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Sanders’ backers sense political winds shifting in his direction - from Tennessee Commerical Appeal
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/national/sanders-backers-sense-political-winds-shifting-in-his-direction-2b6f0c3f-77f7-033e-e053-0100007f86b3-368649051.htmlInteresting article about what's happening in Tennessee. Uphill battle for Senator Sanders - but it's fascinating read to see how things are changing even with the lack of name recognition.
When Keller Barnette started campaigning for Bernie Sanders about five months ago, the question he often got was, "Who is Bernie Sanders?"
Barnette never got discouraged.
He made campaign fliers. He worked the phones. He went to organizing meetings. He talked to anyone who'd listen about the wild-haired Vermont senator's background, what he stands for politically and how they could get involved in the political revolution he's leading.
Nobody asks him who Sanders is anymore. People are taking the "democratic socialist" senator and his campaign for president seriously now, especially after he crushed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in last week's New Hampshire primaries and came within a nose of beating her in the Iowa caucuses a week earlier.
"People know this is going to be a revolutionary campaign," said Barnette, 34, a self-employed accountant from Knoxville. "The question is do you want to be a part of the political revolution. And I think a lot of people are saying yes."
Barnette never got discouraged.
He made campaign fliers. He worked the phones. He went to organizing meetings. He talked to anyone who'd listen about the wild-haired Vermont senator's background, what he stands for politically and how they could get involved in the political revolution he's leading.
Nobody asks him who Sanders is anymore. People are taking the "democratic socialist" senator and his campaign for president seriously now, especially after he crushed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in last week's New Hampshire primaries and came within a nose of beating her in the Iowa caucuses a week earlier.
"People know this is going to be a revolutionary campaign," said Barnette, 34, a self-employed accountant from Knoxville. "The question is do you want to be a part of the political revolution. And I think a lot of people are saying yes."
<snip>
Just in time to capitalize on the wave of enthusiasm, the campaign formally opened offices last week in Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville and will open two more next week in Chattanooga and Johnson City.
Each office will have three or four paid staffers and will allow the campaign to "connect the dots with the Bernie supporters that are out there," Kuhn said. Having offices in strategic locations across the state also will make it easier for volunteers to conduct phone banks and canvass on Sanders' behalf, he said.
Sanders has a lot of work to do in Tennessee, said Kent Syler, a political scientist at Middle Tennessee State University.
The most recent statewide poll on the race gave Clinton a sizable advantage — 47 percent of Democratic voters in Tennessee backed her, while just 15 percent supported Sanders. But nearly 26 percent remained undecided, which could provide an opening for Sanders. What's more, the poll was completed three weeks ago — before the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries, which have reshaped the race.
Each office will have three or four paid staffers and will allow the campaign to "connect the dots with the Bernie supporters that are out there," Kuhn said. Having offices in strategic locations across the state also will make it easier for volunteers to conduct phone banks and canvass on Sanders' behalf, he said.
Sanders has a lot of work to do in Tennessee, said Kent Syler, a political scientist at Middle Tennessee State University.
The most recent statewide poll on the race gave Clinton a sizable advantage — 47 percent of Democratic voters in Tennessee backed her, while just 15 percent supported Sanders. But nearly 26 percent remained undecided, which could provide an opening for Sanders. What's more, the poll was completed three weeks ago — before the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries, which have reshaped the race.
Pope, 73, a retired furniture industry representative from Memphis, puts on his "Feel the Bern" pin every day and goes out and tries to convince other African-Americans that they should get on board the Sanders' campaign.
A child of the '60s, Pope participated in the civil rights marches and demonstrations of the era. He hears in Sanders' platform the same kind of language he heard coming from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"Economic parity, equal pay for women, get big money out of politics — all of the talking points that Bernie had, I aligned myself with," he said. "So I said to myself, this is somebody I can support without question and get my friends and colleagues into as well."
Not all of his friends and colleagues share his enthusiasm for Sanders.
A professor friend got upset with him when he suggested that African-Americans had "surrendered their vote to Hillary Clinton without question, without even listening to what she had to offer as a presidential candidate, and therefore are not even giving Bernie Sanders an ear."
Still, Pope feels like there's movement in Sanders' direction in Tennessee. "I'm getting a lot more positive responses than I did 30 days ago," he said.
A child of the '60s, Pope participated in the civil rights marches and demonstrations of the era. He hears in Sanders' platform the same kind of language he heard coming from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"Economic parity, equal pay for women, get big money out of politics — all of the talking points that Bernie had, I aligned myself with," he said. "So I said to myself, this is somebody I can support without question and get my friends and colleagues into as well."
Not all of his friends and colleagues share his enthusiasm for Sanders.
A professor friend got upset with him when he suggested that African-Americans had "surrendered their vote to Hillary Clinton without question, without even listening to what she had to offer as a presidential candidate, and therefore are not even giving Bernie Sanders an ear."
Still, Pope feels like there's movement in Sanders' direction in Tennessee. "I'm getting a lot more positive responses than I did 30 days ago," he said.
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