Rob Quist's Weekend with Bernie Sanders
05.22.17 1:00 AM ET
Excerpts:
“It’s not uncommon to hear a Montanan say ‘I don’t vote the party, I vote the person,” ... “when Democrats win here there is a definite personal element.”
That is exactly the vibe that Quist and his campaign were trying to create—with events that, despite the thousands in attendance, at times felt more like small-scale town halls. Quist would peer out into the crowd under the brim of his cowboy hat at each event and say that he saw people with whom he’d had a personal connection.
His wife, Bonni, spoke before Quist in both Butte and Bozeman, telling the rapt crowd about the importance of women’s rights and how her father, an independent, taught her to carefully research candidates. Quist’s daughter, Halladay, even played a few songs with a band they called “Team Quist and the Berners” in Bozeman on Sunday morning. Quist and Sanders even played a bit of basketball before the Butte event.
It was the politics of the personal, a family affair intended to signal that Quist would fight for the people of his home state. And for some voters, the personal touch was exactly what they were looking for.
“He wants my kid to be alive tomorrow, he wants me to be alive tomorrow, he wants my mom to be alive tomorrow,” McGowan said. “He connects with real human beings versus Greg [Gianforte] who connects with whoever wants to be in his circle.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/22/rob-quists-weekend-with-bernie-sanders