David Sirota, International Business Times, joins Thom. Barney Frank - who has been selected to serve on the standing commitee that will help write the party platform. The Sanders campaign is - shall we say - less than happy with this pick. Not only has Frank been one of Bernie's most outspoken critics - he's also currently on the board of Signature Bank - a bank that earlier this year was named in a lawsuist over a Ponzi scheme. So in a sense - the big banks are literally going to help write the Democratic Party's platform. What could possibly go wrong?

PRESS RELEASE


‘You’re Looking at the Strongest Candidate,’ Sanders Says in Montana



MAY 11, 2016







BILLINGS, Mont. – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday spoke to a pair of big rallies here in Big Sky Country ahead of Montana’s presidential primary election. He was greeted with cheers when he said he is the most electable candidate for president.

Some 9,100 Sanders supporters came out on a sunny spring day to Caras Park in Missoula for a rally on the banks of the Clark Fork River. Hours later, another 3,000 packed the Montana Pavilion in Billings.

Twenty-seven delegates to this summer’s Democratic National Convention are at stake in the June 7 primary. With eight states still set to hold primaries or a caucus in the closing weeks of the nominating process, Sanders renewed his pledge to stay in the race with Hillary Clinton until the convention in Philadelphia in July.

“If we can do really well – it is a steep climb and I admit it – but we can end up with more pledged delegates, real delegates, delegates elected by the people than Secretary Clinton,” Sanders told the Billings rally.

The senator from Vermont so far has won victories in 19 states and amassed 46 percent of the pledged delegates. He picked up more with back-to-back wins the past two Tuesdays. He carried every county in West Virginia on Election Day this week. He scored another upset win over Clinton one week ago in Indiana.





Sanders called it “strange and undemocratic” that 450 superdelegates – elected officials and party officials – backed Clinton even before Sanders entered the presidential campaign last April 30. “That’s not democracy. That’s the establishment defending its own interests,” Sanders said.

In West Virginia, for example, Sanders soundly defeated Clinton 51 percent to 36 percent in Tuesday’s primary election. As a result of the popular vote, he won 18 elected pledged delegates to her 11. But six of the state’s seven superdelegates back Clinton. In other states – including Minnesota, Washington and Colorado – Sanders won by double-digit margins but the party establishment figures are clinging to Clinton.

Sanders also made the case for why he would be the Democrats’ best choice to win in November. In yet another new poll published on Wednesday, Sanders trounced Trump 48 percent to 39 percent in a general election matchup. That 11-point lead contrasts with Clinton’s 2-point margin over Trump in the same Economist/YouGov Poll. She was supported by 42 percent to his 40 percent.

“You are looking at the strongest Democratic candidate,” Sanders said.





https://berniesanders.com/press-release/youre-looking-strongest-candidate-sanders-says-montana/

PRESS RELEASE


More Proof Sanders is Democrats’ Best Bet in November



MAY 10, 2016



STOCKTON, Calif. – There was new evidence on Tuesday that U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders would be the strongest candidate Democrats could nominate to face Republican Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 general election.

“Virtually every poll has us way, way ahead of Donald Trump,” Sanders told more than 5,700 supporters at a lakeside park for a mid-morning outdoor rally in this Central Valley city. In battleground states across the country, Sanders added, he also polls much stronger than Hillary Clinton.

“There is no question about which campaign is energizing the American people,” Sanders said. “If you want the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump that’s us.”

Sanders was on a two-day campaign swing through northern California and the San Francisco Bay area ahead of the Golden State’s June 7 primary election. California, the largest state, will elect 475 pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

The rally in Stockton was the second big turnout in two days. On Monday night, the U.S. senator from Vermont spoke to more than 16,000 at a soccer field in Sacramento.

In Stockton, he referred to a Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll released on Tuesday which examined how Sanders and Hillary Clinton fared against Trump in three general election battleground states: Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.





In two of those states Sanders led Trump by significantly greater margins than Clinton.

In Ohio, Clinton actually trailed Trump by four points. Sanders prevailed with 43 percent to Trump’s 41 percent.

In Pennsylvania, Sanders had a six-point lead over Trump. She was up only by 1 percent.

In Florida, he had a two-point edge compared to her one-point advantage.

In each state, more voters have unfavorable opinions of both Clinton and Trump.

In yet another state poll, this one in New Hampshire, Sanders trounced Trump 49 percent to 28 percent, a 21-point spread. Clinton led Trump by only five points, 34 percent to 29 percent, while a much greater share of Granite State voters, 37 percent, unsure who they would prefer among the two unpopular candidates, according to the May 4 poll by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College.

Nationwide, Sanders topped Trump 53 percent to 40 percent in a new NBC News/Survey Monkey poll. Clinton held a much narrower 5-point edge over Trump in the same nationwide survey. She narrowly defeated Trump 49 percent to 44 percent.





https://berniesanders.com/press-release/proof-sanders-democrats-best-bet-november/