Senator Bernie Sanders is getting traction nationwide on his progressive paradigm changing message. And here in Oregon it’s no exception. But he faces the daunting post Citizens United task of facing the well funded and broadly supported Clinton campaign for the Democratic nomination.

But while Clinton is the prohibitive favorite to get the Democratic nomination, if the Sanders supporters want to change his candidacy into a movement, they can start here in Oregon. Here, the stars have aligned to get Bernie on the Oregon general election ballot in November where he would face Clinton and the GOP candidate (Bush/Walker/?).

How and why would Oregon progressives do this?

How:

The Independent Party of Oregon is now a major party. For the Bernie in November plan to work it must maintain it’s major party status. Because as a major party its nomination now carries some gravitas. And the fact is, Bernie is an independent. He’s not a Democrat. The IPO’s party status will be determined on August 16th, If it loses about 200 members (It has almost 110,000 now), it won’t be a major party and the plan fails. So, building the IPO membership is step one to the plan.

Once the IPO is certified as a major party, it has an election line on the May primary. If by May Bernie is still in the race for the Democratic nomination, then Bernie supporters all need to re-register as Democrats by April 20th, 2016 so they can vote in the Democratic primary. However, if Bernie is no longer actively campaigning, or has by then lost hope of winning the Democratic nomination, then the Bernie Supporters should keep their IPO registration, and write Bernie in as the IPO presidential nominee.

That puts Bernie on Oregon’s ballot in November, where he would face Clinton and the GOP nominee.

Why?

Keeping the IPO nomination an option means that Bernie has two ways to get on Oregon’s ballot. Wining the Democratic nomination, or getting the write in for the Independent nomination. But he will be on the November general election ballot.

If you assume that Bernie will not beat the odds and beat Clinton for the nomination, then what benefit is it to have Bernie on the November ballot? In business it’s called proof of concept. If you have a product that you think will succeed, you first market in a test market. Showing that the products popularity and market potential. Then you can roll it out nationwide. If Bernie can beat, or show well, against the Democratic and Republican Wall Street nominees, then it will prove the concept that much of Bernie’s message about money in politics, crony capitalism, an effective government resonates across a broad spectrum of voters. And that democracy reform is an important issue in America today.

And, Oregon is a perfect crucible. It has very progressive and very conservative voters. It has urban and rural geography. And, importantly, it has been irrelevant in the presidential race for decades. Whether the Democratic candidate again wins Oregon, or loses, is pretty unimportant. And, even if Bernie were to win, that would mean that Oregon’s electoral delegates could still vote for Clinton in the electoral college. And, if the 2016 presidential race were close, then Bernies voters have until November, 2016 to decide that its more important to back Clinton.

But, setting up the board right now for the possibility of Bernie being on the Oregon Ballot in November as an Independent candidate has no downside.

If you want to preserve the power to put Bernie on Oregons general election ballot in 2016 for President, the first step is to join the Independent Party of Oregon before August 15th. Its easy to do online, and you can change your registration back to your current status after August 17th. There’s an ONLINE SITE to change registration. It takes two minutes.

Change Now for Change Later.