As Midterms Approach, Bernie Sanders on Safest Ground Among Senate Incumbents

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

"Sixty-one percent of Vermont voters said the liberal firebrand has done a good enough job to earn another term in office, while 32 percent said it’s time to give someone else a chance. The figures are based on surveys with more than 275,000 registered voters across the United States from Feb. 1 through April 30.

(snip)

“What I’ll have to say I don’t think will be a great surprise to anybody in the state of Vermont,” he said. “I think we’ve accomplished a lot. Obviously there’s a lot more that has to be done.”



The share of voters backing Sanders for re-election dwarfs the average for the other 99 lawmakers in the chamber: One-third of those senators’ constituents said they deserve another term, while 44 percent preferred a new legislator and 23 percent said they didn’t know or had no opinion.

Three other incumbents — two Dakotans and a Minnesotan — cracked 50 percent on the share of their constituents who believe they deserve re-election."

(snip)



https://morningconsult.com/2018/05/21/as-midterms-approach-bernie-sanders-on-safest-ground-among-senate-incumbents/

Bernie must be doing something right.

[stevenleser]

1. Name recognition. nt

[Dennis Donovan]

3. That's an insult to the people of VT...

[Autumn]

4. We all know that name recognition doesn't guarantee a win.

There's a lot more to Bernie than that.

[Uncle Joe]

6. +1

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

34. Fo sho!!

[stevenleser]

11. Really? So everytime people said the reason Hillary was doing so well was name recognition they were

insulting people?

Is that your position?

[Uncle Joe]

12. Bernie didn't have name recognition when he started, the people of Vermont

have voted for him repeatedly because of his stance on the critical issues that affect them, wealth inequality, universal health care, raising the minimum wage, tuition free universities.

[stevenleser]

13. That bit of situational ethics is unconvincing.

But the reaction to the idea of reducing a candidate's appeal to "name recognition" in this thread is pretty illuminating.

You all might want to think about that the next time you want to do it to someone else.

[Autumn]

14. I remember a relative unknown who gave a speech in 2004 and 4 years later

that man won the Presidency, against a woman who is a household name and has been a household name since at least 1993. Hillary has been one of the most popular women in the world since the day she hit the world stage.

[Uncle Joe]

15. Yes he did despite Trump and other Republican assertions that he

wasn't ever born in the U.S.

[Autumn]

20. This is what Republicans and others have always done to people like Obama, Hillary and Bernie.

They lie and belittle those they fear.

[stevenleser]

16. In other words, the attempt by some here to reduce Hillary's support to "Name Recognition" was wrong

I agree with that.

[Autumn]

19. Yes, and that goes for anyone attempting to reduce Bernie's support to

name recognition. Simple thinking and completely wrong. Obama, Hillary and Bernie all well known and supported for their works, not that their names are recognized.

[stevenleser]

21. On that we agree. I hoped I could get at least some who did that to recognize it was wrong and to

see how it made you feel.

Some are still trying to justify it with poor situational ethics.

[Autumn]

24. How does it make me feel? I feel sorry for anyone who thinks that Bernie, and our other leaders

are popular because people recognize their names.

[Uncle Joe]

25. I believe that name recognition can be an advantage especially to an uneducated public

and that's why the economically conflicted corporate media conglomerates almost never cover the critical issues affecting the peoples' lives in depth or for any sustained period of time.

Their goal was/is to turn Presidential Elections and for that matter Congressional as well into reality T.V. promoting celebrity over substance.

Divide, distract and conquer

[Autumn]

26. Yes it can be an advantage. But people who have won election after election by their

supporters as Bernie has done in his state, name recognition is not the reason they and him are popular or ahead in the poll. Anyone who pushes that is showing their agenda. So good to see you.

[Uncle Joe]

42. I agree and it's good to see you as well Autumn

[LanternWaste]

55. I too make that allegation

"Their goal was/is to turn Presidential Elections and for that matter Congressional as well into reality T.V. promoting celebrity over substance..."

I too make that allegation when reality becomes inconvenient and I desire to blame someone for holding opinions different than me. It's fun because we never have to provide objective, peer-reviewed evidence to support it...

[Uncle Joe]

56. Please elaborate LanternWaste

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

36. Who did that? Reduced her support to name recognition? Obviously, that contributed to some extent...

but that's no slight. To say that's all it was would be ridiculous, and no one I recall ever said that.

[Eliot Rosewater]

51. The only NAMES I am interested in have D's after them.

[Dennis Donovan]

17. When I mention Secretary Clinton in that context, you might have a point...

...not now, though.

