BERNIE SANDERS ANNOUNCEMENT DAY -- MULTIPLE NEWS ARTICLES
COMPILATION AND COMMENTARY
BY LUCY WARNER
FEBRUARY 19, 2019

SO, WHAT ELSE IS NEW? CLINTON SUPPORTERS AGITATING AGAIN. THIS COMMENT BY JESS MCINTOSH THAT SANDERS SEEMS TO HER TO BE WHINING ABOUT BEING A WHITE MAN IS NOT ONLY HOSTILE, BUT SILLY. THAT’S NOT WHAT BERNIE SAID. HE SAID THAT IDENTITY POLITICS, WHICH HAS RULED DEMOCRATIC PARTY POLITICS FOR YEARS, IS NOT THE RIGHT WAY TO JUDGE A PERSON AND IS IN THE END DIVISIVE AND RANCOROUSLY EMOTIONAL. BERNIE SAID THAT WE (THE DEMOCRATS) HAVE TO STEP BACK FROM THAT AND JUDGE THE HUMAN BEING INSTEAD. ONE THING I WILL NOT DO IS VOTE ON RACE, AGE, SEX, SEXUAL PREFERENCE OR GENDER OVER A CANDIDATE’S POLITICAL VIEWS, ABILITY TO EXPRESS HIMSELF, AND HISTORY OF VOTING. SANDERS EXCELS IN HIS HISTORY AND EXPRESSED OPINIONS ABOVE ANY OF THE OTHER CANDIDATES AT THIS TIME, IN MY VIEW, AND HE HAD A PERFECT RIGHT IN 2016 TO OPPOSE CLINTON, AND DO IT WITH ENERGY. THERE HAS BEEN A NEED FOR FRESH AIR IN THE PARTY FOR YEARS. IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS NO LONGER THE PLACE FOR A PERSON OF IDEAS THAT ARE FAIRNESS-BASED?

IT SEEMS TO ME THAT MARTIN LUTHER KING MADE A FAMOUS STATEMENT TO THAT EFFECT, NUMEROUS TIMES IN HIS “I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH.” IT ISN’T TRUE BECAUSE KING WAS THE RIGHTFUL LEADER OF BLACK PEOPLE, AND OF THE “PROPER” RACE HIMSELF, BUT BECAUSE BY ANY RULE OF FAIRNESS AND THE BEST LOGIC, IT IS THE WAY TO EVALUATE SOMEONE. I HEARD ONE MIDDLE AGED, WELL-TO-DO WOMAN SAY THAT SHE “JUDGES A PERSON BY THEIR SHOES.” THAT’S AS SILLY AS IT IS DISGUSTING, AND IF WE’RE GOING TO DO THAT KIND OF THING IN PICKING OUR FUTURE LEADERS, WE DESERVE WHAT WE GET. I DON’T KNOW IF DONALD TRUMP’S SHOES ARE SHINIER THAN BERNIE SANDERS, BUT THEY ARE ALMOST CERTAINLY A GREAT DEAL MORE EXPENSIVE. THAT, OF COURSE, WAS THE REAL AIM OF SUCH A COMMENT. IT’S ONE MORE LITTLE CONCEITED, SMIRKING PUT-DOWN.

IT’S JUST DIFFICULT TO DISENGAGE FROM OUR PERSONAL GROUP LOYALTY FEELINGS LONG ENOUGH TO JUDGE A CANDIDATE BY HIS INNER WORTH AND SKILLS. SHAMEFULLY, WE DEMOCRATS HAVE OURSELVES BEEN USING RACIAL POLITICS AS A WAY OF COAXING BLACK PEOPLE TO VOTE FOR US, WHILE ANY FAIR PERSON WOULD SAY THAT IT IS UNACCEPTABLE. IT IS PARTICULARLY UNFAIR IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY. IN SHORT, BERNIE IS RIGHT AND MCINTOSH IS WRONG.

https://apnews.com/577df9802be143058061b3e0b46cc9d6
Sanders announcement revives criticism from Clinton backers
By ELANA SCHOR
today [which happens to be 2/19/2019 at 9:39 PM]

TWO EXCELLENT LINKED PHOTOS, WITH CLINTON AND SANDERS IN INTERESTING POSES FROM 2016

WASHINGTON (AP) — The tension between supporters of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton resurfaced on Tuesday after the Vermont senator announced his second run for the White House.

Longtime Clinton aide Philippe Reines tweeted that the media had given Sanders a “WELCOME BACK!” reception despite his 2016 primary loss while telling Clinton to “go away.”

Jess McIntosh, a communications adviser to Clinton’s 2016 campaign, focused on Sanders’ contention on Vermont Public Radio that “we have got to look at candidates, you know, not by the color of their skin, not by their sexual orientation or their gender and not by their age.”

McIntosh shot back on Twitter: “If Bernie is going to start this contest telling us he’s at a disadvantage as a white man it is going to be a LONG year.”

Sanders is running against four women this time around — Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Amy Klobuchar — as well as three candidates of color in Harris, Cory Booker and Julian Castro.

A representative for Clinton didn’t immediately comment on Sanders’ candidacy.

An enthusiastic progressive who embraces proposals ranging from Medicare for All to free college tuition, Sanders stunned the Democratic establishment in 2016 with his spirited challenge to Clinton. While she ultimately became the party’s nominee, his campaign helped lay the groundwork for the leftward lurch that has dominated Democratic politics during the Trump administration.

