Kids Caucus selects Bernie Sanders as Democratic nominee

On Saturday, Feb. 1, at the corner of Melrose Ave. and Sunset St., potential caucuses goers nervously prepared for the big event. Some had snacks, some were reading and a few played with the toy trains in the middle of the room.

Sidekick Coffee & Books, the youth-centric bookstore which opened in University Heights last year, held its first Kid's Caucus over the weekend to show those too young to legally participate in Monday's caucus how proceedings work.

A week and a half prior, owner Katy Herbold speculated that entrepreneur Andrew Yang would win the location, given the candidate visited the book store in December of 2019. While Yang had a strong showing at the start, Senator Bernie Sanders ultimately came out on top

At the start of the morning, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Mass. Sen. Elizabeth Warren also had supporters but proved not to be viable as caucusing continued. Viability in the Iowa Caucus is determined by having at least 15% of attendees supporting the candidate.

Supporters of those non-viable candidates were then left to choose between Yang and Sanders. Sixth-grader Adelaide Newton, who started team Warren, was among those who ultimately sided with Sanders.

“I like how she supports anyone of any gender or if they’re LGBTQ," said Newton of her first pick. “She’s a powerful woman and it would be a nice change to finally have a woman for president.”

When Warren ended up not being viable, Newton didn't have much trouble picking between Sanders and Yang.

“(Warren) basically has the same traits that Bernie does," Newton said, referencing how both support Medicare for all and relieving college debt. “And they both are kind of supportive of each other.”

Seventh-grader Lincoln Beihl ended up being a persuasive representative for Sanders. Beihl was even able to sway one of the Yang supporters to jump ship — which, under normal caucus rules, would not have been allowed as Yang was viable in the first round.

“I don’t downgrade Yang, he's doing good stuff," said Beihl, who also managed to pull support from those who had been behind Butigeg and Warren. "But I haven’t heard Yang talk much about universal health care. And Bernie's been (advocating) for minority groups — women and people with disabilities and autistic people — for the last 30 years.”

In the Yang camp, Max and Xander Herbold lamented that there hadn't been more kids at the event who might have supported Yang and that some of the younger kids (i.e. those playing with trains) weren't very interested in participating.

The two were particularly fond of Yang's desire to keep robots from taking jobs away from Americans as well as his plans to help those with disabilities.

“Another thing that I like about Andrew," added Jack Tunwall, one of the remaining Yang supporters, "is that he’ll give every family $1,000... and I think that’s important.”

Tunwall was referring to the candidates "Freedom Dividend" which Yang proposes — should he be elected — not just give every family, but every adult in the U.S. $1,000 a month.

“Andrew Yang is doing a lot of good things," Xandar said when asked about his second choice. "If he doesn’t become viable in the real caucus (then) Elizabeth Warren is really concerned about what’s happening in climate and global warming.”

During an interview with the Press-Citizen Beihl pointed out Sanders also has an approach to global warming which Beihl praised along with Sanders' proposed wealth tax.

“Bernie knows that fires are starting in California and Australia," Beihl said. "He believes in the Green New Deal, he knows that we need to unite to stop climate change, we need to put our petty differences aside like Democrat and Republican. He knows we have to be unified and together as a whole in order to battle the monsters that plague us.”

Isaac Hamlet covers arts, entertainment and culture at the Press-Citizen. Reach him at ihamlet@press-citizen.com or (319)-688-4247, follow him on Twitter @IsaacHamlet