Inside the gym at Santa Fe Community College on Thursday afternoon, more than 3,400 people were truly “feeling the Bern.”
Wearing a powder-blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and no tie or coat, 74-year-old Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders delivered his message for sweeping economic and social reform ahead of New Mexico’s June 7 primary.
“The only way real change takes place is when millions of people stand up, fight back and demand action,” the senator from Vermont said in his thick Brooklyn accent. “And that is what I am seeing from coast to coast and what this campaign is about.”
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He repeated many of the messages he has been spreading throughout his underdog campaign and said he’s telling people what they want to hear – the truth, even when it hurts. For the Santa Fe audience, that included references to New Mexico’s poor ratings in various economic and other categories.
He noted that at 30 percent, New Mexico has the highest rate of childhood poverty in the country. “That should not happen in New Mexico. It must not happen in America. We’re going to change our national priorities,” he said.
He said the nation’s education system needs to be improved, reminding the crowd that New Mexico has the worst high school graduation rate in the country.
Sanders spoke to the Native Americans in the crowd, saying they had been lied to and cheated, and he promised that he would change the relationship between indigenous people and the federal government if he’s elected president.
Speaking to the Latinos, he said there are about 11 million undocumented immigrants in America, and he criticized Trump for suggesting they should all be deported. “That type of bigotry and hate talk has got to end,” he said.
Elliott Enriquez, a 22-year-old student at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, said he also will vote for the first time in the June 7 primary.
“A year ago, I thought I would be supporting Hillary Clinton because there was no other option, and then Bernie Sanders came around,” said Enriquez, who waited outside the community college gymnasium in a hammock he had kept in his car after a weekend camping trip.
“It seemed like he was reading my mind on a lot of issues in terms of social welfare and university tuition,” Enriquez said. “Basically, the idea of taking care of your fellow Americans really spoke to me.”
Amber Quintana, 23, who lives in Las Vegas, N.M., said she was a Sanders supporter “early on.”
“I’m very liberal where I do believe there is a possibility of an equal society,” she said. “Honestly, the only reason why there’s an unequal society is because there’s certain people in privilege that want to keep it that way. Bernie is talking about breaking down all these systems of oppression and control and inequality, and I’m like, ‘How can I not align with that dude?’ ”
Karen Machon, 71, said she has been a Sanders supporter for nearly two decades.
“I listened to him every Friday on Thom Hartmann’s radio show called Lunch with Bernie,” she said. “He was answering questions from the public, and he’s been doing it for years and years and years and years, so I became familiar with him a long time ago. He’s like the love of my life.”
Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders worked up a crowd of more than 7,000 people who came to see him Friday, sending them into a chanting frenzy over some of the sensitive cultural issues he talked about at the rally – racial and economic inequality, environmental regulation and the history of Native Americans. Hundreds more Sanders supporters were closed out of the Albuquerque Convention Center on Friday night for Sanders’ speech, his second event of the day in New Mexico.
Early into Sanders’ Albuquerque rally, his microphone buzzed with reverb.
“There’s too much electricity in here,” he said to the cheering crowd.
And electrified they were, rarely stopping their clapping, hooting or booing, depending on the topics, which spanned all of Sanders’ major platform issues in a speech that lasted a little over an hour.
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From there, Sanders traversed a dozen more social issues that are part of his campaign, including income inequality, gender issues, paid leave for new parents, access to subsidized education and health care, environmental regulation and taxation on fossil fuel companies, fracking, police culture, the banking industry, a mandatory $15 minimum wage, immigration and the plight of economies on Native American reservations.
Sanders’ comments about Native Americans came as his speech was winding down around 8:30, and his comments drew the longest applause and group chant from the audience.
“Native Americans have a profound lesson that we cannot afford to ignore,” Sanders said. “That lesson … is as human beings we are part of nature.”
After the rally in Santa Fe, Sanders headed south to Albuquerque where greeted a crowd of more than 7,000 supporters at the Convention Center.
Sanders told the crowd, “Albuquerque is ready for a political revolution!”
KRQE News 13 spoke to the presidential candidate one-on-one before the rally.
“That’s what this campaign is about, that’s what I mean by a political revolution,” Sanders told KRQE News 13. “Having people standing up and telling Congress you know what, pay attention to me and my kids and my parents and the environment and not just worry about your campaign contributions.”
Issues that seemed to resonate with Sanders’ supporters at the Albuquerque rally, are his plan to raise minimum wage to $15 per hour, and make public college free. Sanders said he’ll do so by taxing Wall Street speculation.
“He doesn’t seem to be anchored down by corporations and money and deceit,” said Jeddy Hubler, a 21-year-old Sanders supporter and Albuquerque native.
