Bernie Sanders beyond Super Tuesday

Nebraska caucus votes on March 5, with Bernie Sanders polling 66.52% and Hillary Clinton 33.68% as of March 1. There are 30 delegates. The Maine caucus votes on March 6, with no late polling available. There are 30 delegates. Michigan's primary is March and as of February 17, Hillary was ahead 10 points. There are 148 delegates. Florida's primary is March 15, with Clinton at 59%, Sanders 33%. There are 246 delegates.

The Illinois primary also March 15, finds Sanders trailing Clinton by 11 points. There are 182 delegates. Missouri the same day, no late data available. There are 84 delegates. Also March 15, North Carolina, where Clinton is at 52% to 35% but the race is tightening. There are 121 delegates. Arizona is March 22, with Clinton at 56.2%, Sanders 21.5%. There are 85 delegates. Washington state caucus isn't until March 26, with no meaningful polling numbers to date. There are 118 delegates.

These eight states are not all the primaries and caucuses being held through the month of March but those most likely to yield a significant number of delegates, win, lose or tie. Starting with April tomorrow.

Bernie Sanders Sayings

I think the overwhelming majority of the American people know that we have got to stand together, that we're going to grow together, that we're going to survive together, and that if we start splintering, we're not going to succeed in a highly competitive

Bernie Sanders Super Tuesday

In my post yesterday, I acknowledged that Bernie Sanders had hit his first bump with a loss to Hillary Clinton in the So. Carolina Primary. The loss was quickly qualified somewhat and you can read about it in the above link. What's important is that it is only a bump, and just another reason for you Progressives to come out and work that much harder for the Bern. Today is Super Tuesday and eleven states are in play. Here's the way I see it.

Based on the So. Carolina results, there are four Southern states that would be questionable due to their black population: Alabama 26.2%; Arkansas 30.9%; Georgia 30.5%; and Tennessee 16.7%. Total delegates 289. I am also dubious about Oklahoma, 42 delegates. These five states won't be a total loss and based on percentages (61 percent of voters in So, Carolina's primary identified as black) Sanders delegate count should be higher. So that leaves six states that really count.

In the remaining six states Bernie will compete for the Hispanic vote and the younger vote (age 18 to 44). Bernie carries the younger vote hands down and a recent study found the Latinos were slipping away from Clinton. In the Nevada Caucus the Bern took 53% of the Hispanic vote. In these six states, only two have a sizable Latino population, Colorado 20.7% and Texas 37.6%. The former younger group is 38%, the latter 38.4%, both significant amounts.

The balance of four states' younger populations is Massachusetts 36.8%, Minnesota 35.8%, Vermont 34% and Virginia 37.5%. Vermont with 26 delegates is solidly behind Sanders; Colorado with 79 delegates is about even, may be tilting toward Clinton; Massachusetts with 116 delegates in a recent poll shows Bernie with 42% of the vote, Hillary 50%, obviously needing some work; Minnesota with 93 delegates shows Clinton with a measurable lead but there are still those 35.8% younger voters to deal with.

This younger vote has come through for Bernie in Iowa and Vermont but wasn't enough in Nevada and So. Carolina. It is up to this group to come all out for Bernie Sanders today to give him a comfort level to continue the fight. It is up to you.

Should the Bern lag in some of the above, tying in others, and carrying where his strength is, beyond Super Tuesday looks encouraging. More on that tomorrow. 

Bernie Sanders Sayings

It is incomprehensible that drug companies still get away with charging Americans twice as much, or more, than citizens of Canada or Europe for the exact same drugs manufactured by the exact same companies. Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders really needs your support now because there's hope

Bernie Sanders took a hit in South Carolina with Hillary Clinton gleaning just over 73% of the vote to Bernie's 26%. But with significant qualification. 61 percent of voters in So, Carolina's primary identified as black, with only about 35 percent saying they were white; Almost 47% of So.Carolina's white population is older, a group which identifies with Clinton. And although Bernie captured the younger vote, even with blacks, the numbers just weren't there.

No excuses...we had all hoped and somewhat expected better for Sanders but it just didn't happen. So where do we go from here? Naysayers like Nate Silver's 538 are saying that So. Carolina is the beginning of the end for the Bern but he's never given him a chance from the beginning and look where the candidate has come from there. The delegate momentum in heavily on Hillary's side 544 to 85, most of which are super delegates.

If you count just pledged delegates, It's Sanders 65, Clinton 91, a reasonable margin considering the odds against Bernie. But let me explain the agenda behind super delegates that could be trouble for the Bern in the long haul. They can support whomever they want to and it is expected a number of them will simply follow party lines. Unless some of them switch their support before the convention, and they can because the commitment is not binding.

So it is yet again too early for the naysayers, as it has been now several times. In the last RealClearPolitics combined national polls for Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, it was Bernie 42.2%, Hillary 47.2%, a gap of only 5%. And this included the Fox conservative poll. The Bern has shocked the media enough times already that they should have learned by now. But like the Fiddler on the Roof, it's "tradition." Tomorrow, what's ahead.

African-Americans should think twice before voting for Hillary Clinton-2

Bernie Sanders involved in civil rights in early years

In Michelle Alexander's The Nation article she said, They {the Clintons didn't take extreme political risks defending blacks, didn't fight right-wing demagoguery about the black communities, did not give black communities the hope they needed after industrialization devastation of their neighborhoods. In fact, the writer claims, they did just the opposite. And then I proceeded to separate Hillary from Bill's deeds...sort of.

But the connection continues. "...Clinton declared that 'the era of big government is over' and immediately sought to prove it by dismantling the federal welfare system known as Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC). Hillary Clinton supported this move and continued to call it a success as recently as 2008. Clinton said in one of the Democratic debates, “The economy does better when you have a Democrat in the White House.”

The above was said in reference to her husband’s record of lifting wages and creating jobs, both of which are in question when it comes to black communities. But for years these two have have been adored by African-Americans as if all during this time no one else has championed civil rights for blacks. Bernie Sanders has been working quietly all during this period and, of course, he is Hillary Clinton's opponent for the Democratic nomination.

Here are the Bern's accomplishments: In 1962 as a student at the University of Chicago, he was arrested for desegregation; He participated in the March on Washington;  Achieved high ratings from leading Civil Rights Organizations; Endorsed Jesse Jackson the first competitive black candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency; Strongly condemned police violence over the past year. There's much more and you can see it in the above link.

The point here is that Bernie Sanders doesn't just talk the talk, but he goes into the street to back up his words. That's why he deserves the nomination over Hillary Clinton.

Bernie Sanders Sayings

A growing number of communities do not trust the police. Law enforcement officers have become disconnected from the communities they are sworn to protect. Violence and brutality of any kind, particularly at the hands of the police meant to protect and serve our communities, is unacceptable and must not be tolerated. We need a societal transformation to make it clear that black lives matter and racism will not be accepted in a civilized country.