Zaid Jilani: Bernie Sanders Barnstorms the South, Speaking to Swelling Crowds

[portlander23]

Bernie Sanders Barnstorms the South, Speaking to Swelling Crowds

Sanders was virtually unknown to the American public six months ago and now has an enthusiastic following in many parts of the country, even the relatively conservative southeast. Just last month, right-wing Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) brought out 300 people at a free outdoor event in Newnan, Georgia, one of the most conservative towns in the state. Sanders drew four times as many people willing to shell out the $50 entrance fee in Atlanta. Sanders got to the event like many of the attendees did, riding the public transit system, MARTA, from the airport, where he arrived on a coach flight.

As Atlanta native and Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King writes, Sanders' campaign is “not a fad.” The senator has built a campaign that has overtaken his likely rival, Hillary Clinton, in early primary states, and he's on a quest to make inroads in the South, where a mix of working-class whites, Latinos, and black voters control most of the Democratic delegates. In Atlanta, the president of the local Communications Workers of America, Ed Barlow, a fiery black organizer, praised Sanders as fighting harder for American workers than anyone else in the nation's capital.

There are reports that Hillary Clinton plans to make the South her “firewall” for the nomination; she expects large wins here to blunt the momentum Sanders is expected to gain from strong showings in the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

[upaloopa]

1. Yep everyone's getting to know Bernie not!

2016 Democratic Presidential Nomination
National: Dem, GOP | Iowa: Dem, GOP | N.H.: Dem, GOP | S.C.: Dem, GOP | General Election Match-Ups
Polling Data
Poll Date Sample Clinton Sanders Biden O'Malley Webb Chafee Spread
RCP Average 8/20 - 9/13 -- 44.7 23.3 19.2 1.8 1.5 0.5 Clinton +21.4
CBS News/NYT 9/9 - 9/13 351 RV 47 27 15 0 1 1 Clinton +20
ABC/Wash Post 9/7 - 9/10 RV 42 24 21 2 1 1 Clinton +18
CNN/ORC 9/4 - 9/8 395 RV 37 27 20 3 2 0 Clinton +10
Monmouth 8/31 - 9/2 339 RV 42 20 22 1 1 0 Clinton +20
PPP (D) 8/28 - 8/30 545 LV 55 20 -- 4 3 1 Clinton +35
Quinnipiac 8/20 - 8/25 647 RV 45 22 18 1 1 0 Clinton +23

All 2016 Democratic Presidential Nomination Polling Data

[Avalux]

2. What happens when the polls don't go your way?

Are you still going to use them to as ammunition?

[upaloopa]

4. That isn't going to happen.

Bernie will never get out of the 20's nationally. He can't get any traction with large blocks of Dem voters.

[Avalux]

5. I'm bookmarking this post. n/t

[sabrina 1]

7. Latest CNN/Orc poll shows Sanders has narrowed the gap with Clinton to just

10 points nationally.

And half the country STILL doesn't know who he is. That is about to change over the next few months, just as it did over the past three months.

I heard that polls don't matter at this early stage of an election however, so I'm not worrying too much about them at this point.

However, since you brought it up, it appears that Sanders is closing fast on the front runner.

[HooptieWagon]

3. Sanders will do well in the South.

Clinton's firewall is going to take some hits.

[Barky Bark]

8. If my calculations are right

Clinton's firewalls will be nonexistent by January 1st, 2016.

[HooptieWagon]

9. She's got enough money to hang in there a while.

but the big ? Is: If her poll #s continue to plummet, party elites start to panic at the thought of Bernie actually pulling it off, the elites ask Biden to step in and Hillary to step aside....does she go quietly? I think not. She'll be screaming and kicking as they drag her away. Only way TPTB can get her to exit is to get Wall St to revoke their funding, and turn PACs over to Biden.

[PatrickforO]

10. Based on my calculations, I figured February 1st, 2016

We'll see. I don't think those trendlines are lying, and we're both seeing the trends continue up for Bernie and down for Hillary.

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, portlander.