Having passed on the 2016 presidential race, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. watches the fight for the Democratic nomination with a mixture of longing and restlessness.
He remains neutral in the battle between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, but not between their campaign styles. He’ll take Mr. Sanders’s aspirational approach over Mrs. Clinton’s caution any day.
“I like the idea of saying, ‘We can do much more,’ because we can,” Mr. Biden said in an interview on the Washington-to-Wilmington, Del., Amtrak train he has ridden throughout four decades in national politics.
“I don’t think any Democrat’s ever won saying, ‘We can’t think that big — we ought to really downsize here because it’s not realistic,’ ” he said in a mocking tone. “C’mon man, this is the Democratic Party! I’m not part of the party that says, ‘Well, we can’t do it.’ ”
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Pointing to the financial crisis, the Great Recession and fierce battles with Republicans over health care and government funding, Mr. Biden said, “We had about eight atom bombs dropped on our desk.”
Yet he likes the idea that Mr. Sanders is aiming high, regardless of whether the large steps he envisions to narrow income inequality and broaden economic opportunity become realized in the next presidential term. The philosophy Mr. Biden has advocated within the Obama White House: Push for a lot, and persevere over the long run.
“Presidents have always been told by really smart people: ‘Don’t push something that you can’t succeed in — it diminishes your power,’ ” he said. “I completely disagree with that proposition.
In his first campaign appearance since a crucial loss in New York's primary, Bernie Sanders on Thursday dialed back his rhetoric on Hillary Clinton — only to ramp it back up later in the day.
While most of speech remained intact, Sanders dropped the most aggressive portions, which mocked Clinton for her lucrative paid speeches to large banks like Goldman Sachs. He didn't go after her super PACs, nor contributions to her campaign from wealthy donors.
But any sighs of relief from anxious Democrats were quickly proven premature.
Where Sanders spent time bemoaning both party's primary process at his first event, Sanders returned to the battle with Clinton, armed with what he interpreted as a show of support for his aspirational ideas from the Vice President Biden, given in a New York Times story published online Thursday.
At least three times, he referred back to this story, "thinking back to what the Joe Biden said, thinking big, thinking aspirationally."
"That is what this campaign is about," Sanders continued, "It is about having the courage to face the reality of American life today, understand that that reality is not always a pleasant reality, but have the courage to take on the special interest who are preventing us from going forward.
This led to a slew of more direct contrasts with Clinton, mirroring what he said just a few hours later, at a rally in Reading, Pennsylvania, when he first reintroduced his rhetoric on Clinton's transcripts and super PACs.
"When I talk about difference between Secretary Clinton and myself, one of the major differences is precisely how we raise money for our campaigns," Sanders said. He said Clinton has "several super PACs" that take money from Wall Street, and suggested that she "represent[s] Wall Street" and "the billionaire class."
During his 51-minute speech, Sanders talked about Reading's economic troubles, blaming the nation's "disastrous trade policies" for the loss of many high-paying manufacturing jobs at companies like Lucent Technologies and Dana Corporation.
"In many ways, what is happening here in Reading, what has happened over the last several decades, is kind of a metaphor for what is happening all across this country," he said. "And what happens when good jobs leave, poverty increases, and what we have seen, since 1990, the poverty rate in Reading has more than doubled."
Today, in the richest country in the history of the world, Reading and Allentown have two of the most financially troubled school districts in the entire nation. That is unacceptable. That has got to change."
Sanders also shared his plans for reforming the country's immigration and criminal justice systems.
"It is time to shut down the Berks Family Detention Center [in Bern Township]," Sanders said. "The government should not be in the painful and inhumane business of locking up families who have fled unspeakable violence in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and other countries throughout the world. Instead, we should treat these families with the compassion, the dignity and the respect they deserve."
A capacity crowd was on hand for the event, with the theater's banquet rooms providing extra space for the overflow. Sanders is the first presidential candidate to visit Berks county this election season, and his supporters came out in droves.
"Oh my gosh. It's super energetic. People are driving by beeping, honking, yelling 'Feel the Bern,' and it's just great to see everyone in line, too," said supporter Celia Porter.
One of several planned campaign stops in northeastern and central Pennsylvania took place Thursday in Scranton.
