How Warren overtook Sanders – and how he beat himself | American News

Political and political aspects of American politics include Ready for Warren, a group that urged Elizabeth Warren to run for president in 2016.

"If I'm quite frank, I'm sorry she did not and did not really forgive her," said Dave Handy, a political organizer involved in this effort. "We could have avoided a lot of problems if she had the courage to run."

Handy is associated with Bernie Sanders instead. "Even if progressives like me begged for it, Liz refused to run and all of this equipment that Bernie is endowed with – of which I am a part and many progressives and many Socialists – could have been his. And we could have avoided the whole myth of "Bernie bro" that was created. "

Activists such as Handy illustrate their divided loyalty and an exquisite dilemma for progressives, as Democrats choose their candidate to face Donald Trump in 2020. Polls show Sanders and Warren are almost tied behind centrist Joe Biden, posing the question: avoid dividing vote, should we give up and approve the other?

Both candidates attract larger crowds than a former vice president who seems increasingly prone to blunder and vulnerability, there is no sign that this is happening any time soon. Indeed, some on the left believe that Sanders and Warren are about to push Biden into third place and face it.

Cenk Uygur, host and founder of the online news show The Young Turks, wrote this week in the Washington Post: "Warren and Sanders attract thousands of people, but his audience is much smaller. His campaign is out of breath and we are only in August. Biden's fade started. I am not sure that he will even be in the running of Iowa. "

Uygur added, "This race is no longer between Warren and Biden; it's between Warren and Sanders. And for the progressives, it's a dream come true. "

"Elizabeth Warren is completely serious"

Sanders, a Vermont senator who, at age 77, is the oldest candidate on the field, no longer has the surprise effect he's had against Hillary Clinton in 2016. He continues to promise free courses in public universities, for a minimum wage of $ 15 per hour. and universal health care. He still has an unparalleled network of small dollar donors and continues to generate excitement at rallies.

Warren, a 70-year-old Massachusetts senator and long-time Wall Street critic, experienced a slow but inexorable push. She promised to "fight" – one of her favorite words – a rigged system and issued detailed policy proposals on everything from the dissolution of technology companies to the implementation of a "wealth tax" For the rich.

His populist economic message struck a chord, attracting large crowds: 15,000 in Seattle; 12,000 people in St Paul, Minnesota – and a positive media craze. "The very real possibility of President Elizabeth Warren" was the title of Rolling Stone; "Slowly and persistently, Elizabeth Warren is on the rise," said New York magazine; "Elizabeth Warren is completely serious" announced a profile in the New York Times.

Charles Chamberlain, president of Progressive Democracy for America, said, "She's the big winner in the last eight months. We have seen it climb regularly among our members. It's a well-run, well-executed campaign that clearly involves voters. But Bernie Sanders also led a tough campaign – she has been "steady over the years".

"Warren and Bernie dominated the debate. I have the impression that the Biden campaign is very on the defensive in terms of politics. The Biden rallies are strangely reminiscent of the dull campaign of Hillary Clinton. Warren and Bernie go event after event and only grow. "

Chamberlain shares the view that Biden is going to erase.

"I think this will lead to a Democratic primary with Warren and Bernie at the top," he said. "Neither should give up. They have to fight that until the end, even if it means going to an agreement where agreements have to be made. "

Who would win such a fight remains a hypothesis. Sanders won this week his first support for a national union of 35,000 members of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. But most unions remain on the fence.

Liberal groups are also divided. In June, Warren led a MoveOn survey with support from 38% of members, followed by Sanders with 17%. In July, Sanders won 32% of the vote, followed by Warren with 26%. In both cases, Warren had gained ground.

Indeed, she has grown in scale nationwide, overcoming controversy over her questionable claims of Native American ancestry, while Sanders may have reached a ceiling. There is at least one perception that she wins at her expense.

Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, now an MSNBC Network Policy Analyst, said, "You have seen, in the rise of Elizabeth Warren, the Elector of Bernie Sanders falling from Bernie, thus finding a younger fort to moor their ship to, if you will. They do not think they are losing a step with Elizabeth; In fact, they probably earn a few more steps, because she ticked a number of boxes – in terms of being a woman, for example.

"We saw that in the numbers, how much she had eclipsed it and gone to the polls, where she was much closer to Joe Biden than Bernie's in the past."

This week, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York City became the sixth Democrat to give up the race since July. Steele does not expect Sanders or Warren to throw sponge so soon.

"If both campaigns feel like they are gaining ground and polls are relatively close to each other, there will be no incentive to drop out. They are both fundraising, they are both organizing in the field.

"I think that they're going to be pretty competitive with each other until one separates itself clearly from the other.This has not happened yet." I'm Elizabeth Warren, I'm not going to give this land to Bernie Sanders, and if I'm Bernie Sanders, I'm not going to give him the land I created in 2016. "

"Bearer of the flame"

Imagined as a Venn diagram, there is common ground between the constituents of Warren and Sanders, but each has its own base. A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center this month revealed that nearly seven Warren supporters are white, compared to about half of Sanders supporters. Warren's supporters are much more likely to have a university degree than Biden and Sanders supporters.

John Zogby, a pollster and author, said: "Because of progressive ideology, there is some overlap, but they are different. Warren gets support among the women that Sanders would not normally get, including former Clinton supporters who consider her to be the torchbearer to elect a woman.

"Suppose that if one abandons, he will support the other, it is too easy. If Warren withdrew, she would probably consider that she has some weight in the party and a chance to represent herself in the future. She would therefore probably support a personality like Biden. "

Senators have differences of style and substance. Warren embraces the term "capitalist" and is considered by some to be less disruptive to corporate interests; Sanders defines himself as a "democratic socialist" and offers less details on policies. Warren refused to appear on Fox News; Sanders held a town hall on the network. Warren has just taken his 50,000th campaign selfie with supporters lining up. Sanders kept a curious character and showed little appetite for small talk at the recent Iowa Fair.

But when the duo, who are still fast friends, appeared together in the second debate in Detroit, the distinctions seemed insignificant as they joined forces to repel centrists on their support for policies such as Medicare for All, which expand the current government-run health system. insurance program to all Americans, largely eliminating the role of private insurance.

In the end, however, even if the progressive dream comes true, there will inevitably be disappointment and compromise. Handy, 31, a former Ready for Warren activist, said, "As far as the entire political spectrum is concerned, I would much prefer a Warren administration to a [Kamala] Harris Administration or a second term of Trump. That said, it just will not go far enough.

"What the country needs more than ever is what we had after the Second World War with the construction of the American middle class and the incredible social reform of FDR. That's what a Sanders administration will do, and I'm concerned that a Warren administration is not going far enough to address income inequality, criminal justice reform, our climate, all these problems. "