Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Saturday brought his populist message to the Austin area, calling for a political revolution and decrying Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s ties to Wall Street in a speech at the Circuit of the Americas track in southeastern Travis County ahead of the critical Super Tuesday primaries.
“We have a corrupt campaign finance system, which is undermining American democracy,” said Sanders, U.S. senator from Vermont. “One of the differences between Secretary Clinton and myself is she has a super PAC, which is raising many millions of dollars from Wall Street.”
His policy-heavy speech to the crowd of several thousand hit on a number of liberal priorities. At one point, he listed policy prescriptions for problems facing various groups of people: students (debt relief), women (pay equity), African-Americans (ending mass incarceration) and Latinos (immigration reform).
For the Sanders supporters who went to the rally — the campaign said more than 10,000 were in attendance — the senator is a good match for Austin.
“He definitely seems like an underdog, but look at that line we were just in. It was like a mile long,” Brayden Falgout, 28, said. “He’s kind of Austin, you know? Keep Austin weird; keep Bernie weird. I like it. So it makes sense that he has a lot of people here.”
If Sanders is to make a strong showing in Texas, he’ll likely need a good performance in Austin. A key group for Sanders has been young voters, and he would benefit from a big turnout among University of Texas students.
"It's nice to be in warm weather!" Sanders greeted KVUE in a brief one-on-one interview before heading onstage.
Mark Wiggins: "Kind of a last minute rally. Our polls show you down by double digits to Hillary Clinton. Some folks have suggested that you're writing Texas off."
Sen. Bernie Sanders: "Hah! Well you know, what? What the media tells me is I'm writing off every state because I'm not in eleven states simultaneously. Can't do that. Of course we're not writing Texas off. We're here in Austin now, we're going to be in Dallas later. We were in Texas before. Look we are running against a person who ran for president in 2008, who is one of the best-known people in America. We started this campaign at three percent in the polls, some recent national polls actually have us in the lead. We have enormous momentum in Texas and throughout this country. We believe that on Tuesday's we're going to do very, very, well here, as indicated by the size of this crowd right here in Austin."
"You certainly have a lot of support in Austin, but how does a Democratic socialist sell a message in Texas?"
"Well the truth is the American people are sick and tired of a corrupt campaign finance system in which billionaires are buying elections. Very few people, no matter what their politics are, conservative, progressive, think that billionaires should buy elections. Most people, no matter what their politics may be, understand we have a rigged economy. People are working longer hours for lower wages and almost all new income and wealth goes to the top one percent. We think the American people want to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. We think the American people want to create millions of decent paying jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and we think we have a message that is resonating."
Less than three hours after Hillary Clinton was declared the winner of the South Carolina primary by nearly 50 points, Bernie Sanders was back on the campaign trail, seemingly eager to put the loss behind him.
Instead of speaking in South Carolina, Sanders was en route to Rochester, Minnesota for a campaign rally. He issued a statement congratulating Clinton on her victory, but saying also, "This campaign is just beginning." And when he arrived in Minnesota, he addressed the primary results just briefly -- to the reporters who had traveled on the plane with him.
"In politics on a given night sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Tonight we lost. I congratulate Secretary Clinton on her very strong victory. Tuesday over 800 delegates are at stake and we intend to win many, many of them. Thank you very much," he said.
Then it was onto his supporters gathered in Minnesota, where he talked about the minimum wage, the need for criminal justice reform and his decision not to have a super PAC - anything but his loss in South Carolina. He took a few minutes to talk about his differences with Clinton, but not her big win that night.
Bernie Sanders unloaded on Republican frontrunner Donald Trump during his mega-rally in Austin, Texas, this afternoon, focusing the crowd's attention at the end of his remarks beyond the primary fight and straight to the general election.
"I believe that Donald Trump's idea of dividing us up is a horrific un-American idea. I believe that not only can we win this democratic nominating process, but we can defeat Trump and defeat him soundly," Sanders said.
He went on to list a number of topics where he believes Trump's ideas are out of touch with the American people, ranging from from tax breaks for the nation's top earners, to climate change, wages, and immigration.
"We will defeat Trump because the American people do not want a president who insults Mexicans, Muslims, who insults women, African-Americans and veterans, and basically anybody who is not like Donald Trump and, thankfully, most Americans are not like Donald Trump," Sanders said.
For months on the campaign trail, Sanders casually mentioned the businessman, especially when talking about immigration or climate change, but the senator's specific focus and long list today about why would defeat Trump was unique.
"We will defeat Trump because our campaign is bringing people together, not dividing them," he said. "We will win because togetherness trumps divisiveness. Community trumps selfishness. And love trumps hate."
Looking to close the gap with Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders exhorted the mostly young and capacity crowd at the Verizon Center to join his revolution against the political and economic establishments.
“It looks like Dallas is ready for a political revolution,” Sanders said Saturday. “So are a lot of people across our country.”
“It is one thing to have the support of the establishment,” he said. “It is another thing to have the support of the people…I think we have a surprise coming for some people on Tuesday.”
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The enthusiastic Grand Prairie crowd did the wave and listen to music while waiting for Sanders speak.
Toddlers wore shirts the read “babies for Bernie.”
And supporters frequently chanted: “They got bailed out, we got sold out,” or “We don’t need no super PAC, Bernie’s got our back.”
He’s for the people, not the banks,” said Christy Irwin, a 31-year-old preschool teacher from The Colony. “With Bernie, it’s not me, it’s us.”
In campaign 2016, Chicago is “feeling the Bern.”
Supporters of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders held a rally in Daley Plaza and then marched about a mile to Water Tower Place, reports CBS 2’s Sandra Torres.