The question now for Sanders is whether he can stand out in a crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates who embrace many of his policy ideas but are newer to the national stage.


WHO IS JESS MCINTOSH?

https://www.netrootsnation.org/profile/jess-mcintosh/
Speaker Profile
JESS MCINTOSH
Communications Director
EMILY's List [https://emilyslist.org/]

Jess McIntosh is the Communications Director at EMILY’s List, working to elect pro-choice Democratic women candidates, stop the GOP assault on women's rights, and increase women's leadership across the country. She previously worked as spokesperson for Sen. Al Franken through his campaign, recount, subsequent election contests and first year in the Senate. (Ed note: This took roughly 17 years - worth every day) Jess has worked in research and communications for winning campaigns in NYC, as well as serving as Communications Director for the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.



JIMMY FALLON ROASTS BERNIE, AND DOES IT HYSTERICALLY WELL.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/late-night-hosts-weigh-bernie-sanders-presidential-campaign-1188226
FEBRUARY 19, 2019 8:21pm PT by Trilby Beresford
Late-Night Hosts Weigh In on Bernie Sanders' 2020 Presidential Campaign

PHOTOGRAPH -- Scott Kowalchyk/CBS

Fallon donned a white wig to impersonate the Vermont senator, while Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah attempted the lawmaker's accent while cracking a few jokes.
Following Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders' announcement on Tuesday that he's launching a second Presidential campaign, this time for the 2020 election, late-night hosts had some fun reprising their impressions of the Vermont lawmaker.

On The Tonight Show, host Jimmy Fallon impersonated the politician and suggested some campaign slogans that might be helpful. "Hello, I'm Bernie Sanders, and I'm yelling for President of the United States," Fallon began.

Referencing the older generation's language use when talking about social media, he said, "I'm running and everyone is talking about it, I've been trending all day on the Tweeter. Hashbrown 'BernieSanders2020.'"

The comedian continued, "Our country faces many problems right now: human jobs are being replaced by artificial intelligence and robotics, which is very troubling, when so many of us still can't figure out what Alexa is." As the familiar Alexa voice came on, Fallon yelled for the robot to "go away!"

Making fun of Sanders's age — he is 77 — Fallon, still in character, went on to explain how he is the candidate with the most experience. "Literally, I am older than all 20 of them combined. Most people who run for President don't understand the Constitution. I understand it, because I was there when we signed it."

Describing his support thus far, Fallon mentioned he already has backing from Metamucil, which is a fiber supplement for patients with constipation, as well as "those tennis balls that you put on the bottom of walkers."

Toward the end of the spot, Fallon admitted he had to pee, and a campaign slogan, reflecting that, appeared on the screen much to his horror.

Over on The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert also poked fun at Sanders's age by expressing that he made his Presidential campaign announcement in the "most Bernie way possible" — on Vermont Public Radio. "After that, he made it official by posting a flyer on his local co-op bulletin board."

Noting the New York Times article that listed the many Democratic candidates, Colbert quipped, "Evidently the Democratic party has been passing out a mirror that says, '2020: Why Not You?'"

He went on to describe how the field is more diverse this time, with "multiple women, people of color, the first openly gay major party presidential candidate, but Sanders does not believe that hurts his chances."

Colbert posted a quote from Sanders in Feb. 2019 that explained his view of looking at candidates not for their age, skin color, sexual orientation or gender, but by their abilities based on what they stand for.

Colbert then gave a short impersonation of Sanders with "a dream for this diverse nation to be led by an old white guy."

Embedded video

The Late Show
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@colbertlateshow
TONIGHT! Say hello to fresh new 2020 Democratic presidential candidate **checks notes** Senator Bernie Sanders. #LSSC

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8:40 PM - Feb 19, 2019
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Over on Comedy Central, The Daily Show's Trevor Noah noted that if he were to win the presidency, Sanders would be the oldest president ever. "And I mean that literally: He was born a few months before George Washington," Noah joked.

He also had fun with Sanders' bold response to CBS This Morning's John Dickerson when asked about former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who is exploring a presidential bid. "Oh, isn't that nice," Sanders said. "Why is Howard Schultz on every television station in this country? Why are you quoting Howard Schultz? Because he's a billionaire."

Noah threw up his hands in response: "Yo, I've missed Bernie so much," he said, launching into an impression of Sanders' response. "Because every other politician would answer that question in a politician-y way... Bernie's just like, 'Howard Schultz can run for president of my ass."

Embedded video

The Daily Show
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@TheDailyShow
Bernie’s back and Fox News promises to #MakePoliticalScandalsSmallAndStupidAgain.

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10:21 PM - Feb 19, 2019
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https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/19/politics/bernie-sanders-2020-presidential/index.html
Bernie Sanders launches second presidential campaign
By Gregory Krieg and Ryan Nobles, CNN
Updated 7:24 PM ET, Tue February 19, 2019

(CNN)After months of deliberation, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Tuesday that he is running for president again in 2020. It will be Sanders' second consecutive bid for the Democratic nomination after losing to Hillary Clinton in 2016.

"I am asking you to join me today as part of an unprecedented and historic grassroots campaign that will begin with at least a million people from across the country," he wrote in an email to supporters following an interview on Vermont Public Radio.