[stevenleser]

18. My point is not dependent on anything you said. nt

[Dennis Donovan]

22. Then your point is pointless...

[stevenleser]

23. Nope, it just went over your head. nt

[thesquanderer]

29. Yes, attributing someone's success merely to name recognition is insulitng.

That's true whether stevenleser applies it to Bernie, or someone else applies it to Hillary.

[aidbo]

30. Yep, worked for Hilary.

[thesquanderer]

31. Lots of Senators have tremendous name recognition among their constituents.

The fact that Sanders has more name recognition nationally is not necessarily a factor in what constituents feel about their own Senators. Chuck Schumer has tons of name recognition among residents of New York, but as that article indicates, his support from his own local constituents is not as strong as Bernie's is among his. You attribute that entirely to more Vermont residents being familiar with Sanders than New York residents are familiar with Schumer?

[SidDithers]

2. Yes, he represents his Vermont constituent demographic well...nt

Sid

[NurseJackie]

5. That's precisely correct.

There's no denying that Vermont lacks ethnic diversity. It makes sense to me that their interests and concerns and priorities would tend to be in narrow alignment and overall agreement. I think it speaks more about the state's homogeneous demographics, rather than any particular quality or ability of the individual/s they elect to represent them.

[Uncle Joe]

9. "Reverend William Barber Is Reviving MLK's Poor People's Campaign. He Got Arrested the First Day"

"Reverend William Barber Is Reviving MLK's Poor People's Campaign. He Got Arrested the First Day...


Fifty years after the first Poor People’s Campaign, organized by Martin Luther King Jr. shortly before his assassination and carried out after his death, activists have launched a new campaign for economic and social justice. Modeled after the original movement, in which thousands of people descended on the National Mall in Washington, DC, to protest poverty, the 2018 Poor People’s Campaign is expected to last six weeks in 35 different states, where people plan to participate in nonviolent civil disobedience and teach-ins.

“We know that in the richest country in the world, there is no reason for children to go hungry, for the sick to be denied health care and for citizens to have their votes suppressed,” Reverend William Barber, the co-chair of the campaign, said in a statement. “Both parties have to be challenged—one for what it does and one for what it doesn’t do.” Barber is the founder of the Moral Monday movement, a coalition of faith leaders and activists who routinely protested poverty and discrimination in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The movement’s list of demands includes addressing poverty, voting rights, environmental stewardship, racism, and more. Each week protestors will focus on a different topic and hold nonviolent protests; the first week primarily focuses on children, women, and people with disabilities living in poverty. “Our research revealed that the states with the highest overall poverty rates also had the worst voter suppression and the highest number of women and children in need,” Liz Theoharis, the campaign’s co-chair, said in a March interview with AlterNet.

The movement kicked off with protests across the country Monday. In DC, Barber was arrested with fellow protestors who were impeding the flow of traffic by standing in the middle of Independence Avenue, in front of the US Capitol building.

(snip)

Read more: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/05/rev-william-barber-is-reviving-mlks-poor-peoples-campaign-he-got-arrested-the-first-day-of-protests/

Thanks to demmiblue

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016206769

[RhodeIslandOne]

35. Do you feel the same about Sen. Leahy?

And voice that same sentiment about him here?

[NurseJackie]

37. Right now, I have no opinion about him one way or the other. Why is this even important or relevant?

He's not running for office right now. Ask me again in 2022 if he should decide to run for office again.

[RhodeIslandOne]

39. No opinion?

He's been in office for 43 years!

He's also from Vermont and as popular as Bernie. So clearly, in your mind, there must be some crossover as to why he gets elected so easily, no?

Anyhow, he's a fantastic Senator (to the point I actually heard a right wing Republican I know personally say he hated him, and of course Dick Cheney famously called him an asshole on the Senate floor), and I would never take nor stand for a convoluted cheap shot as to his "race based" popularity because of his being from Vermont.

[NurseJackie]

41. Ask me again in 2022.

Last edited Mon May 21, 2018, 06:05 PM - Edit history (1)

He's been in office for 43 years!

So what? Irrelevant. Leahy is not running for reelection now. And Leahy is not likely to declare his intentions to seek the Democratic party's nomination for president in the 2020 election. So, ask me agian in 2022 and if it's relevant to the overall discussion, I'll give you my opinion then.

I would never take nor stand for a convoluted cheap shot as to his "race based" popularity because of his being from Vermont.

Nobody is doing that. It has nothing to do with a specific "race". But it's fair to point out how easy it is for a politician to be "popular" when the population and demographics lack diversity.

