Your Guide to the Bernie Sanders kickoff from the Burlington VT Free Press

[merrily]

Burlington is a charming town, btw. As you no doubt know, Bernie was its Mayor before he went to Congress.

Tuesday's big Bernie Sanders presidential campaign event will be equal parts homecoming and political spectacle.

The independent senator has pulled together plenty of Burlington symbolism: Sanders expects to stand on public land he fought for in the 1980s as he announces his presidential ambitions — while spectators munch Ben & Jerry's ice cream at the free, non-ticketed event in Waterfront Park.

Burlington-based band Mango Jam will play in the park. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, of ice-cream fame, and Bill McKibben, the Vermont environmentalist and author, are expected to speak.

Plans for the event came together less than week before the big day, as Sanders campaign staffers unpacked a national campaign headquarters on Church Street. Volunteers on Friday had begun to call New Hampshire residents. The workers were surrounded by cardboard boxes and "Join the political revolution today" T-shirts.

much more at
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/politics/2015/05/23/bernie-sanders-kickoff-guide/27811735/

[Enthusiast]

1. Yee haw! Yay, Bernie!

Mango Jam! Party on!

[merrily]

10. Nice!

[MissDeeds]

2. Thanks for the info, merrily

Wish I could be there; it sounds like it's going to be an awesome event.

BTW - Does anyone know why there is no mention of Bernie's kickoff on the home page? There is something about HRC's rally on June 13, but no mention of Bernie.

[appalachiablue]

3. I don't know how that works, who handles The Left Column. There have been several

OPs on Bernie's HQ opening, one is the Burl. Free Press Guide now in "Politics 2015", I did one a couple days ago in the same section, and there was a Video with a Campaign staffer talking about the National kickoff on the Front Page for a while. The HRC mid-June event was posted in LBN in mid-May I think.

Ed Schultz of MSNBC will be at the opening and covering it on his program, "The Ed Show" 5PM ET Tuesday evening which should be fine to view.

*This would be perfect to post on the Front Page, with Guide info. for Bernie's event tomorrow-

[MissDeeds]

5. Good to know Ed will be covering the event

Maybe someone here who knows how things work on DU could get it on the Front Page.

[appalachiablue]

6. Thinking the same thing, how it works with DU to ask to put Bernie's info. on the

Front Page, with Ed Schultz's nice promo- esp. since the event is tmrw.

[appalachiablue]

7. Just got it on the Front Page in 'Media'. Trying to keep it K & R'd until tmrw 5PM. Check it out,

best I could do-

[MissDeeds]

8. Terrific

Thanks!

[merrily]

11. Ed Shultz gave Bernie some great coverage in Iowa, in September, when Harkin retired.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025541280

At that time, Harkin said Hillary might be too centrist--and Hillary and Bill had traveled to Iowa for his celebration. Of course, I'm sure that was all about Harkin, having nothing to do with the fact that Iowa is an early primary state.

[sabrina 1]

14. I'm really glad Ed is going to go there to cover the event.

Should be very nice. Wish I could be there. If he has any more events in Vt or NH I'm going to try to get there.

[merrily]

9. good question. I don't know what controls the front page. Ask the admins?

[appalachiablue]

4. Sen. Sanders official campaign opening sounds like a really festive event. Would I love to go-

Great Photo of Sen. Sanders campaigning earlier this month in New Hampshire with residents.

[merrily]

12. He looks so authentic, so unforced, just happy as hell.

Populists genuinely like "everyday" people (whatever the hell that means).Until recently, I thought everyone was a person every day.

Apparently, some of you been turning into kittens or sandwiches or something on certain days.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/the-calculus-behind-hillary-clinton-and-everyday-americans-117099.html

[appalachiablue]

13. For sure! I wonder how he can stand most of DC of late, but it's lucky for us.

His DC staff is excellent and must be devoted to him. That takes some of the pain out of it I'd think!
I hope to meet him one day, had the chance last month but things got messed up due to family illness.

You've seen this great new post from Cal04 via Twitter? It's in "Politics 2015" too. Thanks for your thoughtful note, things are going well for the Kickoff promo. And I understand some more about the arrangements here.

Love it!

[merrily]

15. Ted Kennedy's staff was devoted to him, too. And to the public.

When Kennedy died, one of Boston's local newscasters said everyone had a Ted Kennedy story, a story about how Ted Kennedy had done something for them or fulfilled some request. But, if you think about that, his staff was doing most of it.

There was a big difference between contacting Kennedy's office and contacting Kerry's, even by email. If you emailed Kennedy at senate.gov, "Thank you for contacting me." came up on the screen as soon as you clicked to send your message. His staff was always courteous and friendly. Kerry's was not.

One time, I called Kerry's office to say that I loved Kerry, but did not think he should have conceded that Bush had power to make the recess appointments Bush had just made. (I don't remember all the details of that right now and don't feel like googling.) I had researched the matter online before making the call and determined the Supreme Court had not yet spoken on the matter.

I was surprised by how exasperated and condescending the staffer I was speaking to sounded when he told me that Of course, Bush had that power, then cut me off. Guess what? The Supreme Court since issued an opinion on recess appointments and the staffer was wrong. However, that is not even the point. I'd just never encountered that level of snottiness from the staff of someone in the House or Senate before. I felt bad for Kerry, paying people to do public relations who were snotty to the public.

And, of course, you couldn't let Kerry know that his staff was not serving him well because a staffer would get the call or see the email or note first.

Oddly enough, though, I noticed a marked change for the better after Kerry lost his bid for the Presidency. Someone must have clued him in.