Here are the Democrats who have said they're running for president

Sanders enters the 2020 race as one of the frontrunners -- a remarkable turn for the democratic socialist who, three years ago, was viewed as a protest candidate from the political fringe. Today, Sanders is one of the most popular politicians among Democratic voters and his policy agenda -- a suite of progressive proposals to expand health care, broaden the social safety net and make higher education free -- has been embraced by many of the Democratic party's leading figures.

"I can tell you very happily, and I think any objective observer would confirm what I'm saying, is that in the last year and half or so, the Democratic party has moved in a far more progressive direction than they were before I ran for president," he said in an interview with CNN last year. But in the run-up to his announcement, Sanders and top aides insisted the decision would ultimately turn on a much simpler question: whether he was the best candidate to defeat President Donald Trump next year.

But in his Tuesday morning email and video announcing his run, Sanders -- who described Trump as "a pathological liar, a fraud, a racist, a sexist, a xenophobe and someone who is undermining American democracy as he leads us in an authoritarian direction" -- also set out loftier goals.

"Our campaign," he said, "is about transforming our country and creating a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice."

And in a message to rich and "powerful special interests," Sanders warned: "They may have the money and the power. We have the people."

By 7:30 a.m. ET -- a half-hour after Sanders' email landed -- the campaign had received donations and signups from all 50 states, an aide told CNN. Fewer than 12 hours later, the first-day haul had reached $3.3 million from 120,000 individual donors, the aide said.

Sanders to face more crowded, progressive field

Sanders, 77, begins his campaign this time around with a higher profile and better organized base of support, but rather than having a single establishment favorite to fight, perhaps a dozen other candidates with wide and often overlapping appeal are already pursing the nomination. That includes as many as a half-dozen credible progressive hopefuls who, though not social democrats in the Sanders mold, share many of his policy priorities and political style. The primary field will also be more racially diverse and, on average, younger. Less than two months into the year, five of his Senate colleagues are either running or exploring campaigns, including four of the six women in the race.

The calendar is shifting Democratic influence in 2020 to voters of color

And though he has joined the race now earlier than he did at this point in 2015, Sanders' entry comes in the wake of about a dozen others, like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, another progressive populist, who announced the formation of an exploratory committee on New Year's Eve and formally declared her candidacy 10 days ago. She quickly scooped up Sanders' 2016 Iowa caucus director and has already traveled to six key states and Puerto Rico.

Sanders has spent much of the past few years spreading his message and developing relationships with like-minded officials and activists during exhaustive travels around the country — with a particular eye on states won by Trump in 2016 — and via his unrivaled digital operation. His core of supporters, though their vote share will likely diminish in a crowded field, could be stubborn enough to carry him to victories in some of the key early voting states. His media footprint and ability to raise big numbers of small-dollar donations should allow him to compete in California, which moved up its primary for 2020, creating an expensive new challenge for candidates who have largely forsworn corporate PAC donations and super PAC support.

"He never stopped," Our Revolution president Nina Turner, a trusted adviser, said in January. "He stays on the mission. People sometimes try to knock him off the path but he's right there, and he never wavers in that. And that's a hard thing to do, to be the one who's pushing the vision even when it's not popular. It's easy to come on board when things are popular."

But Sanders' increased influence has also invited stricter scrutiny from the political opponents, including a vocal faction inside the Democratic party who blame him for dampening support for Clinton ahead of her loss to Trump, the press and even some of his most dedicated advocates.

In January, he was forced to publicly confront allegations of sexual harassment by staffers on his 2016 campaign. Sanders apologized but, during an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, said he was unaware of the misconduct at the time because he "was little bit busy running around the country trying to make the case." The explanation fell flat and, days later another report emerged accusing an operative on the campaign of forcibly kissing a younger female staffer. When Sanders met with a group of men and women who wrote a letter to his office detailing their experiences in 2016, he was, according one former staffer in attendance, "conciliatory" and opened his remarks with what she described as an "honest apology."

Sanders returns to South Carolina with a bang amid questions over what a 2nd campaign would look like

Both Sanders critics and allies will keep a close eye on the makeup of his early hires, most notably his choice of a campaign manager to replace Jeff Weaver, who ran the show in 2016 and will remain on as a senior adviser. An aide told CNN in January that the process was already underway. There is also the question of whether influential progressives like New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who volunteered on Sanders' 2016 campaign, and traveled with him during the midterms to campaign for progressive hopefuls, will offer their public support. California Rep. Barbara Lee, one of the most respected progressive lawmakers in the country, endorsed Sen. Kamala Harris last week.

From the backbench to the front lines

Sanders' increased visibility has yielded substantial gains for the Democratic party's left flank and -- through an unlikely alliance with a Republican -- helped deliver a historic rebuke to the Trump administration's policy in the Middle East. Along with GOP Sen. Mike Lee and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, Sanders last year won bipartisan backing for a War Powers resolution calling for an end to military support for the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen. His pressure campaigns on major corporations like Amazon also helped secure a $15 minimum wage for workers there and a pledge from the company to back legislation raising it nationwide.

"He has reached out more to work with colleagues in the last few years to show that effectiveness and that's his biggest plus point on a substance level," said Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, who led the successful push for a matching resolution this year in the House.

The policy principles behind a second Sanders campaign are expected to be largely the same as in 2015 and 2016. Still, he has over the past few weeks begun to roll out or re-up proposals to combat economic inequality and fortify programs like Social Security. He is also planning to reintroduce his Medicare for all legislation in tandem with Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who has taken over developing and shepherding the accompanying House bill.

