Nichols writes: "Bernie Sanders is not burning with presidential ambition. He doubts that he would consider bidding for the nation's top job if another prominent progressive was gearing up for a 2016 run that would provide a seriously-focused and seriously competitive populist alternative to politics as usual."
Sen. Bernie Sanders at a markup meeting of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, 03/21/13. (photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)
19 November 13
ernie Sanders is not burning with presidential ambition. He doubts that he would consider bidding for the nation's top job if another prominent progressive was gearing up for a 2016 run that would provide a seriously-forcused and seriously competitive populist alternative to politics as usual.
But if the fundamental issues that are of concern to the great mass of Americans - "the collapse of the middle class, growing wealth and income inequality, growth in poverty, global warming" - are not being discussed by the 2016 candidates, Sanders says, "Well, then maybe I have to do it."
This calculation brings the independent senator from Vermont a step closer to presidential politics than he has ever been before. With a larger social-media following than most members of Congress, a regular presence on left-leaning television and talk radio programs - syndicated radio host Bill Press greeted the Sanders speculation with a Tuesday morning "Go, Bernie, Go!" cheer - and a new "Progressive Voters of America" political action committee, Sanders has many of the elements of an insurgent candidacy in place.
Continue Reading: Bernie Sanders Might Just Have to Run for President
