Bernie Sanders Will Make Presidential Run Official Thursday

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

29 April 15

n what is expected to be a low-key announcement sometime Thursday, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont will announce his intention to seek the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States. Sanders is expected to hold a larger rally in a few weeks in Vermont before heading to New Hampshire and Iowa. The news comes on a day of what can be seen as good news for the Sanders campaign.

A new poll puts Sanders in second place with growing support in Iowa. Sanders was at 14 percent in the survey by Public Policy Polling. Sanders is now polling at double digits in both Iowa and New Hampshire. He leads the non-Clinton candidates in name recognition at 56%, followed by 34% for O’Malley, 31% for Webb, and 25% for Chafee. Sanders is also the most frequently named second choice.

The bad news for Sanders is that Hillary Clinton is still polling at 62%, 48 points higher than Sanders.

Sanders has never run a negative campaign ad, and his campaign insists he won’t. A close advisor, Tad Devine, told Politico, “He has to plot a completely different path that doesn’t have a lot to do with her,” adding that in recent conversations about a potential run, Clinton had come up “very little.”

After months of staying above the fray, Sanders has started to call on Clinton to let the American people know where she stands on the issues. Last week he said he doesn’t think Clinton is “prepared” to take on the “billionaire class.” Sanders has pressed for Clinton to take a position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal supported by the Obama administration but opposed by Sanders and many in the Democratic Party.

“She’s going to have to be clear. It’s not a question of watching this. You’re going to have determine which side are you on? Are you on the side of working people who would suffer as a result of this disastrous trade agreement, and seeing their jobs go to China or Mexico, or are you on the side of corporate America? It’s not a very difficult choice,” Sanders said.

So far, the Clinton campaign has not taken a position on the Fast Track deal reached in Congress last week.

Democrat

Senator Sanders is the longest-serving Independent in Congress. That streak will come to an end. When Sanders last visited Iowa he wasn’t sure if he would run as a Democrat or an Independent. According to reports, Sanders has decided to run as a Democrat. Here is what he said about that choice in Iowa City in February:

When I asked Sanders in February what he needed to see from Americans to encourage him to enter the race, Sanders said he needed to see a willingness from enough people to get involved and support a serious campaign. Sanders wants to run an effective campaign and do no damage to the progressive cause.

With just over eight months before the Iowa Caucus, Bernie Sanders has a long way to go to catch Hillary Clinton. Sanders has been opening his speeches by quoting Frederick Douglass and talking about struggle. He talks of nothing being gained without a fight. He is looking to inspire an electoral revolution. Without a grassroots revolution Sanders is a long shot.

Many progressives are still trying to recruit Senator Elizabeth Warren to represent the populist progressive wing of the party. It is becoming clear that it is not going to happen. Sanders has been fighting for 50 years for the agenda Warren advocates. While many question the authenticity of the other candidates’ attempts to run on Warren’s platform, “Bernie,” as progressives call him, is without question a progressive champion.

Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.

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