Sanders barnstorms California with little to say about Clinton

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LOS ANGELES — Thirty-two minutes into his speech to a large and slightly sunburned crowd, Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) finally did it. He mentioned that he was running against someone.

"We don't hang out in fancy mansions raising millions of dollars," Sanders said. "One of the differences between Secretary Clinton and our campaign is that we've raised money in the old-fashioned way. ... Secretary Clinton and Donald Trump are doing it a little bit differently."

There were boos at the mention of Clinton's name, but not many. The largely Latino crowd in east Los Angeles's Lincoln Park offered no chants or "Bernie or Bust" heckles. As his campaign quietly fights to influence July's Democratic National Convention, Sanders is limiting his own critiques of Clinton to electability and to her support from super PACs that can collect unlimited donations. It's a night-and-day difference from what Clinton's supporters feared, or the brief period when Sanders pronounced the front-runner "not qualified" for the presidency.

It's also 99 percent similar to the message Sanders has delivered since his campaign began a year ago, and his campaign is perplexed by the effort to hear something else. Last week, it watched liberal columnists lash out after the New York Times ran a front-page story on Sanders's willingness to "harm Hillary Clinton in the homestretch." The liberal news-watching group FAIR criticized the newspaper for describing Sanders's goal, defeating Clinton, in terms that suggested that he was readying new attacks. Sanders campaign spokesman Michael Briggs agreed, labeling it "one of the most ridiculous stories I've ever seen."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/23/sanders-barnstorms-california-with-little-to-say-about-clinton/

[bigtree]

1. too little too late

...his campaign became little more than an anti-Hillary effort, fueled by a phalanx of Hillary haters.

Sanders used to be about big ideas. Now, his legacy will be right alongside the rest of the strident opponents of this Democratic presidency.

[virtualobserver]

3. that article had no effect on the incredibly fixed notions in your mind

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2. Analysis Two white-haired politicians — Bernie Sanders and Bill Clinton — call a California truce

For months now, Bernie Sanders and the other white-haired gentleman on the campaign trail, Bill Clinton, have feuded over how closely the future of the Democratic Party will resemble its past.

They have disagreed over trade and crime policies pushed by Clinton, and healthcare and college tuition policies pursued by Sanders.

They have fought over whether the party’s turn to the center under Clinton was motivated by survival or was a breach of principle, just as they have disagreed over some of Sanders’ efforts to push Democrats to the left this campaign season.

But as both men coursed across Southern California over the weekend, something new was evident, something that seemed, perhaps temporarily, like detente.

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-bill-bernie-california-20160523-snap-story.html

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4. Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown, once Democratic rivals, meet to talk politics

Former President Bill Clinton made a house call before speaking at a rally here. He stopped at the governor's mansion, where he met with Gov. Jerry Brown.

The two men were famously adversaries during the Democratic presidential primary in 1992, when Brown's insurgent campaign threatened to derail Clinton's bid for the White House.

More than two decades later, Clinton's wife, Hillary, is dispatching her own insurgent rival, Bernie Sanders, and tightening her hold on the nomination.

According to a spokesman for the governor, Brown invited Clinton to the mansion, which he recently refurbished. They met for an hour and a half in the same room where President John F. Kennedy and Gov. Pat Brown, Jerry Brown's father, discussed the 1960 election.

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-trailguide-05232016-bill-clinton-and-jerry-brown-1464051326-htmlstory.html

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5. Trump fuels Democratic voter surge

When the deadline to register to vote in California's June 7 primary closes Monday evening, Democrats are expected to be the big winners. The party has enjoyed a dramatic spike in registration since the beginning of the year — and they have Donald Trump to thank for it.

In the first three months of the year, California added 1.5 million new voters through the end of April — double the number of new voters added during the same time period in 2012. And the total number of registered Democrats increased by nearly 100,000 people between the beginning of January and the beginning of April — compared to a gain of just 15,000 registered Republicans, according to an analysis from Political Data Inc., a California-based voting analytics firm.

Paul Mitchell, Political Data’s vice president, notes that Democratic registration typically increased when the news cycle revolved around Donald Trump.

“What’s interesting is that the upticks have been greatest among Democrats and Latinos on those days where Donald Trump is kind of dominating the conversation,” said Mitchell, a former Democratic consultant who has analyzed California voter registration from day to day and by party affiliation since January.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/california-democratic-voter-registration-223487