Bernie Sanders

Playinghardball

(11,665 posts) Tue Jun 16, 2015, 02:02 PM Jun 2015

Bernie Sanders 'Stunned' By Large Crowds Showing Up For Him

When Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders took the stage at Drake University in Des Moines Friday night, he got a standing ovation. The auditorium holds 700 people and it was packed, including the balcony.

The Democratic presidential candidate is doing something on the campaign trail even he didn't expect — drawing large crowds in Iowa, New Hampshire and beyond.

"If you were to ask me a couple of months ago whether we would have larger crowds than any other candidate out there, I would not have told you that that would be the case," he said recently.

In Keene, N.H. a thousand people showed up to see Sanders speak. They couldn't all fit in the room. Same thing happened in Minnesota — except the crowd was estimated at 5,000.

His reaction: "Stunned. Stunned. I mean I had to fight my way to get into the room. Standing room only. Minneapolis was literally beyond belief."

When Kurt Meyer helped host an event for Sanders in the small town of Kensett, Iowa, he was expecting 75 people. Maybe 125 tops.

"When we had something in excess of 300 people show up, I was astonished," Meyer said.

That's more than the town's entire population. Meyer, who is the tri-county Democratic Party chair, sent a text to one of Hillary Clinton's senior people in Iowa.

"My text was 'objects in their mirror may be closer than they appear.' I sensed there was something going on," he said.

More here: http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/06/15/414689799/bernie-sanders-stunned-by-large-crowds-showing-up-for-him

7 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Bernie Sanders 'Stunned' By Large Crowds Showing Up For Him (Original Post) Playinghardball Jun 2015 OP

I'm not "stunned". Smarmie Doofus Jun 2015 #1

I agree, sitting inside their lucrative bubble in DC, they have their fingers in their ears when sabrina 1 Jun 2015 #3

Get use to it Bernie.... daleanime Jun 2015 #2

He'll get used to it Spirochete Jun 2015 #4

America loves Bernie....and so do I. TheNutcracker Jun 2015 #5

Yep Spirochete Jun 2015 #7

Another similar article: Many Are Shocked by the Size of the Crowds Bernie Sanders Is Drawing totodeinhere Jun 2015 #6

Smarmie Doofus

(14,498 posts)

1. I'm not "stunned".

Reply to Playinghardball (Original post)

Tue Jun 16, 2015, 02:15 PM

Jun 2015

Gratified, perhaps. Not "stunned".

I really think the contemporary professional political class has NO IDEA of how sick and tired informed, well-read and otherwise ORDINARY citizens are of their BULLSHIT.

No,that DOES *NOT* MEAN IT'S TIME FOR ANOTHER "LISTENING TOUR".

It means it's time to go back to selling cornflakes.

sabrina 1

(62,325 posts)

3. I agree, sitting inside their lucrative bubble in DC, they have their fingers in their ears when

Reply to Smarmie Doofus (Reply #1)

Tue Jun 16, 2015, 02:32 PM

Jun 2015

anyone tries to tell them that their arrogance and dismissive attitude towards the people who put them, or their corporate tools in power, had had ENOUGH.

They ignored it in the 2010 Mid terms, choosing to BLAME THE VOTERS.

As a result they caused the loss of the Senate in the next mid terms, and again, BLAMED THE VOTERS.

The Reason for this is the presence of the Third Way inside our party.

They have slammed Elizabeth Warren, got a backlash they appeared to be stunned by, then again, stuck their fingers in their ears and decided it was the stupidity of the people, who in their view, are just too stupid to understand what is good for them.

In a way I am glad they so underestimated the mood of the country.

If they had had the intelligence to do so, they would used deceptive tactics to try to deal with it.

Better to ambush them, as they ambushed the people for so long with their stupid, arrogant Ayn Rand type policies, influenced by Greenspan and Summers et al and REFUSING to listen to all the warnings they got for decades now.

We need to remove this element from our party, they are poison to the interests of the people, and now they are beginning to see just how despised they are, though I expect that once again they will BLAME THE PEOPLE for THEIR disastrous policies.

daleanime

(17,796 posts)

2. Get use to it Bernie....

Reply to Playinghardball (Original post)

Tue Jun 16, 2015, 02:15 PM

Jun 2015

get use to it.

Spirochete

(5,264 posts)

4. He'll get used to it

Reply to Playinghardball (Original post)

Tue Jun 16, 2015, 04:25 PM

Jun 2015

I hope.

TheNutcracker

(2,104 posts)

5. America loves Bernie....and so do I.

Reply to Spirochete (Reply #4)

Tue Jun 16, 2015, 10:02 PM

Jun 2015

Spirochete

(5,264 posts)

7. Yep

Reply to TheNutcracker (Reply #5)

Wed Jun 17, 2015, 02:03 AM

Jun 2015

I hope he's our next president.

totodeinhere

(13,059 posts)

6. Another similar article: Many Are Shocked by the Size of the Crowds Bernie Sanders Is Drawing

Reply to Playinghardball (Original post)

Wed Jun 17, 2015, 12:02 AM

Jun 2015

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/many-are-shocked-size-crowds-bernie-sanders-drawing

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has drawn huge crowds recently. He packed Drake University's auditorium, drew 1,000 people in New Hampshire, and the attendance was estimated at 5,000 at a stop in Minnesota.

Sanders has indicated that the numbers have surprised him. He told NPR that he's, "Stunned. Stunned. I mean I had to fight my way to get into the room. Standing room only. Minneapolis was literally beyond belief."

Sanders isn't the only one who has been stunned. Kurt Meyer, a tri-county Democratic Party chair in Iowa, helped host a Sanders rally in his area. "When we had something in excess of 300 people show up, I was astonished," Meyer told NPR. Meyer sent a text to a one of Clinton's senior people in Iowa indicating that Sanders was potentially a lot closer to the frontrunner than he appears.

That same story quotes John McBride, a 24-year-old who drove 3 hours to see Sanders speak. McBride identifies student debt as a major issue for him and was drawn to Sanders' vision of a debt-free college experience. "When I meet somebody, I ask them their name, where they went to school," said McBride, "Where they studied and how much debt they have."

Reply to this discussion