User:Czar/drafts/Bernie Sanders presidential primary campaign, 2016

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Bernie Sanders in March 2020 This article is part of a series about
Bernie Sanders
Mayor of Burlington
U.S. Representative from
Vermont's at-large district
U.S. Senator from Vermont
Presidential campaigns
Published works

Bernie Sanders's signature

Background[edit]

Announcement[edit]

Sanders at his campaign kickoff in Burlington, Vermont, late May 2015

Staff[edit]

Primaries[edit]

Sanders in Littleton, New Hampshire, August 2015

Journalists often referred to the primary as a forgone conclusion (or "coronation"[1][2][3]) for Hillary Clinton.

Sanders's July rally in Madison, Wisconsin, drew the biggest audience of any primary candidate at that point. His campaign noted 200,000 donors as of that time. While Sanders was rising in New Hampshire polls, he was far behind Clinton in Iowa. Sanders noted that he had low name recognition among voters of color and began to add civil rights and race issues to his stump speech, which had focused on economics and climate change.[4] In August, The Washington Post wrote that Sanders's overflow crowds were "a testament" to his growing admiration, social media strategy, and an "alchemy of like-minded interests" such as progressive activism, labor unions, and celebrities. An estimated 27,500 people attended his Los Angeles rally—about five times larger than Clinton's biggest crowd—and over 100,000 people attended his rallies up to that point: about 28,000 in Portland, Oregon, 15,000 in Seattle, 11,000 in Phoenix, 10,000 in Madison, Wisconsin, and 8,000 in Dallas. The Washington Post noted that Howard Dean's similar enthusiasm at rallies in 2003 did not translate into voters in the Iowa caucuses.[5][6][7]

After losing the Nevada caucuses, Sanders began to address Clinton by name in his speeches—a practice he deliberately avoided earlier in his campaign. In the weeks leading up to the second Super Tuesday primaries, Sanders actively contrasted his record and policy interests with Clinton's.[8]

Sanders came from behind 20 percentage points in the polls[9] to win the Michigan Democratic primary on March 8.[10] Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight wrote that Sanders's win in Michigan was "one of the greatest upsets in modern political history" and "among the greatest polling errors in primary history".[11] Sanders won the millennial vote, independents, and whites, while Clinton won among partisans, the poor, and blacks. Even with the surprise win, The New York Times said that the Democratic race had "stalled": "Sanders has still not attracted the kind of coalition that would make him a genuine threat to win the nomination".[12] The Huffington Post noted that the media had been trending to declare the chance of a Sanders comeback statistically impossible.[13] To win the nomination, Sanders needed to win more and greater upsets in the remaining states while improving his outreach to minority voters.[14]

Sanders's strategy in Michigan blamed free trade deals for outsourcing and fewer American jobs. The campaign had 13 Michigan offices, 44 staff members, and hundreds of volunteers. Sanders spoke to more than 40,000 people there.[15] As he transitioned to Illinois, he criticized Clinton's connection to Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel.[16] In the days leading up to the March 15 primaries, polls showed Sanders climbing from well behind Clinton in Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri to an advantage, a close loss, and a tie, respectively. He was farther behind in Florida.[17][18][19] Sanders led several rallies in Florida, each with thousands of supporters.[20] Commentators and critics considered Sanders the winner of the eighth Democratic debate, which aired on March 10, 2016.[21]

Florida Congressman Alan Grayson, who endorsed Sanders, wrote that March 15 marked the end of the first half of the primaries, the "Old South", where Sanders's demographics were unfavorable. Though Sanders was down over 200 pledged delegates, Grayson wrote that Sanders would still come out ahead if he won the remaining, more demographically favorable states by the same 60–40 margin with which he had won previous states.[22]

In advance of the Arizona and Utah primaries on March 22, Politico reported that the previous week's losses had slowed the campaign's momentum. Highlights from the Arizona campaign included the support of Congressman Raul Grijalva and Sanders's choice to not confront Joe Arpaio in their face-to-face meeting. Early voter returns in Arizona skewed towards an older population—a demographic favorable to Clinton.[23] Sanders's fundraising for February had outpaced Clinton's again ($43.5 to $30 million). Sanders had spent $20 million on advertising and had $17 million on hand. About 62% of his donations (and 23% of Clinton's) were below $200 apiece.[24]

Sanders won the caucuses in Idaho and Utah on March 22, and the Democrats Abroad expat primary the day before. Clinton won Arizona, a delegate-rich state, and left Sanders a small net positive in pledged delegates from the day. Politico reported that even with big wins in upcoming states—Alaska, Hawaii, Washington—Sanders would continue to trail behind Clinton's current lead of 300 pledged delegates. Politico and the campaign agreed that dramatic wins, like the New Hampshire and Michigan primaries, were needed to sustain the campaign. The Democratic nomination was designed to be finalized by mid-March and while some in the Democratic Party were frustrated that Sanders had not ended his campaign, few had called for its termination. The Sanders campaign also contributed to Clinton's visibility, as a three-month dry spell of news from an uncompetitive Democratic primary would cede much air time to comparatively chaotic Republican primary.[25]

