Bernie Sanders's Political Revolution Enters Phase Two

[magical thyme]

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-09-10/bernie-sanders-political-revolution-enters-phase-two

(interview with Tad Devine, Sanders’s top adviser)


“If we can succeed in New Hampshire, and I think all the polls would suggest right now that we’re on a very successful course there, we can come out of there with tremendous momentum, and I think that, more than any other single other factor, is going to affect what happens,” he added...

...The difference between Hart, who beat the front-runner in New Hampshire, and Sanders is that the latter plans to avoid the former's mistakes. “He did not put in place a mechanism to receive the nomination,” Devine said. “He put in place a mechanism to gain momentum, but he didn’t put in place a mechanism to take advantage of that momentum. He didn’t satisfy the requirements for ballot access everywhere, the delegate slating process. He didn’t really get people in those later states familiar with him and his story. We’re not going to make that mistake....”

....In Colorado, Minnesota, and Massachusetts for example, the campaign believes it has an organizational advantage—Sanders drew large crowds and has already started organizing people online. And depending on how those early contests go, Devine said, the campaign will either “dramatically expand the playing field” or attempt to lose by as little as possible in the delegates race. Thanks to proportional representation—candidates who gets a certain percentage of the vote gets a corresponding number of delegates—Devine said he believes that “if we can stay close to her, we will win almost as many delegates, even if she wins a few more votes in some of these states.”

Basically the plan is to focus on the early states, build momentum in the later ones, focus on states where they have a competitive advantage, and then be ready to massively expand the scope of the campaign with the help of donations that could pour in following early victories. “I think it’s a winning strategy, and I think we can pull it off,” he said.

[onehandle]

1. The Ron Paul Revolution Cannot Fail! nt

[arcane1]

3. Fuck Ron Paul.

Go Bernie Sanders!

[magical thyme]

5. you're falling behind. way behind. The "then they laugh at you" stage ended ages ago.

[polichick]

8. So true - headin' toward "then you win." :)

[knixphan]

12. Zactly.

#FeelTheBern is people-powered. Some folks have trouble grasping how many folks Bernie represents.

[LondonReign2]

7. No, remember, the talking points have been updated to refer to him as

Bill Bradley now. Maybe you didn't get the new copy.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

13. I met Bill Bradley way back when.

Don't remember what year it was. When you get older, 4 years seems to pass quickly and I, at least, get mixed up as to who was running what year.

Bill Bradley was tall, good looking, smart and had charisma. My dad informed me that in his basketball days they called him "Dollar Bill" due to the price of his contracts.

[LondonReign2]

14. Me too. Though it was limited to running into him at an airport and shaking his hand.

I've also run into JEB! at an airport-he was a smug smirker, just like his brother-- and shared a plane with Wesley Clark.

[frylock]

15. trolls and disrupters..

DU being overrun with trolls and disrupters has nothing to do with politics. nt

[Tommymac]

19. Thanks. nt

[azmom]

2. He hasn't flip flopped in 30 years!

Go Bernie

Latinos for Bernie

[99th_Monkey]

4. Kickety Rec nt

[WillyT]

6. HUGE K & R !!! - THANK YOU !!!

[musiclawyer]

9. I think Bernie should ask O'Malley to be his vp

Early if he wins the first ten states. Which I think he will.Bernie can pull it off but he's going to need help. I like Barbara Lee but he can offer her some other high level position. I think she would campaign for Bernie

[SoapBox]

10. I'm love'n Tad Devine...

And Symone Sanders...and of course Bernie!

This weekend North Carolina, South Carolina and now Virginia are gonna be Feel'n the Bern.

Go Bernie! Go Berners!

[Merlot]

11. Suddenly I'm reminded of the Tortoise and the Hare.

So eloquently illustrated in "Cut Across Shorty"

Paraphrase: Dan and money and looks, Shorty had that thing that just can't be found in books...

[hifiguy]

16. Excellent.

for Bernie!

[salib]

17. Everyone. Remember...

Bernie winning is NOT the revolution. This post is all horse race stuff. As important as that is to the horse race, it is NOT phase anything of the revoution.

We need the House and Senate. Period. So, let's truly move on to phase two and run for office. Primary the bastards.

It is the only way. We have to have people ready to be "swept into office" along with Bernie.

[dreamnightwind]

18. Great point

I doubt that aspect of a political revolution will be in place in time for the next elections (I'd LOVE to be wrong), but I can see it happening in the cycle or two after that.

If elected, I'm pretty sure Bernie will make a lot of noise about what policies and reforms are needed, and fight like hell for them even when facing entrenched opposition, rather than the tried and failed method of compromising before you fight that we're all so used to.

If he does that, it can show people how we actually need a better congress, and why. That kind of context can reform an institution in a hurry.

It's absolutely essential that we build a movement that uses Bernie's candidacy as the catalyst, but is broad and persists beyond Bernie. We have a lot to change in this country, and little time to do it. No one person can get it all done, We hitch our wagons to the one person who is willing to fight the good fight without being owned by corporate interests, and we springboard from there to a broad group of candidates committed to the same principles.

[sadoldgirl]

20. It helps already now if you

join your Dem precinct group. We have to get the
strongest progressive voices from the bottom up.

[dreamnightwind]

21. Yes, another good suggestion

I live in one of the most progressive districts in the country, and we're always having to pressure the party from the left. Our rep is Jared Huffman, who has been better than I expected but he was opposed when elected by two better (IMO) but less funded candidates. It was sad to see how that all played out, it had a lot to do with having the money to get a ton of his signs everywhere, having a favorable media context (edit to add Huffman did a lot of TV ad buys too, suspect IMO for a congressional district election), and of course being the preferred candidate of the party helped him oick up endorsements from some of the larger players in this area. Anyway, long story short, we deserve representation here to the left of what we get, based on where the electorate is at, and we do and should fight for it.

I haven't ever joined a Dem precinct group, I'll go to a meeting and see what I think. There's an excellent group out here called the Coalition for Grassroots Progress that is more where my heart is, but you're right, getting that energy into the party itself (the CGP works within the party but is at odds with it to a large extent) is what is needed.

[salib]

22. Now is the time.

Bernie will have very long coat tails in the primaries. He will not be in the primaries in 2018. So now is the time and not later.

[dreamnightwind]

23. Well, maybe

I think we'll be very lucky to get bernie elected. It is going to really hard, luckily we are really determined. And I don't see any large pipeline of democratic socialists similar to Bernie positioned to win office in 2016. How would this happen?

I was thinking that people would be frustrated watching all of the good things Bernie tries to do get shot down by intransigents in congress, and after two years of that they might give him a congress to get things done.

It didn't happen with Obama, IMO, because Obama didn't govern as he campaigned. He campaigned as a change candidate, and to our country's great credit, we showed up and actually voted in the change candidate against long odds. But then he governed as another corporate third-way type, and made absolutely no fight at all for real change, other than the Heritage-born Romney healthcare plan he put all of his political capital behind, while not fighting AT ALL for single payer or even a public option.

It's very different to fight and lose on an issue than to not even advocate for an issue. People will get behind you if you fight for the right thing and lose, and they'll try to help. That's what I see if Bernie is elected.

[salib]

24. In your post:

"It's very different to fight and lose on an issue than to not even advocate for an issue. People will get behind you if you fight for the right thing and lose, and they'll try to help. That's what I see if Bernie is elected."

So, we agree. Primary the bastards. If we have a chance at all, it is likely the best chance now, while he is running.