Sanders wants Warren supporters on board campaign

DES MOINES — Bernie Sanders gave Elizabeth Warren a virtual bear hug Saturday during an open house at his campaign headquarters here, a nod to a progressive leader whose supporters failed to coax her to run for president and are now looking for a standard-bearer.

“Senator Warren is a good friend of mine and her views and mine are pretty close on most of the major issues, so we’ll be bringing in some of those people into our organization,” said the Vermont senator, who is competing for the Democratic presidential nomination.


As Sanders described his Iowa campaign operation, he acknowledged that his staff was seeking support from Warren backers in his quest to be the progressive alternative to Hillary Clinton, who was officially launching her presidential campaign in New York City as Sanders spoke.

His comments came on the heels of news that Sanders had hired a former operative from the “Run Warren Run” organization – Blair Lawton – to act as his Iowa field director.

Sanders noted that his paid staff in Iowa had grown from two to five, and that he expects to continue expanding. He boasted that his campaign had received contributions from 150,000 people averaging $40 each, which adds up to $6 million. That sum wouldn’t keep pace with his rivals, he said, but would allow him to compete in Iowa, which holds the first presidential nominating contest in 2016.

“We will be outspent, but what I always was concerned about, and why I hesitated getting into this was – could we raise enough money to run a strong campaign?” he told POLITICO after the event. “You don’t need $2 billion to run in Iowa. We will have enough money to run a strong campaign”

Part of that campaign will include television advertising, he said, noting that it’s an “essential part of what a modern campaign is.” But he said he has a distaste for 30-second ads and prefers more personal retail politicking.