Positions[edit]

Main article: Political positions of Bernie Sanders

The Democratic Party moved to the left on immigration during the Obama years. Sanders pledged to put "comprehensive immigration reform" before Congress and to not deport children. Sanders's 2015 immigration plan used humanitarian parole and estimated that up to nine million undocumented immigrants would remain in the United States.[26]

Reception[edit]

Polling[edit]

Endorsements[edit]

Main article: List of Bernie Sanders presidential campaign endorsements, 2016

Media[edit]

Sanders received significantly less airtime on main media channels in 2015. In an analysis reported by Democracy Now, Donald Trump received about a third of the total mainstream primary campaign coverage, and Hillary Clinton received six times Sanders's coverage.[29] Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone noted that editors at The New York Times had been particularly ungenerous towards Sanders in their coverage. Accordingly, he wrote that the newspaper had "practically been an official mouthpiece for the Clinton campaign this election season".[30]


Larry David parodied Bernie Sanders on Saturday Night Live during the primary season. David was similar to Sanders in appearance and Jewish mannerisms. Saturday Night Live writers said the bit came together quickly. Vulture described the praise for David's first Sanders appearance in mid-October as "rapturous".[31] His mid-March appearance teased Sanders supporters (for overzealous posting on social media) and Sanders himself for not appealing to minority voters.[32]

Fundraising[edit]

See also[edit]

Reception[edit]

lasting political movement[33]

References[edit]

  1. ^ http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-clinton-coronation-1444821904
  2. ^ http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/10/13/hillary-clinton-won-debate-democrats-plan-for-coronation-is-on-track.html
  3. ^ http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/opinion-blog/2015/03/13/why-hillary-clinton-and-jeb-bush-shouldnt-be-handed-a-coronation-in-2016
  4. ^ http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/bernie-sanders-draws-biggest-crowd-any-2016-candidate-yet
  5. ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-does-bernie-sanders-draw-huge-crowds-to-see-him/2015/08/11/4ae018f8-3fde-11e5-8d45-d815146f81fa_story.html
  6. ^ http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/10/politics/bernie-sanders-portland-rally-19000-2016/
  7. ^ https://www.yahoo.com/politics/democratic-presidential-candidate-bernie-sanders-126531662801.html
  8. ^ http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/month-offense-how-sanders-upped-his-attacks-clinton-n538631
  9. ^ http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-bernie-sanders-lasting-power-20160313-story.html
  10. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/09/us/politics/primary-elections-michigan.html
  11. ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/more-shocking-upsets-in-s_b_9452498.html
  12. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/10/us/politics/primary-night-takeaways-hillary-clinton-is-shaken-and-donald-trump-roars-back.html
  13. ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/more-shocking-upsets-in-s_b_9452498.html
  14. ^ http://www.vox.com/2016/3/10/11189908/bernie-sanders-can-win
  15. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/09/us/politics/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton.html
  16. ^ http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-bernie-sanders-lasting-power-20160313-story.html
  17. ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/more-shocking-upsets-in-s_b_9452498.html
  18. ^ http://www.vox.com/2016/3/14/11219906/bernie-sanders-polls
  19. ^ http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/florida-ohio-democratic-primary-preview/
  20. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/03/10/bernie-sanders-draws-thousands-at-rallies-across-florida/
  21. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/10/us/politics/who-won-the-debate.html
  22. ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-alan-grayson/democratic-presidential-primary-2_b_9459766.html
  23. ^ http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/bernie-sanders-arizona-220937
  24. ^ http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/bernie-sanders-fundraising-hillary-clinton-221024
  25. ^ http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/can-bernie-sanders-still-win-2016-221137
  26. ^ http://www.vox.com/2016/3/10/11193556/sanders-clinton-immigration
  27. ^ http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/14/election-2016-tech-policy-net-neutrality-bernie-sanders-donald-trump
  28. ^ https://news.vice.com/article/bernie-sanders-foreign-policy-israel-palestine-aipac
  29. ^ http://www.democracynow.org/2016/3/10/how_about_an_election_without_polls
  30. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-the-new-york-times-sandbagged-bernie-sanders-20160315
  31. ^ http://www.vulture.com/2016/02/how-snl-got-larry-david-to-play-bernie-sanders.html
  32. ^ http://www.businessinsider.com/snl-bernie-sanders-supporters-2016-3
  33. ^ http://www.salon.com/2016/03/22/he_is_already_a_winner_why_paul_krugmans_attacks_on_bernie_sanders_miss_the_mark/

External links[edit]

Media related to Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, 2016 at Wikimedia Commons


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