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Bernie Sanders at Wednesday's Democratic debate in Miami.

(Carolyn Cole, Los Angeles Times/TNS)

There's a reason Sen. Bernie Sanders has shocked the Hillary Clinton campaign and derailed her automatic coronation as Democratic presidential nominee, even though Sanders still has ground to make up in the delegate count.

Sanders is passionate about economic access and justice, honest about where he wants to take the nation, transparent about his policies and pronouncements and wise about where and when the United States should project power abroad. He does not offer politics as usual.

For these reasons, Bernie Sanders should be Democratic voters' choice in the Ohio primary March 15.

Sanders' upset win in Michigan Tuesday shows that his message of economic inclusion resonates with Midwest voters. This is so even though he has taken the high road in the campaign and not exploited Clinton's significant negatives with voters.

True, the Vermont senator is wrong in his blanket opposition to free trade pacts; these agreements can lead to more jobs, not fewer, and more manufacturing innovation that can help the United States, and Ohio's many manufacturing exporters, keep their edge. Walling America off from the world is a recipe for economic stagnation or worse.

But at least Sanders has been consistent. Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state and senator, spoke glowingly of the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal -- until she was against it.

Clinton was collecting quarter-million-dollar speaking fees from Wall Street firms to give off-the-record talks until Sanders' proposed "speculation" tax on Wall Street trades caused her to propose a similar, albeit narrower, tax on high-speed trading.

Polls indicate Sanders also is better positioned than Clinton in bellwether Ohio against the eventual Republican nominee, unless that nominee is named John Kasich.

A Feb. 24 Quinnipiac University poll found Sanders tied with Donald Trump among independent voters in Ohio, with 44 percent support each. By contrast, Trump would beat Clinton 44 percent to 42 percent among those voters.

Even more striking, the poll showed that Sanders would beat Ted Cruz in Ohio 44 percent to 42 percent, while Clinton would lose to the Texas senator 46 percent to 43 percent. (The poll found Sen. Marco Rubio would beat both Democrats in a one-on-one matchup, but with a narrower margin over Sanders -- as of two weeks ago before Rubio's campaign began to melt down.)

Yes, Sanders, 74, is six years older than Clinton, and yes, some of his ideas are impractical or not fully fleshed out. But every president takes office with grandiose proposals that have to be pared back.

The United States wants and needs a leader of probity with fresh ideas and approaches.

Sanders has spelled out how he would pay for his proposals. President Barack Obama recently proposed free community college but without a clear funding plan. Sanders by contrast has offered a modest tax on Wall Street trades to pay for his plan for free public college tuition.

True, Sanders is a self-described "democratic socialist" who only joined the Democratic Party last year. The "socialist" label could hurt him.

But the key measure is what politicians have done -- and what Clinton has done defines her as the consummate political insider.

With her penchant for secrecy (the FBI has confirmed it is "working on matters related to former Secretary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server" without defining the scope or exact target of that investigation); for finger-to-the-wind policy-making (her vote on the 2003 Iraq War) and exaggeration (her lie about landing in Bosnia under fire), Clinton is not presidential material.

A vote for Sanders is a vote for integrity, and for change.