21:37

Bernie Sanders’ top campaign advisers organized a conference call with reporters on Monday to argue that his presidential run was off to an “exciting” start – despite what one might gather from the evening news.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at the Iowa State Fair. Photograph: Elijah Nouvelage/EPA

“The headlines that Bernie’s campaign is in free fall or is falling apart could not be further from the truth,” Ben Tulchin, a campaign pollster, said on a press call with reporters.



Jeff Weaver, a senior campaign adviser who served as Sanders’ 2016 campaign manager, railed against the “undiscriminating acceptance of polls that fit existing narratives”. He said Sanders treatment by the press at this phase in the race was similar to a period in 2015 that he called the “Bernie Black out.” This time around, he called it the “Bernie write off”.

“There seems to be a direct correlation between the media coverage of polls and Bernie Sanders’s specific standing in those polls: the better the number is in poll, the less coverage it receives and the worse he does the more he receives,” Weaver said.



He complained that a recent Quinnipiac poll showing Sanders had slipped to 14% generated 47 news stories in major media outlets while another poll showing him at 22% was covered in only two news stories.



The call was organized as presidential hopefuls Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris gain ground on the Vermont senator.



His team argued that Sanders is well positioned to win the party’s nomination, noting that he has more cash on hand – $27.5 million – than any other Democratic candidate and 1 million volunteers working to help elect him.



Perhaps most importantly, they argued, is that healthcare has emerged as a central issue in the primary – for candidates and voters.



“It’s clearly very positive terrain for us,” Weaver said, insisting that Sanders’s signature Medicare for all plan continues to convert supporters daily. He added: “It also shows a clear differentiation among the candidates in terms of who is willing to take on the big insurance companies and the big pharmaceutical companies to benefit working Americans.”



Sanders’ has long criticized what he refers to as the “mainstream media” and gripes often about coverage of “political gossip” – reporting that covers the horse race as opposed to policy and the issues.



This weekend, Sanders campaign is organizing a softball game against members of the press at Iowa’s Field of Dreams baseball field. The game is meant to show “goodwill and sportsmanship” at a time when the media is frequently “demonized by the president.”