Over two weeks in January and February, Sanders unveiled plans to buy more than 50 years of padding for Social Security by raising payroll taxes on income above $250,000 and hike the estate tax on the wealthiest Americans -- suggesting a top rate of 77% on billionaire heirs.

"Our bill does what the American people want," Sanders said in a statement ahead of the rollout, "by substantially increasing the estate tax on the wealthiest families in this country and dramatically reducing wealth inequality. From a moral, economic, and political perspective our nation will not thrive when so few have so much and so many have so little."


https://www.vox.com/2019/2/19/18231538/bernie-sanders-2020-win-chances-gallup
New Gallup data shows a possible path to victory for Bernie Sanders
The report shows why Sanders might win the Democratic nomination — and how he could lose.
By Zack Beauchamp@zackbeauchampzack@vox.com Feb 19, 2019, 3:10pm EST

PHOTOGRAPH -- Bernie Sanders 2020: It’s all happening. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

A few hours before Bernie Sanders announced he was officially running for president on Tuesday morning, Gallup released a report on the state of public opinion inside the party — one with clear relevance for Bernie’s 2020 effort.

The report examines how the Democratic party has changed over the past 18 years, and finds the party’s voters are becoming increasingly left-wing. That helps explain not only Sanders’s then-surprising success in 2016, but why he’s (correctly) seen as one of the frontrunners today.

But it’s not all good news for the Vermont senator. In 2016, Sanders’s Achilles heel was black voters and older Democrats. The Gallup report finds that these are not incidental weaknesses: Older voters and nonwhite voters are two of the most conservative subgroups inside the Democratic party. This creates an intrinsic barrier for Sanders, the most left-identified candidate in the race, making it vital that he hold on to his core supporters in a field that has several other left-wing candidates.

Now, the Gallup analysis was limited in what it can tell us about Sanders’s chances. Its polls didn’t ask questions about key issues like police violence and immigration; more fundamentally, policy and ideology are far from the only factors that shape the way Democratic primary voters vote.

But new data helps us understand the basic lay of the land — and the barriers Sanders needs to surmount if he wants to win.

Gallup’s basic finding: Democrats have gotten a lot more liberal
Gallup’s pollsters looked through data on the Democratic party since 2000, dividing it into three distinct periods: 2001-2006, when a growing number of Democrats were identifying as liberal; 2007-2012, when the share of Democrats who described themselves as liberal was steady, and 2013-2018, when it once again began to increase.

Overall, this has led to a major shift in party ideology. In recent years, for the first time in Gallup’s polling, more Democrats have self-identified as “liberal” than “moderate” or “conservative”:

[GO TO WEBSITE ] Gallup

This isn’t just a semantic difference. Gallup’s data finds that on a range of policies, from guns to taxes to climate change, Democratic voters have in fact moved increasingly to the left. This is particularly true among self-identified liberals, but moderate Democrats and even self-identified conservatives have moved left on several key issues.

Over the course of the past several decades, the two major political parties have become more ideologically unified, with Republican increasingly equivalent to “conservative” and Democrat increasingly equivalent to “liberal.” The two parties have also come to stand in for broader social identities, with Republicans as primarily the party of white Christian America and Democrats representing everyone else.

The result is two parties polarizing into two unified camps with a profound disdain for the other side and few internal barriers to ideological drift. Republicans moved much further to the right than Democrats moved to the left, but the Gallup data shows that Democrats are in the process of their own shift. As being “liberal” or “progressive” becomes a core part of Democratic Party identity, the party is more likely to embrace progressive policy positions. Democrats of all backgrounds and all different walks of life are shifting to the left.

“The percentage liberal has gone up 16 points among Democrats with a college degree only, 13 points among postgraduates, 12 points among those who have attended some college and 10 points among those with no college education,” the Gallup authors explain.

These are the conditions under which a Sanders victory became thinkable. Over the course of the past two decades or so, a party that once elevated moderate Bill Clinton as its standard bearer has now become decidedly more liberal. Sanders’s decision to run for president in 2016 both exposed just how much the party had changed and furthered that leftward shift. Enrollment in the Democratic Socialists of America spiked after his candidacy; the party’s energy is with its new left-wing star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

This is the clear pathway to victory for Sanders 2020: Consolidate his support from 2016, take advantage of the party’s even further leftward drift to win over more supporters, and benefit from a larger field that will fracture the vote among many candidates. With a much higher national profile and the experience from the last campaign behind him, it’s really not that hard to envision a Sanders victory.

The problems for Sanders: age and race
But while the Democratic party has gotten more liberal over the course of time, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a cakewalk for Sanders. First of all, he’s facing competition on the left from candidates like Elizabeth Warren. It’s not clear how much of his core base — young whites and the most ideologically left-wing voters — will stick with him when they have other options.

And the two biggest barriers to Sanders’s attempt to expand beyond this core coalition remain the same as in 2016: older Democrats and nonwhite ones, who Gallup’s data suggests are more conservative than your average Democrat.

I don’t mean to suggest that ideology or policy views are the only things that matters. Far from it: On a few specific policy issues, Clinton voters in 2016 were more left-wing than Sanders voters. Identity concerns, a sense of whether Sanders personally understands the interests of the different constituencies in a diverse Democratic party, are clearly important as well. Still, the Gallup data suggests the 2016 results were not entirely a reflection of the candidates’ own profiles, but track with some genuine ideological differences inside the party.

