Why Bernie Sanders' Message Resonates in Red States Too

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/31437-focus-why-bernie-sanders-message-resonates-in-red-states-too

Bernie Sanders drew crowds of over 11,000, 8,000 and 5,000 over the weekend. He must have been in blue states, with large, progressive populations, right? Wrong. He was in Arizona and Texas – and no, he wasn’t in Tucson or Austin. On Saturday in Phoenix Sanders drew the largest crowd of the campaign to date, packing over 11,500 people into the convention center there. Organizers had to change the venue twice because RSVPs for the event exceeded the capacity of the original venues. The crowd was over twice the size Donald Trump drew a week earlier in a smaller room in the same building.

On Sunday in Dallas, the heart of Red State Texas, 8,000 people packed into a hotel convention center. Later that day, over 5,000 mostly young people attended a rally at the University of Houston.

One of the amazing things about these crowds Sanders is drawing throughout the country is that he has no staff or campaign organization on the ground. The campaign decides they want to have an event in a city, they reach out to a contact in that city who arranges a venue, they announce the venue and send emails to anyone who has signed up on their website from that area, and within hours they are looking for a larger venue.

The phenomenon started within days of Bernie’s official campaign launch. They booked a union hall in Minneapolis, announced the rally, and the RSVPs started pouring in. With no staff in Minnesota and only two staff members in Iowa who both had their plates full organizing a three-day swing through the Hawkeye State, the campaign reached out to a progressive congressman in Minnesota and asked if he knew of a good large-event organizer, which led to the hire of their first national advance staffer. Since then, Andrew Virden has been traveling the country pulling together volunteers to facilitate the largest events organized by any 2016 presidential hopeful.

[TBF]

1. He is talking about things people

can relate to: jobs, student loans, minimum wage increase, social security

These are issues that people across the board can relate to. I think it helps that he has been living in a rural state in which he hears the concerns of everyday Americans, and doesn't open his door to lobbyists.

[daleanime]

2. +1

[SoapBox]

3. +1