Tiana Carson and her nine-year-old twins traveled to Chicago from Aurora to be a part of this rally and march.
They were amongst hundreds who joined in with signs and chants to make another push before the March 15 Illinois Primary.
“It’s important to show our youth now so they are paying attention when their turn comes,” Carson said.
While the focus of the march was to support Sanders, many say it’s also a way to get people energized to go out and vote.
upporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders marched through downtown Nashville.
About 250 people carrying signs and wearing shirts showed their support for Sanders Saturday.
The group held a rally at the Parthenon after walking from Rosa Parks Boulevard up West End Boulevard to Centennial Park.
Participants said they wanted to show Sanders has a lot of support in Nashville and that his message on the campaign trail has been something everyone can get behind.
“Blue collar people matter, white collar people matter, union people matter, everybody matters, and that's what Bernie stands for is everybody,” said Sidney Bennett, a supporter of Sanders.
About 100 people marched through downtown Mobile in support of presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders on Saturday afternoon. Participants emphasized the need for social and economic equality and advocated raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour pointing to Seattle as an example of a city that is phasing in an increase over several years with a current minimum wage of $11.
Three groups – Mobile for Bernie, the University of South Alabama Students for Bernie and Mobile Bay Socialist Alternative, organized the march. The event was one of about 70 marches for Sanders throughout the U.S. on Saturday.
Participants walked for about a mile, many carrying handmade signs. Michelle Piette of Mobile walked with her beagle/dachshund mix Duke who had two small "I bark for Bernie," signs strapped to his harness. "I love Bernie and I wish I had known more about him earlier. And, I'm terrified of Trump," said Piette. "He stands for so many people with disabilities, for health care and minimum wage."
Sanders supporters plan several activities leading up to Super Tuesday next week. Super Tuesday is the biggest single day for presidential candidates to receive delegates as 12 states including Alabama and one U.S. territory participate.
On Saturday, hundreds of people wearing their “Feel the Bern” T-shirts and holding “Bernie for Prez” signs lined the corner of 12th and Q streets.
The march and rally for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders -- initially pulled together by Cody Pratt and Ben Huber as a small Facebook event -- came one week ahead of Nebraska's party caucus.
At first, neither expected the number of participants, but more than 200 people said on Facebook they'd go and 400 said they were interested.
Phip Ross, co-chairman of the English department at Southeast Community College, spoke before the march.
Electing Sanders president is America's best hope for the future, said Ross, who co-wrote “Far Beyond Words: Stories of Military Interpreting in Iraq."
Pratt said the march began as Huber’s idea to drum up support for Sanders ahead of Nebraska's party caucuses.
“Bernie is a pillar of integrity,” Pratt said. “He’s the model of democracy in a candidate.”
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders will hold "A Future to Believe In" rally at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center on Wednesday.
The Vermont senator was invited to campus by Associated Students of MSU, the university’s student government.
The goal is “to give students a chance to directly engage with the candidate rather than just what they see on CNN or in the debates,” said ASMSU President Domonique Clemons.
Clemons said ASMSU reached out to several presidential candidates.
“A couple of them showed interest,” he said, but none besides Sanders’ campaign was able to commit.
Sanders has drawn strong support from college students, and Clemons said “We’re expecting to fill the lower bowl of the Breslin as well as some of the upper bowl.”
More than 9,000 mostly young people attended a Sanders rally at Eastern Michigan University on Feb. 15.
In 2009, the proportion of American women who were married dropped below 50 percent. In other words, for the first time in American history, single women (including those who were never married, widowed, divorced, or separated) outnumbered married women.
It is a radical upheaval, a national reckoning with massive social and political implications. Across classes, and races, we are seeing a wholesale revision of what female life might entail. We are living through the invention of independent female adulthood as a norm, not an aberration, and the creation of an entirely new population: adult women who are no longer economically, socially, sexually, or reproductively dependent on or defined by the men they marry.
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While they are not often credited for it, single women’s changed circumstances are what’s driving a political agenda that seems to become more progressive every day. The practicalities of female life independent of marriage give rise to demands for pay equity, paid family leave, a higher minimum wage, universal pre-K, lowered college costs, more affordable health care, and broadly accessible reproductive rights; many of these are issues that have, for years, been considered too risky to be central to mainstream Democratic conversation, yet they are policies today supported by both Democratic candidates for president.
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So far, any affinity single women may feel with Hillary Clinton is being trumped by the aspirationally progressive vision of Bernie Sanders. Young women — young single women, at least the predominantly white ones who have so far cast their votes — have broken for him in startling numbers in both the Iowa and New Hampshire contests. In New Hampshire, according to exit polls, Sanders beat Clinton by 11 points with women and by 26 points with single women. Some of this is attributable to the disheveled charm and righteous anger of the socialist senator, and some to Clinton’s difficulty running an inspiring campaign. But much of it may also have to do with the fact that single women — living their lives outside of the institution around which tax, housing, and social policies were designed — have a set of needs that has yet to be met by government. Ironically, Clinton has been in the weeds on some of these issues — health-care reform, children’s health insurance, early-childhood education — for much of her career. But perhaps because of that, she can seem less optimistic than her opponent: “I don’t think, politically, we could get it now,” said Clinton of paid leave just two years ago, a sign both of how improbable these policy changes have seemed until very recently and of her battle-scarred pragmatism. The question, in this year of the single woman, is whether the first truly plausible female presidential candidate can recognize how much her constituency has changed and capitalize on these changes, or if she will get overtaken by this growing group of independent women voters responding to more optimistic promises.
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