In 2016, age was the biggest determinant of the Sanders-versus-Clinton vote. Sanders dominated among younger voters, particularly ages 18-29, but lost badly among voters aged 45 and up. The Gallup data finds most Democrats who identify as “conservative” are over the age of 50, while most Democrats who identify as “liberal” are under 50.

Race was the second-biggest factor — and Gallup finds white Democrats are considerably more likely to identify as liberals than nonwhites. Black Democrats, meanwhile, are nearly split between conservatives and liberals.

The following chart, drawn from YouGov-Economist polling during the primary, plots Sanders versus Clinton on both age and race factors. Clinton was more popular with nonwhite voters in both age categories for most of the primary, though by considerably different margins. She was more popular with older whites while Sanders ran away with the younger white vote, his support here growing as the primary went on:

[GO TO WEBSITE
Will Jordan/YouGov]

But nonwhite voters make up nearly half of Democratic voters, and older voters are more likely to vote in primaries than younger ones. These splits helped give Clinton an insurmountable advantage. She won an astonishing 99 percent of southern counties with large black populations, helping her sweep the South and lock Sanders out of the nomination.

The Gallup surveys ask about ideology and policy preferences, not about which candidates Democrats would want to vote for. Obama’s victory over Hillary Clinton in 2008 is clear evidence that a progressive-identified candidate can dominate among black voters.

But there are deeper reasons that Sanders struggled with these groups aside from the mere fact of facing a party establishment unified around Hillary Clinton. There are real and significant ideological cleavages inside the Democratic party that fall along clear demographic lines — ones that create barriers for someone with Sanders’s ideological profile despite the party’s overall drift to the left.

If Sanders can figure out a way to make inroads into these groups, or simply fend off Warren and others trying to draw from his 2016 base, then he’s got a clear path to victory in today’s more liberal Democratic party. If he doesn’t, the 2020 race will be even more open than it already seems.

IN THIS STORYSTREAM
Bernie Sanders is running for president in 2020
New Gallup data shows a possible path to victory for Bernie Sanders
Watch the Today show interview newly elected Mayor Bernie Sanders in 1981



https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/19/proving-small-dollar-army-fired-2020-sanders-raises-over-1-million-just-three-hours
Published on
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
byCommon Dreams
Proving Small-Dollar Army Fired Up for 2020, Sanders Raises Over $1 Million in Just Three Hours
As one mainstream political observer noted, that's "pretty damn good."
byJon Queally, staff writer

PHOTOGRAPH -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, spoke to a record-breaking crowd during a rally in Portland, Maine in 2015. (Photo: AP)

In just the first three hours following an announcement early Tuesday morning, the 2020 presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) says it raised more than $1 million—with the number still climbing—proving the army of small-dollar donors which fueled his 2016 campaign are still on board, 'feeling the Bern,' and ready to put their hard-earned money behind the Democratic candidate of their choice.

According to sources from within the campaign, as of 11:00 AM Eastern time, Sanders raised $1.2 million from approximately 42,000 individual donors in all fifty states.

Reacting on MSNBC, the Washington Post's Jonathan Capeheart—based on earlier reports the campaign had raised over $1 million since the 7:00 AM launch—couldn't help but acknowledge that Sanders' morning fundraising haul was "pretty damn good."

As Josh Orton, a senior advisor to Sanders, tweeted at 10:39 AM:

Josh Orton
‏

@joshorton
Follow Follow @joshorton
More Josh Orton Retweeted Dave Weigel
Yes, you read that correctly.

$1,000,000 since 7AM Eastern time today.Josh Orton added,
Dave Weigel
Verified account

@daveweigel
Sanders campaign says it’s raised $1 million since its launch three and a half hours ago. Donations from all 50 states.
7:39 AM - 19 Feb 2019
20 Retweets 76 Likes Bernie2020@shavejohngay praxis🌹☭rachel atwoodPokeTheBearilhan omar is rightDavid PryorJulius *seasonal pun here* TeaserAlex
6 replies 20 retweets 76 likes
Reply 6 Retweet 20 Like 76
New conversation

Star Stuff
‏

@Statistar30
49m49 minutes ago
Replying to @joshorton
What's the total now?

2 replies 3 retweets 10 likes
Reply 2 Retweet 3 Like 10

#FeelTheBern #Sanders2020 #Bernie2020
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@afuture_for_all
42m42 minutes ago
More
According to these articles, the total should be much higher, since California and the west coast had not waken up to #Bernie2020 in the 3.5 hours of the campaign starting. 42000 individual donors and $1.2 million. People #FeelTheBern. #tuesdaythoughts

0 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
Reply Retweet Like 3
End of conversation

TobyDawes
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❤️


Ben Mishiev
‏

@ben_mishiev
8h8 hours ago
More
Replying to @joshorton
Ben Mishiev Retweeted Gideon Resnick
Josh, anything more on this or does he oppose getting rid of the filibuster?Ben Mishiev added,
Gideon Resnick
Verified account

@GideonResnick
Sanders, in the more extended interview with John Dickerson, says he's "not crazy about getting rid of the filibuster." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGLdebLKM7o …
0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
Reply Retweet Like

Subsequently, the campaign confirmed the number continued to climb and other outlets reported it had exceeded the $1.5 million mark.