All I'm saying is that in those cases, the politician doesn't need to be as dynamic or nuanced, the politician doesn't need to carefully address a wide and varying range of issues and priorities if everyone is already and mostly "the same".

It's also fair to point out that the homogeneous nature of a state that lacks ethnic diversity isn't a good indicator of how its home-state/hometown candidates are likely to perform nationwide.

We've seen this play out countless times where a popular home-state candidate ONLY does well in his/her home state or region, but performs poorly nationwide. Or, when a politician who's popular in his/her district attempts to run for statewide office and "underperforms" based on unrealistic expectations.

[RhodeIslandOne]

44. I guess it's more exciting to live in a "diverse" state

Like Florida, where they love themselves some Trump, Lazy Marco and Space Alien Dick Scott.

[NurseJackie]

45. Sorry, I wouldn't know about that. Besides...

44. I guess it's more exciting to live in a "diverse" state Like Florida

Sorry, I wouldn't know about that. Besides... it's unclear to me how this is relevant to the original post.

Space Alien Dick Scott.

He's definitely a bizarre-looking man.

[EffieBlack]

65. Yes. But the difference is that Leahy doesn't try to position some kind of civil rights icon

- and neither do his supporters - as is the case with Bernie.

And Leahy, by the way, has a black daughter-in-law and black grandchildren.

[tammywammy]

7. I wouldn't expect any differently.

Vermont has always been pleased with their junior senator. I expect he'll breeze through the election.

[Uncle Joe]

10. I agree tammywammy

[brooklynite]

27. "He must be doing something right..."

Like running for office in Vermont, a D+15 State. The only safer place to run is Hawaii.

[shanny]

32. Except of course he is Not A Democrat

as some never tire of pointing out.

[RhodeIslandOne]

40. As an Independent.

You left that key part out....

It's almost like he's running on a super liberal platform!

[pnwmom]

28. Amy Klobuchar has the support of the majority of Minnesotans even though both

houses in the legislature are controlled by the Republicans, and DT lost the general there by only 1 point.

[msongs]

33. who will the democrats run against him. Sanders is not a democrat. we need one of

our own in this seat.

[NurseJackie]

43. Yes we do. I prefer Democrats, too.

[mvd]

38. K&R

Thanks for the thread. So glad he will be back in the Senate.

[Uncle Joe]

46. Kickie poo for the night crowd

[WhiteTara]

47. Well, he did remove any competition by running

as a Democrat.

[Uncle Joe]

48. Any Democrat or Republican can still be primaried n/t

[Jim Lane]

49. Anyone can compete against him in the Democratic primary.

He's not removing competition. If someone other than Bernie gets the most votes in the Democratic primary, then that person will be the Democratic nominee.

[WhiteTara]

50. No, that's really not the way it works.

Mostly democrats don't primary one another and we try to save our money for the big fight. By running as a Democrat, Bernie has sewn up the nomination. Now if he were a stand up guy, he'd run as an Independent and let the Democrats field a candidate. But that's just my opinion.

[Blue_Tires]

52. Just remember that success, excellence, etc. wasn't enough to stop Bernie

from whoring the hell out of his angry "PRIMARY OBAMA!" campaign in 2012...

Oh, you thought I'd forgotten about that?

And now he doesn't want to face the same scrutiny and his fans are lapping it up...

[Hassin Bin Sober]

53. Oh Lordy.

“His primary Obama campaign”

What’s pathetic is that bullshit has been thrown around here so much it’s now turned in to a “campaign” in some minds.

[Uncle Joe]

54. Bernie was never angry with President Obama, he cited differences

with some of his policies.

Bernie thought that President Obama would win reelection regardless but that a progressive candidate primary challenger would improve or stiffen the President's policies regarding Wall Street for one.

Bernie would go on to endorse President Obama in the general election against Romney.

I have no idea why you believe that "I believe you have forgotten anything?"

[Blue_Tires]

60. No matter how he likes to spin it,

Bernie has always hated Obama and has never passed up the chance to throw some backhanded shade at him -- That's the one kindred connection between his soul and Donnie's...

If Bernie **REALLY** thought that "A progressive candidate primary challenger would improve or stiffen the President's policies," then he should have run his own damn self instead of publicly putting up the Bat Signal for some perfect purity candidate who was never going to materialize because such a candidate doesn't exist... But we all know what that outcome would have been. So let's call this what it was, which was a logic-defying public vote of no confidence against an immensely popular president (which indirectly played a minor role in helping to fuel the GOP's stranglehold on congress). Hell, Bernie's efforts would be much better spent encouraging GOP moderates to primary the leaders of the insane asylum for that matter...

