“I Am Enormously Optimistic About The Future Of Our Country”

Sen. Bernie Sanders is not dropping out of the presidential race, he told supporters at a rally Tuesday night, following Hillary Clinton’s projected primary wins in New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota. He said of next week’s primary in the District of Columbia, “We are going to fight hard. We are going to fight hard to win the primary in Washington D.C. And then we take our fight for social, economic, racial, and environmental justice to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania!” The Vermont Senator was introduced as “the next president of the United States” by his staff moments before he took the stage in Santa Monica, California. The crowd, between 2,000 and 3,000 people, cheered for over a minute before Sanders spoke. He thanked the room for “being part of the political revolution” and being ready to “fight for real change.” He acknowledged how far his long-shot campaign had come since the beginning of the primary season. “All of you know that when we began this campaign a little bit over a year ago, we were considered to be a fringe campaign,” said Sanders. “But over the last year I think that has changed just a little bit. By the end of tonight we’ll have won, I believe, 22 state primaries and caucuses. We will have received well over ten million votes.” He grew sentimental as he mentioned how “enormously optimistic [he was] about future of [the] country.” “It has been one of the most moving moments of my life to be out throughout this state in beautiful evenings and seeing thousands and thousands of people coming out. People who are prepared to stand up and fight for real change in this country,” Sanders said.

#ThankYouBernie for taking up our call for direct action and for unapologetically standing on the right side of history for more than 30 yrs — People For Bernie (@People4Bernie) June 8, 2016

The energy at @BernieSanders rally in Santa Monica is incredible. His supporters have lost none of their enthusiasm. pic.twitter.com/nxfSUr2GfI — John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) June 8, 2016

Bernie’s Full Speech

Thank you. Thank you, LA! Thank you all. Thank you. Let me … Let me thank … Let me thank … Let me thank [laughs]. Let me thank all of you for being here tonight. And let me thank all of you for being part of the political revolution. I especially want to thank the tens of thousands of volunteers here in the state of California. And I want to thank the people of California for their incredible hospitality. It has been one of the most moving moments of my life to be out throughout this state in beautiful evenings and seeing thousands and thousands of people coming out. People who are prepared to stand up and fight for real change in this country. All of you know, all of you know, that when we began this campaign a little over a year ago we were considered to be a fringe campaign. But over the last year, I think that has changed, just a little bit. By the end of tonight, we’ll have won, I believe 22 state primaries and caucuses. We will have received well over 10 million votes. And what is most extraordinary to me is that in virtually every single state, we have won in big numbers, the votes of young people. Young people understand that they are the future of America, and they intend to help shape that future. And I am enormously optimistic about the future of our country when so many young people have come on board and understand that our vision, a vision of social justice, economic justice, racial justice, and environmental justice, must be the future of America. Our vision will be the future of America. Our campaign from Day 1 has understood some very basic points, and that is first, we will not allow right-wing Republicans to control our government. And that is especially true with Donald Trump as the Republican candidate. The American people in my view will never support a candidate whose major theme is bigotry. Who insults Mexicans, who insults Muslims and women and African Americans. We will not allow Donald Trump to become president of the United States. But we understand that our mission is more than just defeating Trump, it is transforming our country. The vast majority of the American people know that it is not acceptable that the top tenth of 1 percent owns as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent; we’re going to change that.

We are in this TOGETHER. Thank you New Mexico, California, South Dakota, North Dakota, New Jersey and Montana! #NotMeUs — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 8, 2016

"Our vision will be the future of America."

— @BernieSanders in Santa Monica pic.twitter.com/vevFriMwMV — John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) June 8, 2016

Sanders Is Set To Let Some Staff Go

Senator Bernie Sanders plans to lay off at least half of his campaign staff Wednesday as his battered presidential bid continues despite Hillary Clinton’s being declared the presumptive Democratic nominee, two people close to the campaign said Tuesday. Many of those being laid off are advance staff members who often help with campaign logistics, as well as field staff members who have been working to garner votes for the senator, according to a campaign official and a former campaign staff member, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity. Some campaign workers may move into jobs at Mr. Sanders’s Senate office, but others will be terminated, they said. Word of the layoffs came on a night that Mrs. Clinton declared that she had captured the majority of pledged delegates needed to capture the Democratic nomination, despite a spirited fight from Mr. Sanders, who has showed no signs of ending his campaign. Mr. Sanders insists that he is prepared to challenge Mrs. Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in July, holding out hope that his lobbying of superdelegates — party officials and state leaders who cast their final votes at the convention — will siphon support from Mrs. Clinton as he makes his case that he is a stronger candidate against Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. Mr. Sanders’s spokesman, Michael Briggs, said Tuesday that Mr. Sanders planned to travel to his home in Vermont on Wednesday and then head to Washington on Thursday. Campaign aides say he plans to hold rallies in Washington, which holds the last nominating contest on June 14.