"This is a fantastic turnout and it sounds to me like Scranton is ready for a political revolution," said Sanders as he began his address.
In front of a crowd of close to 2,000 people in Scranton, Bernie Sanders acknowledged that his run for the Democratic nomination for president has been an uphill battle.
"When we began this race, they did national polling. Secretary Clinton was 60, 65 points ahead of us. In the last couple weeks, there were a couple of polls that had us ahead of her," Sanders said.
His speech was often interrupted by bouts of cheering for almost an hour.
His most dedicated supporters waited much longer than that in a line that rounded the block in downtown Scranton.
"Super excited, and it just goes to show that what he has to say resonates in the hearts of not only with this whole country but everyone in this whole area as well. It's just really exciting to be a part of it," said Amy Manerano of Scranton.
For Bernie Sanders, slow and steady wins the fundraising race.
The Vermont senator began his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination last year with a sizable financial disadvantage compared to front-runner Hillary Clinton. By the end of last June, Sanders had raised just shy of $14 million for his campaign, less than a third of the $47.5 million Clinton had raised for hers.
But the Sanders campaign slowly and steadily eroded the former secretary of state's fundraising advantage. Sanders slightly edged Clinton in contributions in 2015's fourth quarter, but his fundraising operation didn't kick into high gear until 2016. His campaign has outraised Clinton's every month this year by at least 50%. In March alone, "Bernie 2016" received $44.7 million in contributions, compared to $26.3 million for "Hillary for America."
Now, Sanders and Clinton are essentially even in total campaign contributions, with each campaign bringing in more than $180 million for their bids by the end of March.
With the primary campaign entering its final weeks, both campaigns are spending at a frenetic pace. The Clinton campaign spent in March more than it raised in contributions, with a so-called burn rate of 107%. Sanders had a burn rate of 99% for March. For the campaign to date, the Sanders campaign has spent 91% of the money it raised, compared to 84% for the Clinton campaign.
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Sanders likes to say that most of his fundraising has come from small donors where the average contribution is $27. He has criticized Clinton for larger donations, but the Clinton campaign said Wednesday their average donation size for March was $45.
A Chicago principal who worked to oust Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has instead been ousted, and Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders is crying foul.
On Wednesday, Troy LaRaviere, principal of Blaine Elementary School, was removed for his position because of “alleged acts of misconduct,” according to the school district.Mr. LaRaviere served as an education adviser and was a supporter of Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuey” Garcia, who unsuccessfully challenged Mr. Emanuel for mayor. He also appeared in a campaign commercial for Mr. Sanders, criticizing Mr. Emanuel.
Mr. LaRaviere told the Chicago Tribune the Chicago Public School System — which is controlled by Mr. Emanuel — gave him no reason for his dismissal. He said prior to the dismissal it tried to shut down a meeting between him and other principals because they deemed it “illegal.”
Why illegal, you ask?
Because the school system thought Mr. LaRaviere was going to discuss its proposal to double the size of a maintenance contract run by a firm partly owned by Emanuel financial supporter and former NBA superstar Earvin “Magic” Johnson. Mr. LaRaviere told the Tribune he was going to write about the issue on his progressive blog.
Mr. Sanders immediately came to Mr. LaRaviere’s aid, calling Mr. Emanuel out for political retaliation.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that a school principal is facing politically-motivated retaliation because he dared to stand up to the mayor of Chicago,” Mr. Sanders said in a statement Thursday. “Principal LaRaviere, who won three straight principal merit awards handed out by the mayor, is getting results for the students at Blaine Elementary. The only explanation for his removal appears to be Mayor Emanuel’s unhealthy obsession with taking revenge.
They've long been feeling the Bern, but as of Wednesday, Bernie Sanders' legion of L.A. supporters will now have to a place to call HQ. The presidential candidate opened his first California campaign office in Hollywood Wednesday.
The opening may have followed on the heels of a rough night for the presidential hopeful in the Empire State, but the hundreds of supporters who came out Wednesday seemed more than ready for some California dreaming. The Los Angeles Daily News reports that close to 300 people filtered through the office, and placards, bumper stickers and lawn signs were going so quickly that volunteers began limiting the goodies to two items per person.
