Supporter Anna Thomsen shows a sign for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders at the Knoxville campaign headquarters on Wednesday. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)

SHARE Supporters gather at Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’s Knoxville campaign headquarters on Wednesday. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL) April Langan and daughter Emma pose for a photograph with a cardboard cutout of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders at his Knoxville campaign headquarters on Wednesday. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL) Ariana Boyd, left, and Emily Nield create posters in support of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders at his Knoxville campaign headquarters on Wednesday. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL) Lakenya Middlebrook puts out campaign material for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders at the Knoxville campaign headquarters on Wednesday. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)

By Michael Collins of the Knoxville News Sentinel

WASHINGTON — When Keller Barnette started campaigning for Bernie Sanders about five months ago, the question he often got was, "Who is Bernie Sanders?"

Barnette never got discouraged.

He made campaign fliers. He worked the phones. He went to organizing meetings. He talked to anyone who'd listen about the wild-haired Vermont senator's background, what he stands for politically and how they could get involved in the political revolution he's leading.

Nobody asks him who Sanders is anymore. People are taking the "democratic socialist" senator and his campaign for president seriously now, especially after he crushed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in last week's New Hampshire Democratic primaries and came within a nose of beating her in the Iowa caucuses a week earlier.

"People know this is going to be a revolutionary campaign," said Barnette, 34, a self-employed accountant from Knoxville. "The question is, do you want to be a part of the political revolution? And I think a lot of people are saying yes."

Across Tennessee, Sanders' devoted army of organizers and grass-roots volunteers — "Bernie Bros" and "Bernie-bots," as they're sometimes mocked in the blogosphere — sense the political winds are shifting in Sanders' direction since his 22-point rout of Clinton in New Hampshire.

For Sanders, the timing could not be better. Early voting started in Tennessee on Wednesday and runs through Feb. 23. The state's presidential primary is March 1.

The day after Sanders' victory in New Hampshire, Matt Kuhn's cellphone rang and rang and rang — all day long.

"It's getting to the point where it's tough to return my phone calls, which is a good thing," said Kuhn, a Memphis political consultant who is state director of Sanders' campaign in Tennessee.

Kuhn said the sudden surge of interest in Sanders is coming not just from young people who like his message of social and economic equality, but also from people who have been involved in Democratic politics for a long time. Many of them are women, he said.

"A lot of the establishment in Tennessee is really starting to take notice," Kuhn said.

Just in time to capitalize on the wave of enthusiasm, the campaign formally opened offices last week in Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville and will open two more next week in Chattanooga and Johnson City.

Each office will have three or four paid staffers and will allow the campaign to "connect the dots with the Bernie supporters that are out there," Kuhn said. Having offices in strategic locations across the state also will make it easier for volunteers to conduct phone banks and canvass on Sanders' behalf, he said.

Sanders has a lot of work to do in Tennessee, said Kent Syler, a political scientist at Middle Tennessee State University.

The most recent statewide poll on the race gave Clinton a sizable advantage — 47 percent of Democratic voters in Tennessee backed her, while just 15 percent supported Sanders. But nearly 26 percent remained undecided, which could provide an opening for Sanders. What's more, the poll was completed three weeks ago — before the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries, which have reshaped the race.

Regardless, "Hillary Clinton had the advantage before the New Hampshire primary — I think she still has the advantage here," Syler said. "And it will take a lot of work on Sen. Sanders' part and some significant shifts in Democratic voting blocs in Tennessee for him to be able to win the state."

Deke Pope is doing his part to move those voting blocs in Sanders' direction.

Pope, 73, a retired furniture industry representative from Memphis, puts on his "Feel the Bern" pin every day and goes out and tries to convince other black voters they should get on board the Sanders campaign.

A child of the '60s, Pope participated in the civil rights marches and demonstrations of the era. He hears in Sanders' platform the same kind of language he heard from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"Economic parity, equal pay for women, get big money out of politics — all of the talking points that Bernie had, I aligned myself with," Pope said. "So I said to myself, this is somebody I can support without question and get my friends and colleagues into as well."

Not all of his friends and colleagues share his enthusiasm for Sanders.

A professor friend got upset with him when he suggested black voters had "surrendered their vote to Hillary Clinton without question, without even listening to what she had to offer as a presidential candidate, and therefore are not even giving Bernie Sanders an ear."

Still, Pope feels like there's movement in Sanders' direction in Tennessee.

"I'm getting a lot more positive responses than I did 30 days ago," he said.

Catherine Beth Harrison, who works in chiropractic therapy in Knoxville, said she was drawn to Sanders by his support for civil rights, especially for blacks, Hispanics, women and gays and lesbians, and because of his message of economic equality.

Harrison, 27, started volunteering for Sanders' campaign back in the fall.

"I show up and say, 'What do you need?' " she said. That might mean vacuuming the floor, cleaning an office table or going out to Knoxville's Market Square and talking to people who want to know more about the campaign.

"Anybody who has a Facebook page can tell you lots of people have opinions about politics in our country. It's great to have an opinion and to want change. But to actually go out and do something about it and take the next step is what gets the ball rolling and what sets change in motion."

Harrison considers herself a feminist, and she's glad to see Clinton in the race. But she was a little disheartened by the recent comments of feminist icons Madeleine Albright and Gloria Steinem, who suggested women who don't support Clinton are somehow betraying their sex.

"I don't think you have to be a woman or have a certain set of genitalia to be a champion for women's rights," Harrison said. "I would urge anyone who takes a stand for women's rights to look at the issues and make a decision not based on sex. Because that kind of shakes up the whole foundation of feminism as it is."

If Sanders loses the nomination, would Harrison vote for Clinton in November?

"I have such optimism that Bernie can do this, that question is not even on my radar," she said.