We're waiting for @BernieSanders and thousands of the #FeelTheBern fam in an airport hanger. This is what we do. pic.twitter.com/VJHioHG7RH — People For Bernie (@People4Bernie) June 8, 2016

Sanders To Meet With Obama Thursday

President Barack Obama will meet with Bernie Sanders on Thursday, the White House announced late Tuesday night. The meeting was announced following Sanders’ projected wins by The AP in the North Dakota Democratic caucuses and the Montana Democratic primary, and after Hillary Clinton’s projected wins in New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota. The winner of the California primary had not yet been projected. The White House statement appeared to ratify Hillary Clinton’s claim to the nomination: “The President congratulated Secretary Clinton for securing the delegates necessary to clinch the Democratic Nomination for President,” the statement, issued by the White House press secretary, read. According to the statement, President Obama called both Clinton and Sanders, and “congratulated both candidates for running inspiring campaigns that have energized Democrats, brought a new generation of Americans into the political process, and shined a spotlight on important policy ideas aimed at making sure our economy and our politics work for everybody, not just those with wealth and power.” Obama “thanked Senator Sanders for energizing millions of Americans with his commitment to issues like fighting economic inequality and special interests’ influence on our politics.”

#ThankYouBernie for inspiring a new generation who demand Democracy and a government that is of the people, by the people and for the people — Bern Press (@BernPress) June 8, 2016

Must #ThankYouBernie for including Muslim Americans in your campaign in a meaningful way. #StillSanders pic.twitter.com/sxDDtp5xtH — Khaled Beydoun (@KhaledBeydoun) June 8, 2016

The Revenge Of The Wrinkly Radicals

There was something fitting about the one of the last acts of defiance in Bernie Sanders’ campaign for the White House taking place in California, the state in which many ageing radicals cut their teeth. On both sides of the Atlantic the swing to the Left has reawakened the political appetite of a generation who probably thought that their days of activism were a distant memory filed away along with their collection of Grateful Dead albums. But these old rockers are refusing to enter their dotage quietly and have been making the most of what is likely to be their farewell tour. There was something fitting about the one of the last acts of defiance in Bernie Sanders’ campaign for the White House taking place in California, the state in which many ageing radicals cut their teeth. On both sides of the Atlantic the swing to the Left has reawakened the political appetite of a generation who probably thought that their days of activism were a distant memory filed away along with their collection of Grateful Dead albums. But these old rockers are refusing to enter their dotage quietly and have been making the most of what is likely to be their farewell tour. There were rather a lot of chaps with pony tails – grey pony tails. I am sure I saw the odd tie-dye t-shirt. Added to that there was the odd sprinkling of women who looked as if they had just emerged from the Woodstock rock festival. Mention Eugene McCarthy – the radical democrat whose ’68 campaign did for LBJ – and they seemed to get rather misty eyed. It may have been more than four decades ago, but the flame of the 1968 election had been reignited by Bernie Sanders, who they clearly regard as one of their own.

#ThankYouBernie for inspiring an entire generation to become more politically active. Your impact will last far beyond 2016. #ThankYouBernie — Jerbear Langthang (@JeremyLangthorn) June 8, 2016

How Sanders Change THe 2016 Electons

Sanders proved that a campaign built on genuine outrage about the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots in America can draw millions of acolytes without a dollar’s worth of corporate money. He won at least 21 Democratic primaries. Perhaps most importantly, he helped identify issues fed-up voters identify with most, forcing Clinton to change her own stance on some of those issues. Here are four areas where Sanders had the largest impact: Trade. Sanders wants to reverse free-trade agreements such as NAFTA, arguing that they push down American wages and destroy US jobs. Not long ago, Clinton was a strong proponent of free trade and a backer of the Trans-Pacific Partnership that’s now awaiting a vote in the Senate. She now says she’s opposed to the TPP, and the support Sanders received for his own opposition to free-trade deals is one likely reason why. This could have a real effect on the U.S. economy if the next president is a general opponent of free-trade deals, in contrast with the policies of every other president since at least the 1960s. Income inequality. Sanders delivered a dour message about all the ways ordinary people get a raw deal these days – and voters lapped it up. Especially young voters. Donald Trump has a similar message, but that mostly seems to resonate with older men who feel economically disenfranchised. Sanders demonstrated that many young people feel similar anxiety, and they are now Clinton’s to grab. The obvious question is whether Clinton has the charisma to get their attention the way Sanders did in the primaries. The big banks. Sanders’ plan to “break up the banks” was somewhat incoherent, since he never explained how, exactly, he would turn big banks into smaller ones. And some analysts think the new rules for financial institutions are so severe that too-big-to-fail banks aren’t even a problem anymore. By railing on the banks, however, Sanders showed that many Americans still seek a villain to blame for declining career prospects and dwindling quality of life. The message for Clinton: Your pals on Wall Street remain persona non grata in much of America.

