Bernie Sanders 2.0: How his Iowa caucus campaign has changed -- and how it hasn't

[Uncle Joe]

Last edited Sat Mar 9, 2019, 07:47 PM - Edit history (1)

IOWA CITY, Ia. — Sen. Bernie Sanders must do only one thing to hold onto Jim Witte's support in the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses.

"Just be himself," Witte said. "Just be honest like he always has been."

A 71-year-old retired truck driver from Dumont, Ia., Witte drove more than two hours to see Sanders at the University of Iowa Memorial Union Friday evening. He arrived four hours before the event to snag a standing spot directly in front of the stage.

Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, kicked off his second Iowa campaign this weekend with the same fervent support that defined his last run. At rallies in Council Bluffs, Iowa City and Des Moines, the 77-year-old made clear he intends to highlight the same issues that defined his 2016 bid. But he also signaled his commitment to adjusting his strategy and correcting some of the missteps from his past campaign.

(snip)

"We love you, Bernie,” interrupted another.


https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2019/03/09/election-2020-bernie-sanders-iowa-caucuses-campaign-changed-president-democrat-walmart-trump-wage/3108153002/

This is a good read.

On Edit P.S. There are four different articles if you scroll down from the original.

[MineralMan]

1. Many of his 2016 supporters are still with him.

Many, but not all. The effect of that will not be known for a while. Bernie has fans. No question. It remains to be seen whether he has as many as before, though, and he needs more, not fewer.

[Uncle Joe]

3. This is true MineralMan. n/t

[George II]

8. Too many have left him, though.

[floppyboo]

64. citation please

[NurseJackie]

9. Familiarity breeds contempt...

... as they saying goes. I can personally attest to the fact that it's true.

[Hortensis]

62. Yes, but this time political scientists are counting bots.

[sheshe2]

2. "Just be himself," Witte said."

From what I saw in the Iowa rally, he is doing just that.

Link to tweet

[Cha]

5. Right, she. BS could have talked

about his buzzwords, "Super Delegates" without bringing Hillary into it.

[sheshe2]

11. He is re-fighting a primary long over.

Hillary is not running. He should put his focus on 2019.

We need to win this, Cha.

[floppyboo]

15. Had to re-read the article. Is this the reference to 'opponent' your talking about?

“Last time, I had one opponent, now I’ll have ten or fifteen opponents. And my job is to convince the people of Iowa that I am, in the caucuses at least, the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump. And I think I am.”

You're taking issue with this??

[sheshe2]

16. I am referring to a tweet I posted about his comments in Iowa.

I posted it in this thread. Here ya go.

Link to tweet

[floppyboo]

17. The one from the BuzzFeed reporter? Nice!

The comment was pretty innocuous. The following comments are what you expect from a gossip site with followers in your clique - kinda highschool, no? If it floats your boat...

[sheshe2]

21. His words, no matter who reported them.

He came to run for 2019 and yet could not let 2016 go.

I do not appreciate your dig or the personal attack.

The following comments are what you expect from a gossip site with followers in your clique - kinda highschool, no? If it floats your boat...

You have your opinion and I have mine.

Night.

[floppyboo]

24. Running again, it is appropriate he lay out why and what's different

Why he thinks he has a better chance. Super delegates are a thing. He mentions, (in the article, not the tweet) some other things he intends to change. I guess without better context, we won't know where that line came in the scheme of things.

If you consider my comment about the comments on a tweet a personal attack, you are mistaken. The subject of the sentence is the comments, not you.

[lapucelle]

35. Superdelegate was also a thing BS was. Will BS pledge not to accept superdelegate status this time?

[sheshe2]

41. He IS a super delegate.

[lapucelle]

46. BS should renounce the designation. Why participate in what some might call a clique? N/T

[sheshe2]

48. Exactly, Lapucelle.

Boggles my mind.

[George II]

65. Unless someone hacked his twitter account, they Were his words regardless of who reported it.

[George II]

7. Why is he still living in 2016 and talking about Hillary Clinton? And what's the deal about....

....not naming her, but calling her "my opponent"?

