the list of concerns is Clinton's staggering disadvantage with young voters, a crucial Democratic constituency that overwhelmingly sided with Sanders.
Clinton supporters are also worried that the campaign is still struggling with a muddled message, a problem that plagued her not only in the opening months of this campaign but also in her failed 2008 White House bid.
"I think there was something .... to Sanders' message that inspires the base," Anderson said. Campaigning in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Clinton largely stuck to the message she used during the last days in Iowa, casting herself as a liberal who can accomplish change — an implicit suggestion that Sanders' proposals are unrealistic.
But her husband hinted a more aggressive approach toward Sanders may be coming. (cont.)
More: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/clintons-narrow-win-sparks-nervousness-among-supporters/ar-BBp3zZf?ocid=spartandhp