#ThankYouBernie for standing up 4 Muslims and Mexicans, for women's rights, all people of color, all races, that we are all in this together — Regina (@regibaby67) June 8, 2016

4 Reasons Sanders Could Fight On

Below are four reasons why a Kumbaya moment will remain elusive, and why the Democratic convention may well be contested until the final votes of the superdelegates are recorded in July. This isn’t 2008 In her call for unity, Clinton referenced her disagreements with Obama. “No matter what differences we had in our long campaign,” Clinton said, “they paled in comparison to the differences we had with the Republicans.” But, looking back on the 2008 campaign, the substantive differences on policy were vanishingly small. There were big fights over judgment (the Iraq War) and the claim to history (the first African-American versus the first woman nominee). But on policy grounds, Clinton and Obama were all but the same candidate. Their most salient disagreement was whether the Democratic plan for universal health care ought to include a mandate to buy coverage. Clinton insisted the mandate was essential; Obama opposed as a matter of principle. They debated it ad nauseum. But in the end, this squabble was much ado about nothing. When Obama became president, Clinton’s top health-policy adviser was tapped by the White House to run point reform — and the individual mandate became a bedrock principle of Obamacare. This is relevant today, because falling in line behind Obama in 2008 required Clinton to swallow little more than personal pride. It did not require sacrifice of any dearly held principle or policy stance — only surrender of the idea that she would have made a better president. In 2016, the contested terrain is not symbolic. Consider Sanders’ call to break up the big banks against Clinton’s proposal to better regulate Wall Street. This is a difference of orientation, not degree. And it is but one of many such differences.

#ThankYouBernie for being a true public servant. Tireless, brave, humble. For giving a damn about people and what's right, popular or not. — Melissa Navia (@melissaCnavia) June 8, 2016

https://youtu.be/6idnb-Bbk7Q

How Sanders Changed Democratic Fundraising

By the time Clinton announced her candidacy, she was already the probable nominee; now she’s the presumptive nominee. But while the intervening months did little to change that calculus, they did change the party. Democratic fundraising, in particular, may never be the same. Bernie Sanders’ fundraising machine generated more than $200 million for the candidate over the past year, with the vast majority of that sum coming from small donors. By making those small donors the core of his fundraising strategy, Sanders bypassed the traditional gatekeepers who typically pick the survivors of the so-called money primary. “It’s great fundraising. It’s the purest kind of fundraising you can have, because nobody’s buying you,” Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a pro-Clinton superdelegate, told International Business Times. “It’s terrific.” Clinton has pursued a more traditional revenue-generating strategy, which meant relying on money raised from the hundreds of fundraisers her supporters hosted on her behalf (and on behalf of pro-Clinton super PACs). Such fundraisers can sometimes require a commitment of $1,000 or more just to get past security, but this year those sums were matched by the truckloads of small-denomination cash being provided to the Sanders campaign. Though Sanders eschewed fundraisers, he was nonetheless a match for Clinton in fundraising throughout the campaign. In several months, disclosure forms show that he trounced her in the race for cash.The most recent Federal Election Commission data shows he has raised slightly more than she did over the course of the campaign, though the total does not include money raised for super PACs favoring one candidate or the other. As a result, Sanders was able to race further and harder than any comparable left-wing challenger in recent memory. Twelve years ago, one of the Sanders campaign’s direct ancestors — the presidential candidacy of anti-war Vermont Gov. Howard Dean — came to an abrupt end after a disappointing showing in the February Wisconsin primary. In contrast, Sanders marshaled the financial resources to withstand any one isolated setback.

#ThankYouBernie for 51 years of being the voice for the voiceless. #ImWithBernie pic.twitter.com/FQw30siYuY — Aaron Uzumaki (@AaronCosby1) June 8, 2016

The Political Revolution Is Just Getting Started

f there’s anything we’ve learned in this bizarre election year, it’s that political institutions are not too big to fail. Despite jarring demographic splits, horrifying defeats at the state and congressional level over the past decade and unpopular tactics by its equally unpopular chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the DNC has clung to its out-dated ‘80s era “fundraise or bust” strategy. Perhaps they did this out of fear of change or fear of the unknown or frankly, out of fear of losing their lucrative Beltway consulting contracts. Bernie Sanders’ campaign — crowd-sourced and unapologetically liberal — has shown the Democratic Party something very important: No, a Democratic presidential candidate does not need to be a corporate puppet.

No, a Democratic presidential candidate does not need to out-raise Republicans.

No, a Democratic presidential candidate does not need to distance himself from the grassroots. Just remember, the only candidate in this race who consistently beat Republicans — across the board — all while mobilizing new voters was Bernie Sanders. Democrats can no longer keep their blinders on. Despite having raised record amounts of money, the DNC’s strategies are flawed and ineffective — as evidenced by the loss of over 1,000 seats from the local to the national level since 2008. At a time when the country is becoming more open to liberal policies and when the Democratic Party membership is 70 percent more progressive than it was 10 years ago, more and more progressives are still leaving the party. That means it’s time for reform.

#ThankYouBernie for fighting the same fight for the last 50 years pic.twitter.com/aPPxqxgcjL — Rishabh Sharma (@im_srishabh21) June 8, 2016

The Moment The Left-Wing Got Its Mojo Back