As The Daily Beast noted, Sanders was able to raise more money in a matter of hours than Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) raised in the entire first day of her campaign:

Up to this point, Harris had been the most dynamic fundraiser among Democratic candidates in the race, having raised a whopping $1.5 million in 24 hours after declaring from more than 38,000 individual donors. That number, the Harris campaign noted at the time, had surpassed the number of individual donors for Sanders in his first day of running during his 2016 bid. Now, Sanders' current campaign, says they have already received contributions that beat both of those figures.

According to a Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks, mainstream political pundits continue to underestimate the "power of small-dollar donors" and how—since his 2016 campaign—Sanders has been able to upend the political landscape by creating a source of campaign revenue that comes from people, not corporate interests or large campaign committees:

TYT -- BERNIE SANDERS SECRET ADVANTAGE IN 2020

RoseAnn DeMoro, former president of National Nurses United (NNU) and a prominent Sanders backer, said there's no reason the campaign couldn't maintain the pace—or even exceed it—over the course of the day:

PHOTO OF PROTESTOR’S SIGN: “PRAY FOR THE DEAD AND FIGHT LIKE HELL FOR THE LIVING.” FROM MOTHER JONES

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License


CHALLENGE INJUSTICE: "HOLD ONTO YOUR HAT," HE WARNED. "THE ANTI-BERNIE MASS MEDIA ONSLAUGHT WILL BECOME GALE FORCE. THE ONLY WAY TO OVERCOME THAT MANIFESTATION OF CORPORATE POWER WILL BE VIA PEOPLE POWER."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/19/defeat-trump-people-powered-political-revolution-bernie-sanders-announces-2020-run
Published on
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
byCommon Dreams
To Defeat Trump With People-Powered Political Revolution, Bernie Sanders Announces 2020 Run
What's going to be different this time? "We're going to win," said the Senator from Vermont
byJon Queally, staff writer

PHOTOGRAPH – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced his 2020 run on Tuesday morning. "We began the political revolution in the 2016 campaign," he told Vermont Public Radio, "and now it's time to move that revolution forward." (Image: USAmurica)

With an interview with Vermont Public Radio that aired early Tuesday morning, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) officially announced his candidancy for president in 2020, telling listeners in his home state he is determined to defeat President Donald Trump while building a grassroots-style campaign—with a network of "at least a million people"—designed to win Medicare for All, a national $15 minimum wage, reduced student debt, bold climate action, criminal justice and immigration reform, and create a political and economic system that works for the many and not just the few.

"If we are prepared to stand together, there is no limit to what the great people of our nation can accomplish." —Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)"I wanted to let the people of the state of Vermont know about this first," Sanders told VPR's Bob Kinzel. "And what I promise to do is, as I go around the country, is to take the values that all of us in Vermont are proud of—a belief in justice, in community, in grassroots politics, in town meetings—That's what I'm going to carry all over this country."

Sanders added, "We began the political revolution in the 2016 campaign, and now it's time to move that revolution forward."

Shortly after his radio appearance, Sanders released the following campaign video via Twitter:


Highlighting some of the key issues he has fought for throughout his political career—and notable victories he has achieved as a lawmaker in the Senate—the video concludes with a unifying theme and a voiceover of Sanders declaring, "If we are prepared to stand together, there is no limit to what the great people of our nation can accomplish."

In his interview with VPR, Sanders explained he was running for president for two basic reasons: "Number one, I think the current occupant of the White House is an embarrassment to our country. I think he is a pathological liar, everyday telling one lie after another—and it gives me no pleasure to say that. I also think he is a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, a xenophobe, somebody who is gaining cheap political points by trying to pick on minorities, often undocumented immigrants."

Sanders said that he "cannot recall—certainly not in my lifetime or in modern history—that we've had a president that actually goes out of his way to try and divide the American people up based on where we were born or the color of our skin or our gender or whatever it may be. I think what a president has got to do is bring our people together and not divide us up."

The second reason, he added, is to complete the progress he started in the 2016 campaign by bringing serious solutions to the table—solutions once said to be too radical but, in fact, supported by large majorities of the American people.

In a letter sent to supporters, Sanders declared: "Together we can create a nation that leads the world in the struggle for peace and for economic, racial, social and environmental justice. And together we can defeat Donald Trump and repair the damage he has done to our country."

Asked by CBS News in a separate interview that will air Tuesday what would be different in 2020 compared to 2016, Sanders said: "We're going to win."

In addition to vowing victory, Sanders said his campaign is going to "launch what I think is unprecedented in modern American history and that is a grassroots movement."

Though not unexpected—with speculation rife in recent days and weeks about making his decision known—Sanders' status as the former candidate who won a number of state primaries and caucuses in 2016 and still the most popular elected lawmaker in the country, according to many polls, puts him in a strong position as the crowded Democratic field comes into further focus.

Supporters of Sanders who have been waiting patiently for the official announcement, celebrated the news:

Norman Solomon, national coordinator of the independent Bernie Delegates Network in 2016 and now a coordinator of the relaunched Bernie Delegates Network, said Sanders is by far the most exciting candidate now in the running, especially because of his long history as a champion of grassroots campaigning and a proven commitment to transformative change.

"For decades he has made it clear he understands that the transformational power we need isn't handed down from on high—it's gained through grassroots activism and organizing to challenge injustice and the vast numbers of ills related to corporate power."
—Norman Solomon, Bernie Delegates Network

"Bernie is the only candidate for the Democratic nomination who has always been part of progressive movements," Solomon told Common Dreams. "For decades he has made it clear he understands that the transformational power we need isn't handed down from on high—it's gained through grassroots activism and organizing to challenge injustice and the vast numbers of ills related to corporate power."

