Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has been toying with the idea of running for president in 2016 as a Democrat for a few months now. He’s been to Iowa to discuss the idea, and spoke about running in September on Meet the Press.
On Monday, Sanders moved even closer towards officially throwing his hat in the ring, hiring one of the Democratic Party’s top consultants, Tad Devine, the Washington Post reported.
Devine – a former campaign aide to Al Gore, John Kerry, and Michael Dukakis – and Sanders have worked together in the past on Sanders’s campaigns in Vermont in the 90s.
“If he runs, I’m going to help him,” Devine told WaPo. “He is not only a longtime client but a friend. I believe he could deliver an enormously powerful message that the country is waiting to hear right now and do it in a way that succeeds.”
The two have been working together over the past few weeks on how Sanders can actually put up a fight against presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton.
“In terms of fundraising, there would be real interest in him at the grassroots level,” Devine said. “He knows how to do the organizing that’s required. As a mass media person, I also think he would be a great television candidate. He can connect on that level.”
While Hillary Clinton would be the overwhelming favorite to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016, there were many who believed she held the same position in 2007, and we all know how that turned out for her. I think there’s plenty of room in the Democratic presidential primary for a candidate to the left of Clinton, and I’d welcome the perspective Bernie Sanders would bring to the primary.
Having Bernie Sanders run and in the debate for President is a good thing. I might even vote for Bernie Standers, the problem with the Democratic Party is that we do not have a strong base of candidates to run for president right now as we have been losing state legislatures, governors, congressional, and senate elections all over the country.
As much as Sanders is as typical of the political class as most other people already there, (finger to the wind on any day to hold his position) the larger point that the present uni-party divide, conquer and control strategy for the sole benefit of the ruling class is untouched by what any of the voters may want us to become or may want as meaningful changes to be made.
State, county and even municipal races are being bought by anonymous special interests. A deep bench is not the problem, potential candidates on “either side,” with better ideas for actual solutions for a sustainable, equitable and shared general welfare can’t compete with the dollars already backing the top-down picks to “represent,”
anynone of us. Howard Zinn quotes from this piece:http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2014/11/05/a-2014-midterm-election-post-mortem-the-democratic-party-will-not-solve-our-problems/
Sanders, meh!