After mixed showings in the primaries and a sense that the Democratic Party's profoundly undemocratic "superdelegates" will hand Hillary the nomination no matter what, the press has all but declared Bernie Sanders out of the race.
Despite the premature coronation of Candidate Clinton II, Sanders continues to raise — and spend — money at an unprecedented clip. Sanders has raised small-money donations from over 5 million donors (more than double the number of Clinton contributors). In February, the small-money donors delivered $42.7 million to the Sanders campaign, while the one-percenters and finance industry donors behind the Clinton campaign coughed up $30 million..
Clinton campaign insiders are worried that the money she spends fighting Sanders — who shows no sign of dropping out of the race — will be money she can't spend fighting Trump or Cruz or the reanimated corpse of Benito Mussolini, or whomever emerges victorious from the GOP clownshow. They also worry that Sanders' emphasis on the Clintons' coziness with the establishment, including the finance industry criminals who destroyed the global economy in 2007/8 and then paid themselves huge bonuses with tax-payer bailout bucks, will weaken Clinton in her fight against a populist/anti-establishment GOP candidate, who'll be able to point to the Clintons as the reason that the GOP's base is dying off at an unprecedented rate, undereducated and addicted to heroin, committing suicide in places where unemployment has skyrocketed after local industry and stable jobs were offshored thanks to Clintonian free trade deals.
I am a foreigner and not yet a permanent US resident, so I can't contribute money to the Sanders campaign, but if I could, I would. I hope you do.
Clinton and Sanders will debate Sunday in Flint, and Clinton has agreed to join Sanders here on Monday for a forum hosted by the Fox News Channel, the network said Friday.
Fox News had announced Thursday that Sanders would appear alone at the hour-long town hall in Detroit after Clinton declined to appear, citing a scheduling conflict.
Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon confirmed late Friday that Clinton now plans to participate.
Her campaign debuted two new high-gloss television ads in the state Saturday, focusing on manufacturing jobs.
Michigan, which has been hit hard by losses of manufacturing jobs, is a key test of the appeal for the Democratic candidates in the industrial Midwest — and also an important indicator of Democratic strength for the fall election.
Sanders hopes for a strong showing to add momentum as the contest moves onto next-door Ohio. Each state has large numbers of working-class and lower-middle-class white voters who have rallied to Sanders’s message of economic justice.
Sanders keeps raising millions — and spending them, a potential problem for Clinton
[Anne Gearan and Matea Gold/Washington Post]