[sheshe2]

13. I don't know, George.

He needs to focus on 2019 not 2016 if he wants to win. Fact is, he needs Hillary voters to do just that and dissing Hill and super delegates is not a good start.

[George II]

37. We have a long long way to go, but if one candidate doesn't get a majority of the delegates....

....on the first ballot, then the superdelegates will vote on the second ballot.

[lapucelle]

36. BS needs to pledge that he will not accept superdelegate status this time around.

Let him lead by example.

[forklift]

67. He never stopped living in the 1960s

So 1970, 1990, 2010, 2016, 2019 .... all still sounds the same.

[forklift]

22. He has fooled his faithful to think

that he lost because of the superdelegates.

He has no courage to give an honest answer that he lost by 4 million votes .


I'd have respected him if he had said the last time, I lost by 4 million votes but this time I have a better name recognition so I'm hopeful.

It reminds me of how Trump fires up his base with chants of "lock her up", "fake news" and "witchhunt."

It also says more about the crowd and its deductive reasoning skills.

[SidDithers]

4. It's not in Iowa he needs to have different results...

it's in states like South Carolina and Georgia.

Sid

[George II]

6. And many other states, too. Seems to have difficulty winning in states with closed primaries.

[NurseJackie]

10. Are there going to be FEWER caucuses this year? I think I heard something about that.

If so, that's not good news for ANY candidate who relies on his (or her) supporters being able to "bully" and intimidate others into going along with the crowd.

[George II]

12. My understanding is that some states have switched from caucuses to primaries. Not sure....

....how accurate, but I found this:

https://www.diffen.com/difference/Caucus_vs_Primary

States that use the caucus system are Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota, Wyoming and Iowa. All other states have primaries.

That's 10 next year, last time around there were 18 (some closed, some open)

[MineralMan]

19. Minnesota switched. 2020 primaries.

March 3.

[George II]

20. There are still some states considering a change, but haven't made a final decision yet.

[emulatorloo]

27. Colorado as well. Caucus before, Primary from now on

[Cha]

29. Yeah, Colorado! My home

state.

[emulatorloo]

33. Oh did not know that!

[Garrett78]

40. And all remaining caucus states must accept absentee ballots per the DNC.

[Cha]

61. Oh Awesome!!

Democracy at Work.. none of that caucus crap only.

[Me.]

18. 12 Fewer Is What I Heard

Did you notice that in the DU poll KH is now #1?

[NurseJackie]

23. 👍

😘😍💞💕💓❤️💖

[sheshe2]

25. You used her initials!

How disrespectful.



Lol~ Yep saw that she is #1 on DU!

[Me.]

26. Wowee...Is That A Thing

[sheshe2]

28. A whole thread on it.

[Me.]

30. Let Me Guess....

So I think I'll just continue with PBO, HRC, KH and so on and so forth...people's initials seem to fit them...

[sheshe2]

32. JFK, EW, AOC, MLK,

That they do, Me.

[Me.]

38. ...

[MineralMan]

31. She has been all along!

[forklift]

14. I would speculate that at least 50% have left him

We have far far better candidates and dozens of them.

Secondly, the last time, he was treated with kid gloves by the media because he didn't have a prayer.

This time, the vetting will be excruciating and no softball questions.

In debates, he will be targeted by a lot of candidates and his platitudes exposed as nothing but hot air of impossible promises.

He will be asked about his tax returns every single time.

Where are his tax returns by the way? #whatishehiding

[Garrett78]

39. Warren, Inslee, Beto if he runs and others may really cut into his support.

Warren because they seem to appeal to the same constituency. Inslee (with an emphasis on climate change) and Beto will draw millennial support away from Sanders. So will Harris.

I suspect Sanders (larger following and more cash) will outlast Warren, Inslee and others, but then he runs into a giant problem known as Super Tuesday.

[forklift]

42. You're right

But I don't think Bernie will have the same cash power as the last time .