And let's be real, Bernie only endorsed Obama out of self-preservation once he saw his primary campaign wasn't going anywhere... Look, I get it -- Bernie loves being the media-appointed 'leader' of the party and having everyone kiss his ring and ask for his blessings and having free use over party resources and the best part of it all is he never has to deal with the trappings of leadership, he never has to make any tough decisions and his hindsight is always 20/20, he never has to 'answer' for the party, any negative stories about the party never, ever stick to him and there's always a primetime slot reserved for him any time he wants to tell the nation everything that is wrong with the Democratic party... He gets to have his cake and eat it too by flipping the "I/D" switch whenever it's convenient...

But hey -- Party leadership in D.C. and Vermont allowed this madness to happen and Bernie knows how the game is played so I got no real problems with him playing his newfound status and influence for everything it's worth... But what I DO have a big-assed problem with is hypocrisy and pulling a stunt like this to further entrench himself is straight out of the playbook of those dreaded evil "establishment" Dems he and his minions claim to be so morally superior to...

[Uncle Joe]

61. Bernie is about the issues first, last and in the middle no matter the time of his political career

and it makes no difference what label the President has in front of his name.

In this regard Bernie reminds me of Martin Luther King's (one of Bernie's primary political inspirations) approach to voicing his messages regarding critical policies affecting our nation versus abstaining from making his views known because the Presidents were Democrats

[Blue_Tires]

64. I'm looking deeds, not words...

And Bernie was M.I.A. last year when Doug Jones needed every bit of help he could muster (and ironically, Bernie's most vocal supporters were actively pissing on Jones); and I can personally attest his people didn't lift a fucking finger to help us here in VA...

Is he really trying to make a blue wave happen or does he only give a shit when it's *his* people running?

[Uncle Joe]

67. Bernie?

WASHINGTON — With less than a month until Alabama’s special election for U.S. Senate, political experts say national Democrats are deploying a unique strategy to support their nominee, Doug Jones: They are staying away.

“I don’t have a sense at all that the DNC (Democratic National Committee) is anywhere in this state," said Derryn Moten, chairman of the Department of History and Political Science at Alabama State University. “They don’t want to damage or do anything that might damage Jones’ chance to win that Senate seat," he said. The party "doesn’t want to do anything that would be an albatross around Jones’ neck."

(snip)

But national Democrats are trying to figure out the best way to help Jones without hurting his campaign, said Nathan Gonzales, editor of the nonpartisan Inside Elections, which tracks campaigns nationwide.

“If they spend money on television ads in a big way, that will attract Republicans to spend big money and then it becomes a national race about 'do you like Republicans or do you like Democrats?’ " he said. “And Republicans are going to win that race in Alabama."

(snip)


https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/11/09/help-doug-jones-national-democrats-lay-low-alabama-senate-race/841726001/

I believe this was the adopted strategy because Roy Moore was too toxic even for many Republicans and Jones wanted this to be a local race.

[Blue_Tires]

69. But Bernie isn't a Dem, remember?

So officially there was nothing stopping him from putting in an appearance...

Regardless, there's nothing to excuse his absence from Virginia... If he wants to be "The Man", he needs to damn well start acting like it 24/7 and not only when he wants to...

[Uncle Joe]

70. Democrat or Independent they all or virtually all agreed on this,

I believe this was the adopted strategy because Roy Moore was too toxic even for many Republicans and Jones wanted this to be a local race.

that's my point.

Bernie has always been more about the movement and transformation than being "The Man."


Peace to you Blue_Tires

[disillusioned73]

57. Oh snap...

[jalan48]

58. Great to hear. We need his voice more than ever at this time.

[Uncle Joe]

59. I totally agree jalan

[jalan48]

71. Thanks for the post Uncle Joe.

[saidsimplesimon]

62. Thanks Uncle,

I respect and admire Senator Sanders. His messages relating to social justice, which some consider imperfect, have been consistent over the decades. imo

[Uncle Joe]

63. Thank you saidsimplesimon

Peace to you

[Devil Child]

66. Thank you Uncle Joe for the article

Nothing like some slightly pro-Bernie news to bring out some piss and vinegar reaction or innuendo around here. Sander's voice is one of many we need in the fight to remove the current White House occupation. Hope the Vermont voters continue to show their support.

Go Sen. Sanders!!

[Uncle Joe]

68. Thank you Devil Child

Peace to you