Polls show that Bernie Sanders, the independent Vermont Senator with openly socialist leanings, is in a dead heat with fellow presidential contender Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. Does he pose a serious threat to the Clinton campaign?
That an independent, Jewish, Vermont socialist could pose a threat to an experienced frontrunner with nearly universal name recognition and one of the most sophisticated political campaigns in history is astonishing, but the signs are clear: Bernie Sanders is surging – and Hillary Clinton is concerned.
The 73-year-old senator from Vermont came out of left field, literally, and for the Clinton team, has gone from a nuisance to a menace.
"We are worried about him, sure. He will be a serious force for the campaign, and I don’t think that will diminish," said Jennifer Palmieri, Mrs. Clinton's communications director, in a Monday interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "It's to be expected that Sanders would do well in a Democratic primary, and he’s going to do well in Iowa in the Democratic caucus."
With his impassioned attacks on billionaires and corporations, Senator Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, has been drawing enthusiastic crowds, like the 10,000 people who came out to hear him speak in Madison, Wisc., last week. He has pledged to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour, make college tuition-free, and guarantee workers family leave, vacation time, and paid sick leave.
“This grotesque level of [income] inequality is immoral. It is bad economics. It is unsustainable, and it is not what the United States of America is supposed to be about,” Sanders told supporters in Madison.
With that populist platform, he appears to be gaining ground remarkably fast.
According to reports, in May, Clinton led Sanders 60 percent to 15 percent, according to a May Quinnipiac poll. Last week the same poll showed Clinton at 52 percent to Sanders’s 33 percent.
That an independent, Jewish, Vermont socialist could pose a threat to an experienced frontrunner with nearly universal name recognition and one of the most sophisticated political campaigns in history is astonishing, but the signs are clear: Bernie Sanders is surging – and Hillary Clinton is concerned.
The 73-year-old senator from Vermont came out of left field, literally, and for the Clinton team, has gone from a nuisance to a menace.
"We are worried about him, sure. He will be a serious force for the campaign, and I don’t think that will diminish," said Jennifer Palmieri, Mrs. Clinton's communications director, in a Monday interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "It's to be expected that Sanders would do well in a Democratic primary, and he’s going to do well in Iowa in the Democratic caucus."
With his impassioned attacks on billionaires and corporations, Senator Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, has been drawing enthusiastic crowds, like the 10,000 people who came out to hear him speak in Madison, Wisc., last week. He has pledged to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour, make college tuition-free, and guarantee workers family leave, vacation time, and paid sick leave.
“This grotesque level of [income] inequality is immoral. It is bad economics. It is unsustainable, and it is not what the United States of America is supposed to be about,” Sanders told supporters in Madison.
With that populist platform, he appears to be gaining ground remarkably fast.
According to reports, in May, Clinton led Sanders 60 percent to 15 percent, according to a May Quinnipiac poll. Last week the same poll showed Clinton at 52 percent to Sanders’s 33 percent.
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