He had kept a list of donors and email addresses (refusing to share them with the DNC although that is usual and customary) and despite that, his haul this time was relatively low. The diehards were the only ones who gave money so far.

Kamala and Beto will have the large money power. I think a lot of Bernie's former supporters are waiting for Beto to decide.

[emulatorloo]

34. Well, Microsoft didn't really get it right until version 10

Hopefully Nina Turner and Jeff Weaver can get the “missteps” worked out quickly.

[forklift]

43. Tad Devine tactics will soon be employed

to bring down the favorability of other candidates while playing up the Bernie the victim meme.

[emulatorloo]

45. I have a soft spot in my head for Devine. Definitely hot-headed Jeff Weaver tactics though

[forklift]

57. Jeff Weaver is just an arrogant and belligerent character

He was not getting much traction until Tad Devine took over the strategy.

He knew that he couldn't win against Hillary with just a free-stuff message and railing against the millionaires and billionaires.

Tad Devine actively worked on bringing Hillary's favorability down with the help of corporate media and Trump.

Memes like establishment democrat, corporate democrat, wall street democrat, unlikable, cold, distant, unreachable and focusing on her wealth, her speaking fees and all was inserted to seamlessly interface with Hillary's non-scandal of emails.
He took away just enough support in white majority states like Minnesota and Wisconsin.also drove away white working class voters into Trump's arms when Bernie lost.

[CrossingTheRubicon]

44. "Just be himself," Witte said.

Yet we're being sold a Bernie 2.0 with a furious attempt at re-framing going on behind the scenes.

Which is it?

[Uncle Joe]

47. Nothing so binary, it's both. n/t

[CrossingTheRubicon]

49. So he's the same guy he's always been just completely made-over? LOL. Come on!

This "re-framing" doesn't feel authentic.

[Uncle Joe]

50. Classic homes are re-framed all the time

some of the most beautiful were built in the 1940s.

[CrossingTheRubicon]

51. The only homes that are re-framed are those that are rotten to the core.

[Uncle Joe]

53. That's because those homes which served the nation well for over 30 years

were then neglected by their owners for various demographic/economic reasons.

I believe in many cases the owners either lost faith or connection to their homes so they traded up for much bigger, newer models, leaving the old neighborhoods to gradual decline.

[CrossingTheRubicon]

55. I think some of those "fine homes" had dirt floors and were powered with stolen electricity

because the owners refused to work.

Yet, some of these people ended up with three homes. Got to love American capitalism!

[George II]

58. I know of no homes which served the nation well for over 30 years that were then neglected.

But I do know that the latest rage in homes is what they call "tiny homes", which are cheap, bare bones, and have very little substance:

?odnWidth=undefined&odnHeight=undefined&odnBg=ffffff

[sheshe2]

59. And that takes a lot of money.

Most Americans do not have that even with 15 dollars an hour. That is a dream out of touch for them. Re-frame one? They can't even afford one let alone rent.

[Uncle Joe]

60. New Deal policies and/or at the very least proposals are the homes.

Most Americans are in the shape they're in today because they have gradually lost ground since the days of Reagan, on multiple levels.

They were the people left behind.

[George II]

66. Yes, many Americans can't afford one home, let alone three.

[sheshe2]

52. I see nothing new.

However everything old is new again.

Love Peter Allen.

[CrossingTheRubicon]

54. The only "new" thing I see is that Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt) no longer blasts "millionaires AND...

billionaires."

Now it's just "billionaires."

I'm sure that the re-framing coinciding with the new-found millionaire status of Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt) was purely coincidental.

[sheshe2]

56. You are correct.

It did coincide.

[forklift]

69. Speaking of which

any news on Bernie's tax returns?

#whatishehiding

[forklift]

68. Ironing the suit

and combing the hair would be major reframing,

[floppyboo]

63. Witte doesn't speak for everyone. Does he speak for you?

Getting worked up about one dude's one liner from a headline is not worthy of news.

"Bernie has the support of everyone of my friends. He's going to win!"

There, quote that.