2016 USA Presidential election thread I: The warm-up

[Andalusian girls]

Going to take a constitutional amendment, hasn't been one in, what, 23 years, and that was a stupid one about congressional pay (that was submitted 202 years prior...not joking). That's the only amendment ratified in my 35 year life.

a different Supreme Court overruling the previous decision seems a more probable scenario, though even that is a relatively rare event

[SamanosukeShiva]

That's kinda surprising.. He said he wouldn't throw his hat in the ring unless he felt he had a legitimate chance at winning.

He didn't say that, but he did say he will run if there isn't any true progressive running for president, which was true.

[Serra]

I thought he said something along those lines on the Nightly Show.. I should go back and rewatch that part..

[djzombie]

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinion...rats-need.html

bernie sanders is running!

[archibaldcrane]

I'd laugh if all these people stoked about him running to challenge Hillary later discover he's running as an actual independent.

(since, you know, he's not a Democrat)

[Tyrath]

He's running as a democrat because he knows you can't make any headway on the independent ticket.

[Sho]

He's running as a democrat because he knows you can't make any headway on the independent ticket.

Sad but true. Maybe one day an Independent will take it.

One day.

Regardless, he'll run as a Democrat and in the event he wins the primaries and Presidency, he'll just establish himself as some new-age Centrist.

Spirit of Ross Perot will live on in Sanders.

UNDER THE HOOD CAMPAIGN, VOLUME 2!

[notorious bum]

A few tidbits on Bernie's first day: On first day as a prez candidate @SenSanders raised $1.5 million Avg donation: $43. Clinton is obviously killing it still, with top donator Citigroup lubing her up the most.

From Team @SenSanders: "...more than 100,000 people already signed up at http://BernieSanders.com to spearhead the mass movement..."

"there were 35,000 @BernieSanders donors in the first 24 hrs and the average donation was $43.54"

In the first 24 hours, @SenSanders outraised Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Rand Paul. Bernie Sanders campaign account at 329,000 facebook likes, Hillary Clinton at 790,000.

[Waraji]

I chuckled simply at how Normal his hair looks in the picture after you donate.



Bernies day-to-day for reference:

http://thisainthell.us/blog/wp-conte...ie-Sanders.jpg

[Niiro]

It's more than a bit cringeworthy to see him all prim and smiling for the photos for anyone vaguely familiar with his normal speech and mannerisms.

[Waraji]

The stock photo old man could fake smile better than that. Poor Bernie. Keep Talking And Take My Money!

[notorious bum]

I don't remember any stock photo of him after donating, just the share page via the actblue platform. The campaign photos I've seen online and the pic of him in Town Square was hilariously campy, though lol

[Waraji]

Was talking about Hide the Pain Harold:

[notorious bum]

Harold needs to be on Shark Tank. Fuck Mr. Wonderful.

[Kanriel]

Sad but true. Maybe one day an Independent will take it.

One day.

Regardless, he'll run as a Democrat and in the event he wins the primaries and Presidency, he'll just establish himself as some new-age Centrist.

Spirit of Ross Perot will live on in Sanders.

UNDER THE HOOD CAMPAIGN, VOLUME 2!

I think best case scenario for 3rd party politics is Bernie wins 2016 as a D, then runs in 2020 as an Independent. Putting in as an incumbent, essentially requiring to be in all the major debates, but as a 3rd party.

[Waraji]

I just don't know how far his message will go, what with the Hillary machine pumping more cash into this election than republicans did last time, put together.

[Andalusian girls]

a best case scenario for Sanders is a Ron Paul 2012 run where he generates activity and gets his point of view across while potentially pushing the heir presumptive to the left on issues on which she would otherwise vocalize a more moderate stance

there's a deep vein of popular disillusionment into which he shall tap, especially given Hilary's status as a hawkish, corporatist Democrat, which will make his bid less quixotic than Kucinich's 2008 run, but his actual prospects of dethroning Hilary are none to none.

[Kanriel]

I'd rather not be so pessimistic. We have another 8 years of the youth who voted in Obama. They'll vote in larger numbers, with another semi-generation of potential voters to tap into. The buzz is really impressive, FAR bigger than Ron Paul, IMO, and we've only just started. If Warren endorses Sanders the D base could get closer to split. And then some debates to destroy Hillary and it could be a close battle. Sanders is a total underdog, and the R's have been running anti-Hillary ads for years, he gets free negative ads and has 30 years of media presence with the same issues to fall back on. I don't think he'll be quite like Kucinich or Paul in this attempt.

[notorious bum]

Making any predictions right now is a waste of air. Nobody predicted the support he got right out of the gate.

[Sho]

Warren endorsing Sanders would just do it for me. I'm pretty sure Obama will endorse Sanders as well, as he did in 2005.

I think one of the problems that will be against him is his age -- he will legit be the oldest president sworn into office at 75 (and he would end his first term at 80) if he took it all the way. That in itself is pretty insane and you'll start to see that fear of his age play into the rhetoric. Hopefully he goes far enough and gets his message across.