Vermont's Sanders starts presidential bid in New Hampshire

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By KATHLEEN RONAYNE

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — One day after raising $1.5 million in donations, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was out to convince supporters in the early voting state of New Hampshire on Saturday he could raise the $40 million to $50 million to run a competitive presidential primary campaign against Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"The question to me is not whether we can raise as much money as our opponents — we can't — the question is whether we can raise enough money to run a strong, credible and winning campaign," Sanders said. "And based on this first day I believe that we can."

Sanders, an independent, announced Thursday that he'll run in the Democratic presidential primary, making him Clinton's first official primary opponent. A self-described "democratic socialist," Sanders plans to focus his message heavily on income inequality, climate change and reforming the campaign finance system. After addressing supporters at a house party, he spoke Saturday afternoon to the New Hampshire chapter of the AFL-CIO.

Sanders could fill a void to Clinton's left that has some Democrats clamoring for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to get into the race. Warren has said she has no plans to run. Diane St. Germain, a New Hampshire voter, said she hopes Sanders' entrance into the race pushes Clinton to the left.

FULL story and more photos at link.



Presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders makes his way in to a house party in Manchester, N.H., Saturday, May 2, 2015. Sanders discussed important economic issues facing the country. (AP Photo/Cheryl Senter)

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/05c8e83cc83d4014a23cc8cd876e887a/vermonts-sanders-starts-presidential-bid-new-hampshire

[daleanime]

1. K&R.....

[rhett o rick]

2. Looking good for the good Senator. Thanks for posting. nm

[Zorro]

10. The Vermont Bonecrusher

[salib]

3. "The question to me is not whether we can raise as much money

as our opponents — we can't — the question is whether we can raise enough money to run a strong, credible and winning campaign," Sanders said. "And based on this first day I believe that we can."

There it is.

[KittyWampus]

4. It'll be interesting who he can get on his team.

[davidpdx]

5. Sanders is the only creditable candidate who had the guts to run against Clinton

He knows he's going to get outspent 100-1 and that there is no way in hell he'll be able to keep pace with Clinton. I like Sanders and will probably support him, but I'm under no illusions that he's going to win. His running provides an alternative and I appreciate that, but it won't be a competitive primary.

[BrotherIvan]

6. If we stop accepting that premise, we could go quite far

What does money mean anyway? Media exposure. As we know traditional media is losing major ground to the internet. In 2008 it was under 30s who got their main source of news from the internet. Now those people are topping out at at least 40. Ads and such lead to awareness and allow the candidate to attack opponents. But if supporters take it upon themselves to spread the Sanders campaign message, we can can help stretch his budget much further.

Everyone says, "Bernie can't win." But by every metric so far, he is wildly popular on the internet. The trick is getting these people who normally don't vote to vote in the primaries. The media is going to try to minimize him as much as possible, so it's important to counteract that. At least in this article, they used "democratic socialist" rather than the purposeful mislable, socialist. But in the end of the article, you see that he's only supposed to pull Clinton to the left. That's the narrative for now, and it will change the more dangerous he becomes.

[davidpdx]

7. I hear you

I'm not trying to minimize him. He's a great senator and has awesome ideas, my problem is the establishment ("the party&quot dug in long before this primary started and started backing you know who. I also reject the narrative that the only reasons for Sanders' candidacy is to pull Clinton to the left because she could run all the way to the far left and I wouldn't believe a thing she said.

I have lived in South Korea for the past 11 years and was an early backer of Obama in April 2007 (right about the same time in the 2008 election cycle) when Obama was the longest of long shots. I still have a growing fondness for what happened from that time up until the 2008 GE and wish for it again. I remember watching the results of almost every primary (with the exception of Super Tuesday when I was stuck at my in-laws with no CNN, but was able to watch the numbers online).

I'm going to do what I can to help from abroad.

[BrotherIvan]

11. Put March 1, 2016 on your calendar

That's the global primary for Democrats

http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P16/DA-D#0301

I'm going to be living in Europe by then so I have to make sure to do it myself.

[davidpdx]

12. Yeah I figured they'd have a global primary again like they did in 2008

In 2008, I voted in Oregon (Obama won Oregon and got the most votes in the DA primary). The problem is you have to decide whether you want to vote in the DA primary or in your home state primary. I'm inclined to vote in the one for my home state.

[JackRiddler]

8. They laughed at Eugene McCarthy.

[Zorro]

9. Who didn't win the nomination

but did seriously damage the candidacy of Hubert Humphrey -- a true liberal -- which permitted Richard Nixon to prevail in the 1968 election.

And the country still suffers from the effects of that malignant presidency.

[JackRiddler]

14. You don't get even the most elementary facts straight.

Liberal authoritarian la-la history. Humphrey didn't run for shit, he was to be coronated at the convention without running in a primary, long after McCarthy was done as a factor. Kennedy might have stopped Humphrey, but he was shot.

Nothing that Nixon did can take the stain of the mass murder of millions of people off the Johnson administration. He continued the horror and is an equal criminal, yes. You'd think a good liberal like yourself would understand the moral difference between the genocidal violence of the American war of aggression in Vietnam and McCarthy's simple exercise of his right to run as a candidate against that war.

[KingCharlemagne]

16. If he damaged anyone, McCarthy damaged LBJ by showing LBJ was vulnerable

with a close second-place showing in New Hampshire. That result convinced RFK to throw his hat into the ring and arguably convinced LBJ not to seek a second full term.

"The stain of the mass murder of millions of people off the Johnson administration" - McNamara knew as early as mid-1965 that we were not going to 'win' in Vietnam. And yet McNamara and the best and brightest kept feeding new meat into the meat grinder. Oh yeah, HH was LBJ's VP.

[Beauregard]

18. +1. nt

[KingCharlemagne]

15. Oh puh-leeze. How exactly did McCarthy damage the candidacy of HH? - nt

[Demeter]

13. Bernie IS news--Hillary is not

So, he has a built-in PR advantage, if he makes use of it.

[Beauregard]

19. Yes, he's a novelty, and that will help.

"Socialist Senator Runs for President." You don't see that every day!

[Beauregard]

17. If Bernie can take some of the stigma off of the word "socialism,"....

...the whole campaign will have been worthwhile.