Others said they support Sanders’ plan to make higher education affordable. “My daughter has like $100,000 in student debt right now, so at high interest rates, she’ll never get out of that debt,” said Coop Cooper.
Hillary Clinton is on board with the bipartisan plan to rescue Puerto Rico from near economic collapse, but Senator Bernie Sanders issued a strong statement Friday evening against it.
The White House and the House reached a deal late Wednesday to aid Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory that has amassed $70 billion in debt and has been languishing in recession for nearly a decade. The Senate is expected to go along with the bill.
Clinton isn't thrilled. She has "serious concerns" about parts of the plan, but she believes Congress should pass it and President Obama should sign it quickly.
"We must move forward with this legislation," Clinton said Friday. "Otherwise, without any means of addressing this crisis, too many Puerto Ricans will continue to suffer."
Sanders, who is challenging Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, said, "I am proud to stand in strong opposition to this bill." He suggested the rescue plan would benefit Wall Street "while workers, senior citizens and children are punished."
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Sanders, who has campaigned in Puerto Rico, said, "We must never give an unelected control board the power to balance Puerto Rico's budget on the backs of children, senior citizens, the sick and the most vulnerable people in Puerto Rico while giving the people of Puerto Rico absolutely no say at all in the process."
"That may make sense to groups representing Wall Street, but it makes absolutely no sense to me," he said in a statement.
Sanders, who blames Wall Street for Puerto Rico's troubles, had earlier said he would support allowing the island to become a state or even an independent nation.
Gabriel McArthur is heading to the Democratic National Convention in July to serve as a delegate for Bernie Sanders. Screaming and shouting are a distinct possibility from the Sanders camp at the event, he says.
McArthur and other Sanders supporters are approaching the gathering with the enthusiasm that has powered the effort from the start — holding garage sales, delivering pizza and raising money online to pay for their travel to Philadelphia.
But their nerves are raw now over the Democratic Party’s perceived slights against the insurgent candidate and they are clinging to a bygone hope that Sanders can wrest the nomination from Hillary Clinton despite her overpowering lead in delegates.
As these super-fans chant “Bernie or bust,” Democratic officials are growing increasingly worried about dissent, especially after a recent state convention in Nevada turned raucous. Some of the Sanders backers who are going to the convention as delegates for him — and there are more than 1,400 — give party officials little reason for comfort.
“I don’t think we’re going to see a lot of violence, but we are going to see some screaming and shouting if the DNC doesn’t humanize itself,” McArthur, a 24-year-old administrative assistant in suburban Denver, said of the Democratic National Committee. “A little civil disobedience is OK. It’s part of being an American.”
Sanders delegates, in more than a half dozen interviews, say that while violence is not their goal for Philadelphia, party unity isn’t their priority, either. They don’t believe he has been treated fairly by the party establishment.
“Anything can happen,” said Jesica Marie Butler, 25, a Sanders delegate from Hawarden, Iowa, who volunteers for the campaign and is raising money on gofundme.com for her trip to Philadelphia. “This is a movement. This is a political revolution. It’s getting people involved in the process. We’re going to stick to it.”
Democratic Party leaders are proposing a set of new rules governing conduct at upcoming state party conventions to avoid a repeat of the chaos in Nevada that sent chills up the spines of Democrats nationwide.
With both the Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton campaigns agreeing to follow through, it’s a positive first step forward in the wake of a raucous state convention that laid bare the divide between Sanders supporters and the Democratic establishment.
But the new guidelines — the most extensive response yet from national Democrats to Saturday’s blow-up — merely represent short-term fixes, rather than broad gestures designed to placate frustrated Sanders supporters who feel the Democratic Party apparatus has worked against their interests.
“Now is that going to change some diehards’ minds about how they should look at the party and stuff? I don't know. Probably not,” said Idaho Democratic Party chairman Bert Marley. “But I think it will help with a lot of people that are new to the process and just are having a little trouble figuring out what's going on. I think that's more what this is addressed to: how do we help these people navigate through the process so their voices are heard and they can walk away with it whether they're successful or not and say, 'I made a difference, I was part of the process.'”
The proposals — which drew no audible protests — include having the campaigns and DNC commit to sending senior staff members to be on site for the conventions, to have the convention leaders provide their proposed rules to both campaigns and the DNC at least 48 hours early, to ensure all speakers run without interruptions, and to secure a commitment from both campaigns and the national party to help with the cost of any needed law enforcement or security.
In an attempt to head off an ugly conflict at its convention this summer, the Democratic National Committee plans to offer a concession to Sen. Bernie Sanders — seats on a key convention platform committee — but it may not be enough to stop Sanders from picking a fight over the party’s policy positions.