Working from a few printed out photos of the candidate, L.A. artist Paige Emery painted a large-scale mural of Sanders on an office wall during the opening.
"Los Angeles has a lot of support—a lot of Bernie support here. We really wanted to tap into that and say, 'How can we bring folks together?'" said Michael Ceraso, state director of Bernie 2016 told ABC.
Though Sanders himself wasn't in the house, a supporter dressed in a suit and what appears to have been an oversized papier-mâché likeness of the candidate was on hand. Supporters also posed for pictures with cardboard cutouts of Sanders.
The office, which is located at the corner of Hollywood and Western, will serve as a base of operations for the campaign, hosting voter registration drives, phone banks, and volunteer trainings, along with many upcoming events.
The President shares many policy positions with Clinton, but the mood at Sanders rallies surely reminds him of 2008
Barack Obama knows that the fate of his Presidential legacy will depend in large part on who wins the next election. That rare president who’s fortunate enough to be followed by a member of his own party has a much better chance of seeing his unfinished business finished successfully. It worked for Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were not so lucky
It makes sense then that Obama would do what he can to boost Hillary Clinton, his party’s near-certain nominee for president, and he reportedly told a group of Democratic donors last month that the moment is fast approaching when party unity will be needed in support of Clinton.
Still, you can’t help but wonder if the President might harbor mixed feelings. Obama came to Washington hoping to become a transformational leader, a president willing and able to step beyond partisan divisions to bring Democrats and Republicans together to address the country’s most pressing needs. After eight years of hand-to-hand combat with the Washington establishment—a group that includes career politicians of both parties—perhaps the President is quietly nodding along at TV coverage of those Bernie Sanders rallies.
Obama and Sanders have important differences. Obama believes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an enormous trade deal, will stand among his finest achievements. Sanders considers it a deal negotiated “by elites for elites,” and one that will cost the country jobs. Obama accepted campaign contributions from Wall Street and support from Super PACs. Sanders says these things allow interest groups to manipulate Washington. Obama feels he has done his best to take an even-handed approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Sanders disagrees.
But President Obama has probably had enough of “politics as usual” to last 10 lifetimes, and the sight of Sanders drawing the adoration of armies of idealistic young voters probably brings back happy memories. Political outsiders have much in common, even when they disagree on policy. No one will tag Clinton an outsider, and Obama must have been frustrated to see his former secretary of state renounce his signature trade agreement, a deal she once called the “gold standard” of international trade. At least Sanders, Obama may reason, has the courage of his convictions. He’s not practicing the art of political triangulation that the Clintons used on Obama in 2008.
The New York Democratic primary election on Tuesday aroused a substantial amount of controversy, as numerous people discovered too late that they had missed the deadline to switch their party registration and hence be eligible to vote in New York's closed primary. It might be tempting to dismiss this as sour grapes from Bernie Sanders supporters who couldn't get their act together. But this would be wrong. There really are serious problems with New York's primary election system.
But the problem is not with New York's closed primary system per se. It's reasonable for parties to want their candidates to be chosen by the party's members. And it's particularly hard to have much patience with attacks on the closed primary from the subset of independent voters who see voting as an individualistic consumer choice and feel that identifying with a major party would be inconsistent with their personal brand, but believe they should also be able to help choose a party's candidate. It's everyone's right to consider themselves better than the sometimes ugly compromises partisan politics entails, of course, but you can't have it both ways.
New York's decision to have a closed primary is fine. But what's not defensible is how hard New York makes it to join a party. Its unnecessarily early deadlines unquestionably have the effect of disenfranchising voters.
If you were registered to vote, as most likely primary voters are, to change your party affiliation you had to act by October 9 — 193 days before the April 19 primary. No other state in the country has a deadline remotely that early. It is simply unrealistic to expect voters to be focusing on the primary elections that far in advance of the vote, particularly in a state that doesn't always play a significant role in choosing the nominee.
