Sanders facing tougher 2020 competition for liberal support

[brooklynite]

Concord Monitor

Barbara Lee supported Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential bid, helping him score one of his most decisive victories that year when he dominated the New Hampshire primary. But as he wages another bid for the White House, Lee is looking at a different candidate.

“I like him, I like his ideas,” the 66-year-old retired massage therapist said of Sanders. “I just think right at the moment, Elizabeth Warren has better plans.”

That sentiment is becoming a hurdle to the Vermont senator’s effort to recreate the energy that fueled his insurgent 2016 campaign, when he emerged as the liberal alternative to Hillary Clinton. Democrats now have multiple options, including Warren, who had a strong debate performance and outraised Sanders by more than $1 million during the second quarter in a sign of her growing grip over progressives.

Lacking the clear anti-establishment lane he had to himself in 2016, Sanders now must carve out a new one – and it’s unclear exactly what that will look like.

“He has to be able to convince people that there’s something distinctive about him,” said veteran Democratic strategist Bob Shrum. “His speeches now, and what he says in the debates, are indistinguishable from what he said in 2016. In 2016, he was the new kid on the block, despite his age and he seemed fresh to a lot of people. Right now I think he’s lost some of that sense of freshness.”

[roody]

1. He has been campaigning for his core beliefs

for forty years. He is the real thing. I wonder how he does not get tired of repeating himself. I admire his consistency.

[Go Vols]

2. +1

[Cha]

3. No kidding! Like the retired massage therapist said..

“I just think right at the moment, Elizabeth Warren has better plans.”