Via Sen. Sanders Twitter

Every candidate for president must answer the following questions.
Is it morally appropriate that the 99% of all new income is going to the top 1%?
Is it good economics that the top one-tenth of 1% own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90%?
Is our democracy being destroyed when one family can spend $900 million to buy election?

does he automatically get a podium on the debate stage?

(link...)

I'll be voting for him in the primary.

Wow. You guys are really rolling out the youth this time. Cankles vs. Grouchy Grandpa. Nice.

In his favor, Bernie has not avoided the press so far.

Unlike Hillary Clinton, his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Bernie Sanders didn't use a splashy, big-budget video to announce his campaign. Instead, the Vermont senator opted for a series of one-on-one television interviews Wednesday followed by a low-key launch event outside the US Capitol Thursday morning. "I believe that in a democracy, what elections are about are serious debates over serious issues," he said Thursday. "Not political gossip, not making campaigns into soap operas. This is not the Red Sox vs. the Yankees. This is the debate over major issues facing the American people."

Clinton's negatives get so high, either she bails or there is a draft Warren campaign.

Either way, Warren leads the ticket.

Republicans, who'd love to pigeon hole her as a socialist, won't be able because Bernie will be there to show them what one really is.

Warren becomes the first woman president after the GOP out crazies itself in the primaries.

Top campaign contributors over their respective careers, Hillary Clinton vs. Bernie Sanders, here.

I mean, seriously.

The Teamsters Central States Pension Funds is cutting the pensions of present and future retirees throughout the south. Western States, having the same contributory level is fully funded. Go figure. We will get poorer and poorer in the south and have more time to research. Even after you close the libraries like you evil bastards will try, we will move under the cover of night and spread the truth. Don't think you will take people like me down without a fight.

This reminds me of the Phil Bredesen for Governor argument. That worked out well. No state income tax (in spite of the fact that his Republican predecessor favored one), 300K booted from Tenncare (over two successive cuts), and workers' comp gutted--all in his first term.

Bredesen was still at it at the end of his second term. By 2010, he was opposing the ACA in favor of a federal voucher system.

And who can forget--that very same year--Bredesen's accepting Bill Gates' offer to underwrite the cost of our "successful" Race to the Top grant app. Or his calling that clandestine "extraordinary session" in which he "successfully" persuaded legislators to approve broad ed reform measures prerequisite to submitting the federal grant app, which app he wouldn't even allow legislators to read.

If we want to understand how a Republican supermajority came to power in Tennessee, the 2002 governor's race is a pretty good starting point for our research. Personally, I voted for somebody named Sanders in that one, too. He came in third because you didn't.

(Edit: To clarify, Dahlia, that "you" was meant as a plural. Of course, I have no idea who you personally voted for in the 2002 governor's race.)

And I'm sorry, but it is flippin' painful to watch the gay community now lick this woman's Gucci footwear.

Bernie Sanders did not check to see which way the wind was blowin' in 1996 when he joined 67 House Dems to vote against the fed's Defense of Marriage Act. You know, the one Bill Clinton signed? Pretty much concurrent with his milquetoast "Don't ask, don't tell" tack?

All the while, Sanders' Vermont was the first state to introduce civil unions in 2000, and the first state where the Legislature passed a law legalizing same-sex marriage (without being forced to do so by a court) in 2009.

In her last presidential bid, Hillary Clinton was still saying (in 2007) that she did not support same-sex marriage.

She came out in support only in 2013, concurrent with the SCOTUS decision in U.S. v. Windsor, striking down DOMA.

Attention deficit disorder? Selective hearing? WTF???

BTW, it was my 23 year-old daughter who posted that Major Contributors comparison, Clinton vs. Sanders, to my FB timeline last night--detailing Clinton's Goldman-Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse support.

She may have voted in just one Presidential election in her life thus far, but she recognizes the 1% when she sees it and she's good to go.

Thinking of dragging her to the next Sixth District Dems meeting to teach the oldsters what for...

