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SOUTH BURLINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “Welcome Home Rally” was more of a drive-by than a campaign celebration.

Sanders returned to the Green Mountains to mull his future after his stinging loss in California and calls by prominent Democrats, including President Barack Obama, that he drop out of the race and support the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton. Sanders has vowed to stay in the race until the Democratic convention at the end of July. He will meet with Obama on Thursday.

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After Sanders’ private plane landed at 6:38 p.m., Secret Service agents with sunglasses rushed off to the Swift Air jet to secure the perimeter.

Vermont State Police were present for the arrival, as were Burlington and South Burlington police. The Vermont senator and his wife, Jane, briefly got out of an SUV to thank diehard fans and friends who had gathered to greet Sanders.

As Sanders shook hands, reporters rushed at him with questions about what he’ll do next following his four big losses Tuesday night and mounting pressure to quit the race.

But Sanders had no interest in talking to the press, and the Secret Service blocked local and national reporters from approaching or taking pictures of the Vermont senator. One large Secret Service agent threatened to pin down this reporter for trying to snap a picture of Sanders hugging people.

Campaign manager Jeff Weaver answered a few questions, reiterating that his boss would not drop out until the nomination is made official at the Democratic National Convention.

Weaver insisted that Sanders’ loss in California didn’t change the argument that Clinton is a weak general election candidate.

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“The senator is very upbeat,” Weaver said. “He’s very proud of the race he runs — and rightly so. And the race he continues to run.”

Spokesman Michael Briggs said Sanders would leave early Thursday morning for Washington, D.C., meetings with President Barack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. He’s also hosting a rally before heading back to Vermont late Thursday.

Briggs offered few details about what shape the campaign reassessment would take. When asked if he would be at Sanders’ home Wednesday for some sort of powwow or meeting, Briggs responded groggily. “I kind of hope not, but you never know,” Briggs said. “I work for him, whatever he wants to do.”

Sanderistas band around their man

There were roughly 100 diehard Sanders fans who waited hours on Aviation Avenue to get a glimpse of their candidate. Most had Bernie signs, and some brandished supportive stickers for two Sanders disciples — David Zuckerman for lieutenant governor and Chris Pearson for a Chittenden County state Senate seat.

Pearson, who recently received $60,000 in donations after Sanders made an email pitch on his behalf, was all smiles Wednesday as cars passed and honked in support of Sanders along U.S. Route 2.

“I’ve been feeling, pride, really, and a lot gratitude,” Pearson said, as he recalled the Vermont senator’s campaign kickoff on the Lake Champlain waterfront last year. “It sounds silly, but Vermonters were like ‘Go. We need you to do this, the country needs you to do this.’”

Like others in the crowd, Pearson was skeptical of how genuine Clinton was, and questioned her progressive bona fides.



Richard Sugarman, a religion professor at the University of Vermont who has been a close confidante of Sanders for years, also said Clinton had not won him over. Sugarman still routinely speaks to Sanders, and he suggested that the Vermont senator also feels cold toward Clinton.

“Even after Hillary’s sworn in, he will still be running,” Sugarman said, joking.

Sugarman said he’s always known Sanders to be a fighter who does not give up easily. “He’s a realist,” Sugarman said. “But he’s a realist who believes that the future is promising, it can be better than the past, it’s up to people to make it that way.”

Sanders supporters reflected on his poor electoral results Tuesday night as they waited for him to arrive.

Many Sanders supporters said the Vermont senator should stay in at least through the final District of Columbia primary on June 14. They decried the superdelegate system, media coverage and, often, the rules of the party.

“The Democratic Party is very sick and dwindling, and independents are rising in this country,” said Brad Leathers of Rochester. “I’ve been a Democrat my whole life, but I’m changing my affiliation. This process has been appalling.”

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Many were skeptical of Hillary Clinton, even as she adopted much of the Vermont senator’s rhetoric, and made overtures to Sanders supporters in recent days.

“I think she would keep us in perpetual war for the next four or eight years,” Leathers said. “Without Bernie I don’t think she’d have any of the policies she’s alleged to have right now.”

David Hernandez, a Bristol resident, said he would love a female president, but thought Clinton would set a bad example if she became the first woman in the Oval Office.

“To me, she has just as much right to be a lousy president as any man,” Hernandez said. “But you’d want, for the first woman, it to be something special, something really worthwhile.”

Cari Burkard of Rochester called the former secretary of state “a lesser of two evils” while Nicole Provost, a South Burlington resident, spoke in even more polarizing terms.

“Bernie or Bust,” Provost said, brandishing a homemade Bernie sign and a locally made Bernie T-shirt.

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