Despite the virtues of other candidates in the Democratic field, Solomon believes Sanders "is qualitatively way ahead" of them all.

"The Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign offers us a much deeper and more sweeping vision of a humanistic society, in which great wealth and huge corporations will not only be strictly regulated—they'll also be compelled to serve the common good instead of the drive to maximize profits," Solomon said. "Whether the goal is Medicare for All, truly progressive taxation, tuition-free public college or absolute dedication to environmental protection, Bernie has been there first—and, by far, he remains the clearest, most authentic and most trustworthy candidate. For progressives, he's the real deal, not someone trying on progressive garb because of current political fashion."

Will it be easy? Not even close, Solomon acknowledged.

"Hold onto your hat," he warned. "The anti-Bernie mass media onslaught will become gale force. The only way to overcome that manifestation of corporate power will be via people power."

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/19/us/politics/bernie-sanders-2020.html
Bernie Sanders Joins the 2020 Presidential Race
By Sydney Ember
Feb. 19, 2019

VIDEO -- Senator Bernie Sanders announced that he was running for president again. Here’s how Mr. Sanders and President Trump have gone after each other.CreditCreditKathryn Gamble for The New York Times

Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent and 2016 Democratic primary runner-up whose populist policy agenda has helped push the party to the left, embarked on Tuesday on a second run for president, in a bid that would will test whether he could retain the anti-establishment appeal he enjoyed with many liberal voters three years ago.

A self-styled democratic socialist whose calls for “Medicare for all,” a $15 minimum wage and tuition-free public colleges have become pillars of the party’s left wing, Mr. Sanders is among the best-known politicians to join an already crowded Democratic field and one of the most outspoken against President Trump, whom he has repeatedly called a “pathological liar” and a “racist.”

“Three years ago, during our 2016 campaign, when we brought forth our progressive agenda we were told that our ideas were ‘radical’ and ‘extreme,’” Mr. Sanders said on Tuesday in an early-morning email to supporters, citing those health, economic and education policies as well as combating climate change and raising taxes on wealthy Americans.

“Well, three years have come and gone. And, as result of millions of Americans standing up and fighting back, all of these policies and more are now supported by a majority of Americans,” he said.

[Here is where Mr. Sanders stands on the issues.]

Mr. Sanders did not immediately announce where he would campaign first, nor did he disclose any staffing decisions for his political operation. His senior advisers have been spending the weeks leading up to the announcement attempting to recruit a more diverse array of aides than were on his earlier campaign.

A sensation in 2016, Mr. Sanders is facing a far different electoral landscape this time around. Unlike his last bid for the White House, when he was the only liberal challenger to an establishment-backed front-runner, he will be contending with a crowded and diverse field of candidates, including popular Democrats like Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts who have adopted his populist mantle.

Victories in the 2018 midterm election by women, minorities and first-time candidates also suggest that many Democrats may prefer fresh energy, something that skeptics believe Mr. Sanders could struggle to deliver. A 77-year-old whose left-wing message has remained largely unchanged in his decades-long career, Mr. Sanders will also need to improve his support from black voters and quell the unease about his campaign’s treatment of women that has been disclosed in recent news accounts, and that has prompted two public apologies.

Yet almost immediately after making his announcement, Mr. Sanders drew criticism for his response to Vermont Public Radio when asked if he thought he best represented the current Democratic Party.

“We have got to look at candidates, you know, not by the color of their skin, not by their sexual orientation or their gender and not by their age,” Mr. Sanders said. “I think we have got to try to move us toward a nondiscriminatory society which looks at people based on their abilities, based on what they stand for.”


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Bernie Sanders as he launches 2020 campaign: “We have got to look at candidates, you know, not by the color of their skin, not by their sexual orientation or their gender and not by their age.” https://www.vpr.org/post/hes-2020-bernie-sanders-running-president-again …

He's In For 2020: Bernie Sanders Is Running For President Again
Sen. Bernie Sanders has confirmed to VPR that he is seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

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At a time where folks feel under attack because of who they are, saying race or gender or sexual orientation or identity doesn’t matter is not off, it’s simply wrong.

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The Trump re-election campaign issued a statement about Mr. Sanders that reflected the president’s strategy of labeling his Democratic opponents as “socialists.” The press secretary for the Trump campaign, Kayleigh McEnany, said Mr. Sanders had already won the Democratic debate because “every candidate is embracing his brand of socialism.” The statement also criticized Mr. Sanders for supporting higher taxes on wealthy Americans to help finance “Medicare for all.”

In an interview on CBS This Morning, Mr. Sanders did not shy away from calling himself a democratic socialist.

Mr. Trump, Mr. Sanders said, is “going to say, ‘Bernie Sanders wants the United States to become Venezuela.’”

“Bernie Sanders does not want to have the United States become the horrific economic situation that unfortunately exists in Venezuela right now,” he said. “What Bernie Sanders wants is to learn from countries around the world why other countries are doing a better job of dealing with income and wealth inequality than we are.”

Mr. Sanders will start with several advantages, including the foundation of a 50-state organization; a massive lead among low-dollar donors that is roughly equivalent to the donor base of all the other Democratic hopefuls combined; and a cache of fervent, unwavering supporters. A coveted speaker, he is still capable of electrifying crowds in a way few politicians can. He enjoys wide name recognition, and several early polls on the 2020 race had Mr. Sanders running second behind former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

[Check out the 2020 Democratic field with our candidate tracker.]