I'm voting for Sanders in the primary, but it would take a Ted Cruz R nomination to get me to vote for HRC in the general. (Note: Voting for any Democratic presidential nominee is an exercise in futility in Tennessee.) There is nothing more depressing in this election cycle than the fact that anybody is still excited about the Clintons.

KNS ran a funny-sad political cartoon today (this one in the Business section) suggesting the SCOTUS needs to take up the issue of "same-checks marriage," as in the one between Repubs and Dems identically financed by Corporate America. Yup.

Well, Tennessee was a swing state of sorts in Bush vs. Gore. The definitive swing state in fact.

So Martin O'Malley isn't left enough for your sensitivities? You'd rather have the limousine socialist, the anti-corp socialist, or a socialist who can't decide how socialist he is on any given day?

I think this explains why in the next election cycle there will not be a single Dem on County Commission. You're doing the protest vote all wrong.

CNN (on Friday, May 1):

Bernie Sanders' nascent presidential campaign announced Friday that it raised more than $1.5 million in its first 24 hours, a number that far outpaces what Republican presidential hopefuls posted in their first day.

That was from 35,000 donors, so his average contribution was under $50. And he signed up 100.000 volunteers by Friday.

BTW, tonight's meeting of Knoxville's Democratic Socialists was a pleasure. Saw a few local Democrats I know. And you know.

Hate to burst y'alls' bubble, but it seems to me these primaries are preordained by the DNC, big donors, power brokers and the national media.

Consider:

2008 Democratic presidential primary, Tennessee:

Clinton: 336,245
Obama: 252,874

How the Tennessee delegates actually voted at the convention:

(Click for bigger)

I sensed there was a lot of backroom cajoling and coordination until Hillary eventually called for a suspension of the rules and nomination of Obama by acclamation.

So yes, having a primary allows for public debate of the issues and whatnot (assuming there are credible candidates and that they will agree to debate) and that's a good thing, but it appears that in reality the primaries are mostly for show.

So let's court us some delegates.

Carly Fiorina, ex-CEO of Hewlett Packard was remiss in registering a certain domain, haha! Major applause for the person who did this.

(link...)

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Darn. I missed it, Mike (but thanks).

Just came across this story: Sanders hires Obama veterans to lead 2016 digital operations.

Excerpt:

During the 2008 campaign, Obama's digital operations revolutionized the ways candidates could reach voters and gather personal information about them through social media and other platforms. Clinton has also hired several veterans of the Obama campaigns, including Teddy Goff, digital director for the president's 2012 re-election campaign.

Also, an update on fundraising through first four days says $3 million from 75,000 voters, so average donation still running under $50--but lots of 'em.

More from the Los Angeles Times: Bernie Sanders' 'socialism' may have mainstream appeal, including an itemized list of some of Bernie's "wild ideas" (that aren't really wild at all).

Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone: Give 'Em Hell, Bernie.

Kira Lerner for ThinkProgress: 6 Ways Bernie Sanders Will Challenge Hillary Clinton.

Jacob Cannon via Vimeo presents
Discussion on the Budget with Sen. Bernie Sanders

The Discussion on the Budget with Sen. Bernie Sanders took place at Trinity Episcopal Church in Charlottesville, VA on Monday May 11, 2015. Hundreds were in attendance and many hundreds more wanted to attend. Sen. Sanders spoke candidly about the inequities facing the most of the America people by outlining the recently passed US budget.

Derek Willis in the NYT 5/27/15
The Senate Votes That Divided Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders

In many of the cases in which she differed with Mr. Sanders, who represents Vermont and is also running for the Democratic presidential nomination, Mrs. Clinton went with the crowd. She voted with an overwhelming majority of her colleagues, including Republicans. Her positions on the votes that differed from Mr. Sanders represented policy differences but also political calculations by Mrs. Clinton, who was preparing for a presidential run in 2008.

The 31 times that Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders disagreed happened to be on some the biggest issues of the day, including measures on continuing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an immigration reform bill and bank bailouts during the depths of the Great Recession. Mr. Sanders, who formally kicked off his campaign Tuesday evening in Burlington, Vt., was opposed to all these actions.