Monday night's campaign appearance by Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders of Vermont packed the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine. (photo: Robert F. Bukaty/AP)
07 July 15
ith
the wind at his back following his massive rally in Madison, Wisconsin,
Bernie Sanders returned to Iowa for a three day campaign swing. Before
he even arrived, Quinnipiac University released a poll that had Sanders
surging to 33% in the Hawkeye State. Hillary Clinton still holds a
19-point lead in Iowa, but that lead was 45% just 1 month ago. Polls in
New Hampshire have Sanders within single digits.
The highlight of Bernie’s three day swing in Iowa
was a standing-room-only crowd of over 2,500 in Council Bluffs. It was
by far the largest crowd any candidate has mustered in Iowa this year.
The second and third largest crowds of around 800 were also at Sanders
events in Des Moines and Davenport.
Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley was also in Iowa, but his largest crowd was 125 people in a Des Moines suburb. In an interview following
a stop Thursday in Waukee, O’Malley said Sanders has been on the rise
partly because voters see him for now as a “protest candidate.”
“People feel like big money has subsumed, taken over,
their politics, and they’re frustrated by it,” O’Malley said. “People
feel like their voices don’t matter. People feel like they’re not being
heard, and right now, they want to protest about that. I’m not running
as a protest candidate, I’m running for president of the United States.”
O’Malley is also the first candidate to run a negative
ad on the Democratic side, and it wasn’t against Hillary Clinton.
O’Malley attacked Sanders for his position on gun control, even though
the NRA currently gives Sanders a D-minus. O’Malley clearly sees that he
has to get past Sanders before he can be a challenger to Clinton.
O’Malley is either spinning or out of touch with
Sanders supporters. Sanders crowds are enthusiastic and committed, and
they cite his authenticity as one reason. Maybe O’Malley should lose the
teleprompter and the speeches about Baltimore’s role in the American
Revolution. Bernie is connecting with voters while O’Malley is gaining
no traction.
Sanders marched in three July 4th parades, one on the
3rd in Dennison, Iowa, and two on the 4th. RSN caught up with Sanders on
the 4th in Waukee, a conservative town 18 miles west of Des Moines. I
had a chance to talk to Bernie and his wife Jane following the parade.
I also asked his supporters why they support him. Perhaps Gov. O’Malley should watch this.
Another major boost for Sanders came in a press
conference at a firefighters union hall in Council Bluffs. Three weeks
ago, Larry Cohen was the national president of the Communication Workers
of America (CWA). On July 3rd in Council Bluffs he became a volunteer
for Bernie Sanders.
Cohen said it “wasn’t a close call. For working
families in a union or not, this is the candidate who not only stands up
for us but believes, in his words, that we need a political revolution …
Bernie Sanders has showed us in the last couple of months that we can
run a campaign, that we can raise money, that we can break turnout
records wherever we go, just by standing up for working people … I don’t
know that in my lifetime, or anyone’s in this room, that we have had a
candidate for president with his viability, who was there his entire
life for working people … Every candidate in these primary and caucus
states can talk well, they know what we want to hear. This is a guy who
for his entire life has been there for working people, who doesn’t back
down, who stands up for us when we are in fights with the biggest
corporations in the country … He doesn’t back away … He doesn’t avoid
the fight.”
Cohen said he will do whatever is needed, in Iowa or
anywhere he is needed. He will work to bring in support from other union
members and their allies, which is a huge asset to Sanders.
Bernie said that Larry Cohen’s endorsement means a
great deal to him, that they have worked together for years, but that
it’s not just about Larry and the CWA, that other union members are on
board and he is proud to have their support.
On Monday night, the surge spread to Portland, Maine,
where more than 7,500 people packed an arena in another big show of
grassroots support for Bernie Sanders.Portland is not Madison,
Wisconsin, so this number says a lot about the breadth of his support.
“In case you didn’t notice, this is a big turnout,”
Sanders told the placard-waving crowd as they cheered his call to take
on the billionaire class and rebuild the American middle class. “From
Maine to California, the American people understand that establishment
politics and establishment economics are not working for America,”
Sanders said. “They understand that the greed of Wall Street and
corporate America is destroying the great middle class of this country,
and people from coast to coast are saying, ‘You can’t keep getting away
with it.’”
Sanders was introduced by Troy Jackson, a logger from
Allagash, Maine, who praised the senator’s willingness to take on “the
big corporate structure.” Sanders’ proposals for improving health care,
raising the minimum wage, and making higher education tuition-free were
also cited by Jackson, a Democratic National Committee member and former
Maine Senate majority leader. “What a lot of people are feeling is that
there is somebody speaking to their issues,” Jackson told the Portland Press-Herald. “That’s why you’re seeing so many people come out.”
More than 7,500 was the initial estimate from the
campaign, but MSNBC reported that arena officials think it’s more likely
that close to 9,000 people filled the arena. Either way, Sanders has
drawn over 25,000 people in the last week. I don’t think any other
Democrat in the race has drawn this many in the whole election cycle.
Just a protest vote, Martin? I think it is very clear – Bernie Sanders
has launched a movement that traditional electoral campaigns might not
be able to stop.
Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where
he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain
archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment
movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace
and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of
Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian,
and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural
events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be
spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.
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