Vermont Democrats idolize Sanders as election rallies begin
MONTPELIER - Vermont Democrats are cheering home-state hero Bernie Sanders as a series of weekend election rallies allowed them to offer their thanks and praise.
The U.S. senator from Vermont got 86 percent of the vote over Hillary Clinton in the state’s Democratic presidential primary in March, before losing the party nomination to her.
The love showed in Montpelier on Friday as he kicked off the series of appearances with gubernatorial candidate Sue Minter and other Democrats. Rallies were scheduled in Vergennes, Bennington and Rutland on Saturday and in Burlington and St. Albans on Sunday.
Minter was among those thanking Sanders for pushing Clinton and other national Democrats to include in the party’s platform, such provisions as a $15 minimum wage, tough Wall Street reforms and a carbon tax to discourage overuse of fossil fuels.
“Thank you, Bernie, for changing the course of our national conversation, for making social and economic justice the center of our political agenda, for fighting for Main Street and not Wall Street, for making it a priority to rebuild our middle class,” Minter said, interrupted by applause at each pause.
Sanders drew cheers from the crowd of about 400 as he insisted that a state that is second smallest in population can lead the nation and the world toward needed changes.
“As you know, nationally, democracy is in fact being threatened by Citizens United and billionaires all over this country who intend to do everything they can to buy the elections,” Sanders said in a reference to a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down limits on independent campaign contributions by organizations including corporations.
“And in Vermont we are saying ‘You are not going to buy this election,’” Sanders added. “Democracy will prevail.”
Sanders urged his audience to gear up for a fight that will continue after the election.
“Our job is to bring that day closer where health care is a right of all people, where public colleges and universities are tuition-free, where we create nationally millions of good-paying jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure.”
He vowed that tiny Vermont, with fewer than 650,000 residents, can have an outsized impact on slowing global climate change.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2016/10/22/vermont-democrats-idolize-sanders-election-rallies-begin/92621134/
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