There is an acceptable potential range of deadlines for closed primary. I'm inclined to favor same-day registration, which certainly should be the national standard for general elections. But I can also understand arguments that a same-day deadline opens primaries to strategic manipulation from party opponents who want to assist what they perceive as a weaker candidate. New York's deadline for new voters — March 25 — is probably a little too early, but it's within a broadly acceptable democratic range. The October deadline for already registered voters, however, is far outside a defensible rage. And since Sanders can expect a higher relative level of support from unaffiliated voters, his supporters are right to be upset.
Democratic congressional candidate Lucy Flores reports raising more than $428,000 in mostly small-dollar contributions in April, boosting her candidacy for Nevada’s 4th Congressional District.
The former state Assemblywoman was helped by an fundraising pitch sent last week to supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, who she endorsed in January.
Flores, who previously lagged behind state Sen. Ruben Kihuen and philanthropist Susie Lee in fundraising, said the influx of funds could upend the primary race.
“It’s evened out the playing field for us, and that’s exactly how politics should work,” she said.
The April donations nearly triple what Flores raised over the first three months of 2016, according to her Federal Elections Commission quarterly report.
Flores reported receiving 32,628 contributions in the first two and a half weeks of April, with more than 93 percent of donations under $200.
“It means that the people, that everyday people giving small amounts of money, have given us money to compete with special interests,” she said.
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, getting ready for next month's Kentucky primary.
The Sanders team is setting up shop in western Kentucky, while Clinton supporters prepare their next move.
Thee Sanders campaign field office in Owensboro isn't officially open until Saturday, but it's one sign the candidates are focusing on Kentucky in their race for the nomination.
"Kentucky's got a bigger say in the nominee just because of who the nominee is," says Grant Short, a Sanders supporter, and former candidate for U.S. Senate. He says the office on East 4th Street will make his candidate competitive.
"A lot of people are fired up for Bernie Sanders' message, more so than what I saw with President Obama when I volunteered the both times he ran, specifically in Kentucky," Short says. "I'm seeing a lot more people come out, people being more active."
Its one of seven the sanders team has across Kentucky, as the commonwealth grows in importance in deciding the Democratic nominee in a race expected to go until the end.
"The competitive nature of things has definitely lessened now that we're dong this on our own," he says. "The Republicans have been done for a while and now, its just us on the streets."
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders will be making a campaign stop at Gettysburg College for a town hall Friday at 11:30 a.m. The event that has the college scrambling because of the short-notice request from the Sanders campaign.
Friday's free campaign event will be held at Bream Gym on the college campus. The Sanders campaign is working with third-party vendors to bring in equipment, Yates said. The school's public safety is also working with Sanders' secret service to make sure they are on the same page.
"All politics aside, I think it says a lot about the Adams County community that a presidential candidate would pick us to visit," said Carl Whitehill, the director of communications for Destination Gettysburg, the county's tourism bureau.
From the feedback she has heard, Yates said students are excited for the upcoming town hall.
"I probably won't see another presidential candidate," said Gettysburg College student Will Harris, who will not be able to attend because of classes. However, Harris said he likely would have went to the town hall otherwise as he has several friends planning to attend. Harris noted the appeal of the school's location for presidential candidates because of the "presidential history here."
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The Sanders campaign will also hold a rally on the Millersville University campus on Friday.
As Hillary Clinton held the latest in a series of panels and discussions with family members of those affected by gun violence, Bernie Sanders' top personal surrogate laced into her approach Thursday.
"I just don't like to see it be politicized. I think that Secretary Clinton's gun record is a lot more spotty than Bernie's," Jane Sanders, the wife of the Democratic presidential candidate, said in an interview with CNN, after the network cut away from coverage of Clinton's panel in Hartford, Connecticut, that included, among others, the daughter of the principal killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012.
Sanders noted that her husband has, since 1988, "been consistently supportive of instant background checks, opposed to assault weapons, the sale and manufacture of assault weapons, for closing the gun show loophole, ending the strawman problem. And I think that's been since 1988."
By contrast, she remarked that when Clinton ran for Senate in New York, "she was very pro-gun control."
"When she ran for the presidency against Barack Obama, she was very anti-gun control in 2008," Sanders remarked. "And now that she's running against Bernie, she's back to for gun control."
The bottom line, Sanders said, is that both candidates agree that guns are an issue but that they disagree on the solution.