And while rising stars like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley have siphoned off some of his authority over the progressive wing of the party, he still claims to have spawned a “political revolution” that, true revolution or not, has ignited a generation of young, socialist-leaning voters and has reshaped the Democratic Party. While Mr. Sanders caucuses with the Democrats, he remains an independent and has not joined the party.

Mr. Sanders is also partly responsible for the party’s decision last year to overhaul its presidential nomination process, including sharply reducing the influence of superdelegates and increasing the transparency around debates — factors he felt greatly favored Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont marched with others from a prayer service at Zion Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., to the state house last month during an event on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Credit
Travis Dove for The New York Times

Image
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont marched with others from a prayer service at Zion Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., to the state house last month during an event on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.CreditTravis Dove for The New York Times

Asked in his interview with CBS what would be different about this presidential run compared to 2016, Mr. Sanders replied bluntly: “We’re going to win.”

“Bottom line,” he said, “it is absolutely imperative that Donald Trump be defeated.” Though he had harsh words for the president, he said he was fond of the five other senators who were running for the Democratic nomination. “They are in some cases my friends,” he said in the interview, which was broadcast shortly after his Tuesday announcement.

With his booming voice and familiar wide-armed grip at the lectern, Mr. Sanders has long positioned himself as a champion of the working class and a passionate opponent of Wall Street and the moneyed elite. His remarks often include diatribes against “the millionaihs and billionaihs” — one of his most common refrains is that the “three wealthiest people in America own more wealth than the bottom 50 percent” — as well as denunciations of “super PACs” and the influence of big money on politics. In particular, he has sharply criticized Amazon and Walmart over their wages and treatment of workers.

[Make sense of the people, issues and ideas shaping American politics with our newsletter.]

In his email to supporters, as well as a campaign announcement video, Mr. Sanders laid out a litany of policy issues, familiar to anyone who has followed him through the years: universal health care, tuition-free public college, women’s reproductive rights, lower prescription drug prices, criminal justice reform.

“Our campaign is about taking on the powerful special interests that dominate our economic and political life,” he said.

While some presidential candidates have avoided direct broadsides against President Trump, Mr. Sanders — ever combative — addressed his potential opponent head on.

“You know as well as I do that we are living in a pivotal and dangerous moment in American history,” he said. “We are running against a president who is a pathological liar, a fraud, a racist, a sexist, a xenophobe and someone who is undermining American democracy as he leads us in an authoritarian direction.”

Born in Brooklyn, with an accent to match, Mr. Sanders ran unsuccessfully in the 1970s for governor and United States senator in Vermont before being elected mayor of Burlington in 1981. For 16 years, he served as the only congressman in the state before he was elected to the Senate in 2006.

Mr. Sanders has been a modest legislator and something of a lone wolf in Washington, promoting largely the same legislative agenda since his early days as a mayor. He voted against the Iraq War and, in 2008, he was one of roughly two dozen senators to vote against the $700 billion bailout of big banks.

And while he is often viewed as a pesky left-wing gadfly, he is also known to reach across the aisle, working on legislation with Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Senator John McCain of Arizona, both Republicans. He has rationalized voting for the 1994 crime bill, now heavily criticized for some of its draconian provisions, by saying he had favored progressive parts of the bill, including the Violence Against Women Act, while strongly opposing measures that would lead to mass incarceration.

Mr. Sanders is the longest-serving independent in congressional history, a point of pride for him but one of consternation and annoyance for some Democrats who are quick to suggest he does not have the party’s interests at heart. Some Democrats blame him for Mrs. Clinton’s loss in 2016, saying his anti-establishment rhetoric during his campaign inflamed divisions in the party that proved insurmountable.

Mr. Sanders largely avoided scrutiny during his 2016 presidential run but he will likely face more direct attacks from his opponents and more attention from the news media in a second bid for the White House.

One 2016 campaign issue that will almost certainly resurface is his record on gun control, Democratic strategists have said, given the intensity of the debate around gun violence following recent mass shootings. In 2005, Mr. Sanders voted for a law that granted immunity to gun manufacturers and dealers from most liability lawsuits. Mr. Sanders has also come under fire for support he received from the N.R.A. when he was running for Congress in 1990, in part because he vowed not to support a bill that mandated a waiting period for handgun sales.

Though his message is well worn, Mr. Sanders has indicated that he is trying to remedy weaknesses from his first presidential campaign. In recent months, he has made a series of trips to the South, where in 2016 he drew less than 20 percent of the black vote. On the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday this year, he made a two-day swing through South Carolina — where black voters made up about 60 percent of the Democratic primary vote in 2016 — that included addressing supporters and students and speaking with lawmakers.

In a radio interview with Mark Thompson, a progressive African-American radio host, Mr. Sanders said his message included a call to “end institutional racism” though he only offered some broad agenda items for addressing inequality.

“We’ve got to pay special attention to those people who have been hard hit economically, we have to invest in urban communities, and we have to deal with all of the massive disparities that currently exist in American society,” he said.

He has also tried to shore up his foreign policy credentials, becoming a vocal critic of the United States support of Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. Late last year, the Senate passed a resolution, which Mr. Sanders helped introduce, to end American military assistance for the kingdom’s war there.