The Revolution Is Real, Bernie Can Win It All

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

10 February 16

s I write this, 92% of the precincts have reported in New Hampshire, and Bernie Sanders has received over 138,331 votes. Donald Trump has received 92,062 votes. Now I know that Donald Trump is part of the establishment, but many of his supporters think they are sticking it to the establishment. I wonder how many reporters and pundits will point out that Bernie has received more votes than the top two Republicans combined. Who else is highlighting that Bernie beat “The Donald” by close to 50,000 votes?

By the way, Hillary Clinton also received over 88,000 votes, while John Kasich, who was 2nd on the Republican side, only had 41,615 votes. Many pundits talked about the record GOP turnout in Iowa but failed to point out that both Sanders and Clinton had 30,000 more votes than Ted Cruz. There is as much excitement on the Democratic side as there is on the GOP side. Granted, with more candidates herding voters to the polls, more GOP voters have turned out.

It looks like Bernie Sanders will beat Hillary Clinton by over 20%. It will be the largest primary victory in a contested New Hampshire primary ever. And as Howard Fineman has pointed out, New Hampshirites do not like Vermonters. The only real regional advantage is Massachusetts, because the most populated part of New Hampshire is in the Boston media market. So when Bill Clinton spun his second place finish as a win over Paul Tsongas, he had a case. Hillary Clinton does not have the same excuse – she led Sanders by 40 points in June.

The exit polls provided us with the real reason Bernie Sanders won big in New Hampshire.

First off, Sanders won the women’s vote by 7 points, most of that margin coming from his massive support among young women.

90% of New Hampshire Democratic voters believe the U.S. economic system generally favors the wealthy, a Sanders battle cry.

New Hampshire voters see Sanders as more honest and trustworthy than Clinton, and they felt he shares their values more than she does.

71% of New Hampshire Democrats voted for the candidate who shared their position on the issues, while only 29% voted based on experience.

Income inequality and jobs were the most important issues to Democrats, and most sobering for Hillary Clinton. Two-thirds of voters support replacing the current health care system with a “single-payer Medicare for all,” a policy Sanders has championed.

The Clinton campaign can claim that Bernie had the home field advantage, but in reality they are losing to a better candidate. People know what Bernie Sanders stands for and they believe in his message. Hillary Clinton’s only argument is that she has the experience to take the helm. The problem is people aren’t looking for someone with the experience to maintain the status quo. They are looking for someone to shake things up. They want someone to change the political and economic system.

I remember when the Clinton campaign said they had a firewall in the South. Bernie’s campaign manager correctly responded by saying it’s a weakness to need a firewall and we’ll show them that a firewall can’t stop a prairie fire. Bernie has that kind of momentum now.

Van Jones on CNN argued that the myth that Bernie can’t win enough African American votes in South Carolina is wrong. He predicted Sanders would get over 30% of the African American vote and that just as Bernie dominates with young women, he could do equally well with young black voters.

It looks like the general election is shaping up to be a race between the anti-establishment candidates: one who has been fighting the establishment his whole career, and the other who has an ownership stake in the establishment but is running as the candidate they can’t buy.

For those on the left of center, Bernie Sanders is their candidate. Those on the right are responding to Donald Trump. Bernie has the advantage since he can unite his party while Trump cannot.

The Revolution is real. On to Nevada!

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.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.