Allies of both Clinton and Sanders have urged Democratic leaders to meet some of Sanders’s more mundane demands for greater inclusion at the Philadelphia convention. Their decision to do so is expected to be finalized by the end of the week, according to two people familiar with the discussions. But growing mistrust between Sanders supporters and party leaders have threatened to undermine that effort.
Even with the committee assignments, Sanders plans an aggressive effort to extract platform concessions on key policies that could prompt divisive battles at a moment when front-runner Hillary Clinton will be trying to unify the party. Among other issues, he plans to push for a $15 national minimum wage and argue that the party needs a more balanced position regarding Israel and Palestinians, according to a Sanders campaign aide who requested anonymity to speak candidly.
Much like their view that the economy has been “rigged” to benefit the wealthy more than the middle and working classes, Sanders supporters have become increasingly convinced that national Democrats have stacked the political deck with rules that have made it difficult for Sanders to win enough delegates to threaten Clinton’s nomination.
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Ken Martin and other Democratic chairmen urged national leaders to give Sanders the concessions he seeks — especially when it comes to the platform, which in the long run does not have a material impact on Democrats’ electoral chances in November.
“There are other chairs who probably feel that way and feel like this is my party and f--- Bernie Sanders,” said Martin, a Clinton supporter. “I’m not one of those.
“I feel very passionately that we have to open up that party and make sure that those voices are heard,” he said.
National City is preparing to feel the Bern. Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Bernie Sanders is scheduled to speak in Kimball Park Saturday night at 7:30.
Mayor Morrison warned patience would be key. Parking is extremely limited.
A Sanders campaign press release said entrance to Kimball Park would be on a first-come, first-served basis. The release also told people to leave bags, weapons, chairs, tents, signs, and banners at home. They will not be allowed through security. The release suggested attendees limit what they carry to keys and wallet.
This is the first time in 24 years that a presidential candidate has visited National City. Then-Governor Bill Clinton spoke in Kimball Park in 1992. Prior to that, Senator Robert Kennedy spoke off the back of a truck in National City in 1968.
Senator Bernie Sanders is doubling down his efforts in San Diego as he adds a second rally in the North County.
The Sunday campaign rally will be held at the stadium at Rancho Buena Vista High School in Vista.
“They had seen our site through Google Maps I guess they looked and saw the venue that it fit,” said Principal Chuck Schindler.
“Between both sides of our stadium and the grassy area it can hold about 5,000 people,” said Schindler.
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Political Analyst Carl Luna believes Sanders added the Vista event to bolster exposure in San Diego.
“He’s also might be targeting students at Cal State San Marcos,” said Luna. “Support has been strong for Sanders with college students.”
“It’s the biggest event since I’ve been here,” said Schindler of Sunday’s rally.
He hopes the campaign event will serve as a teachable moment for his students.
“It’s not every time you get to see a presidential candidate close up,” said Schindler. “It’s a great opportunity for my students to see democracy in action.”
Hillary Clinton entered this month with a healthy $30 million in the bank, but her campaign did not take in more money than Bernie Sanders' in April, contradicting earlier assessments and calling into question suggestions that her fundraising had overtaken his small-dollar fundraising juggernaut.
Clinton’s main campaign committee directly received $25.1 million last month, compared with $26.9 million raised by Sanders’ campaign, according to reports filed Friday afternoon with the Federal Election Commission.
Sanders’ actual tally is slightly more than his campaign indicated earlier this month, when it put out a news release boasting of raising $25.8 million. A Sanders campaign source said the discrepancy resulted from the challenges of tallying huge numbers of small donations.
Meanwhile, Clinton’s tally is slightly less than the $26.4 million that her campaign touted earlier this month. The discrepancy in her fundraising figures arises from the accounting techniques of a joint committee called the Hillary Victory Fund that her campaign formed with the Democratic National Committee and 32 state parties. In addition to the $4 million transferred by the Hillary Victory Fund to Clinton’s campaign committee, Clinton’s aides counted toward its April tally $1.8 million in expenses paid out by the fund for the Clinton campaign’s share of joint fundraising costs.
Those funds were spent on behalf of her campaign, even though the money that paid for them was never transferred to the campaign, the Clinton campaign says. It has been assessing its finances that way since the formation of the victory fund last year, a spokesman said, rejecting a suggestion that it’s an effort to pad its bottom line.
But in April, the higher tally that resulted from the accounting method led to a slew of headlines, including in POLITICO, about Clinton outraising Sanders for the first time, which was seen as significant since Sanders’ small-dollar online fundraising prowess has been a key advantage over Clinton.