Eugene weekly., February 18, 2016, Page 13, Image 13

LANE COUNTY
BERNERS
WHY SO MANY OREGONIANS ARE #FEELINGTHEBERN
by Mohammed Alkhadher
O
n Jan. 21, “Berners” commandeered
the Cozmic building on 8th and
Charnelton in downtown Eugene. There
were about 30 people at Cozmic when
the Lane County for Bernie Sanders
meeting began. The space, often used
for concerts, might have been quieter than usual, but the
atmosphere was a mixture of excitement and optimism.
The Sanders supporters were diverse in age, ranging
from teens, not yet old enough to vote, to senior citizens,
as one woman humorously described herself. After the
meeting, volunteers made posters, wrote letters to local
publications or joined the phone-banking team.
Political consultant and Lane Community College board
member Matt Keating was the first to speak at the Lane
County for Bernie Sanders meeting. Keating emphasized
the importance of phone banking to support the Iowa caucus
that, at the time, loomed on the horizon. He urged volunteers
to join action groups to raise awareness for their candidate.
On Monday, Feb. 1, the Iowa caucus concluded with
a near draw between Sanders and former secretary of
state Hillary Clinton. The caucus was the first statewide
contest of this election cycle to decide who will represent
the Democratic Party in the 2016 presidential race. Media
pundits called it a win for Clinton, but Sanders fans saw it
as a sign their candidate was on the rise.
On Feb. 9, Sanders won the New Hampshire primary by
a 20-percent margin over Hillary Clinton, with 60 percent
of the vote going to Sanders. With more primaries on the
way, including the Democratic National Convention in July
when the Dems choose their presidential candidate, Bernie
Sanders volunteers across Lane County and Oregon are
urging their fellow voters to #FeeltheBern.
The candidate — Bernie, as his supporters prefer to call
him — is promising to fight income and wealth inequality,
and to battle big money in politics as well as the escalating
costs of health care and higher education — all issues dear
to his passionate Oregon supporters.
Can Sanders win? That’s the burning (Berning?)
question as his Oregon volunteers push to elect the 74-year-
old democratic socialist from Vermont to American’s
highest office.
MINIMUM WAGE
Kelsey Howe, a member of Lane County for Bernie
Sanders who was organizing a phone-banking group at the
meeting at Cozmic, says she’s supporting the candidate
because he gives her hope. Howe says she suffers from
seizures, and the medication doctors have prescribed for
her condition cause depression. While depression is a
medical condition, Howe says that Sanders’ policies on
affordable health care, higher minimum wage and free
education would alleviate the majority of her stress.
“I was getting really bad grades,” she says. “I really
wasn’t able to work enough. I just wasn’t able to support
myself. It was really stressful.”
Howe says that raising the minimum wage would mean
everyone would have a chance at the American Dream.
“Right now the American Dream isn’t possible on $9.25
an hour,” she says. “It just simply isn’t. That’s why it’s so
important to raise that.”
Sanders’ stance on minimum wage isn’t a new concept
dreamed up just for the campaign. According to his official
website, Sanders led the effort in the U.S. Senate to increase
the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour for federal contract
workers, and he’s advocated for a $15 minimum wage in
the Senate.
“We must also establish equal pay for women,” Sanders
writes on his website. “It’s unconscionable that women
earn less than men for performing the same work.”
For now, Howe is helping with phone banking and
keeping track of calls the phone bankers make.
“Overall time, our team has made 2,068 calls,” she
says. “That’s not even counting the calls we were making
before,” she adds of the efforts leading up to the Iowa
caucus. “That’s not counting the 20 other people I have that
aren’t really good with computers.”
THE CANDIDATE
Why does Sanders generate so much support? Any
Democrat on social media knows that if you praise Hillary
Clinton you will be hit with a passionate deluge of pro-
Sanders comments from Bernie fans. Berners are dedicated
to the white-haired man with the stooped shoulders and
Brooklyn accent as well as the issues he stands for.
Keating, at a Bernie Sanders gathering earlier in January,
channeled the Bard in his love for the Bern, proclaiming,
“To Bern or not to Bern, that is the question” and “to
Bern, perchance to dream” as he put Sanders' platform
into Shakespearean prose. From Photoshopped images
of Sanders with cats to an appearance on Saturday Night
Live with his doppelganger Larry David, Sanders is a pop
culture phenomenon as well as a political candidate.
Sanders, who would be the first Jewish president, is
running on a distinctly populist platform. He says he is
for the people. In Eugene, Sanders supporters have been
sending letters, making signs and phone banking to support
his election.
The New York native has an extensive resume in domestic
politics. Sanders has represented Vermont in the Senate
since 2006, and served in the House for 12 years before that.
While he may be running for presidency as a Democrat,
Sanders served the state of Vermont as an Independent and
avowed socialist for more than two decades.
“When Sanders announced back in May his candidacy,
he was in single digits in favor with our national polls,”
says Tim Morris, a member of the Lane County for Bernie
Sanders leadership. “Now he’s tying with a well-known
former secretary of state, with only a 2 percent difference
in the vote. We’ve proven that every single vote matters,
every phone call makes a difference and our hard work is
paying off.”
Sanders has publicly admitted that his opponent in
the Democratic primaries has the majority of the party
and the establishment’s support. But Sanders doesn’t
necessarily want to be the “establishment” candidate. In
the Feb. 4 Democratic debate hosted by MSNBC, Sanders
said he’s relied on the middle class, emphasizing the zeal
of individual supporters over big money and corporate
donors. As of Feb. 1, his campaign had reported more than
$75 million in donations, averaging $27 a piece.
In a Dec. 20 press release, the Sanders campaign
announced that it broke the record for individual
contributions with 2.3 million contributions. President
Barack Obama, who previously held the record, won his
re-election campaign with 2.2 million individual donations
as of Dec. 31, 2011.
On SNL, Sanders managed to stay on message and
still get laughs. “I am so sick of the 1 percent getting this
preferential treatment. Enough is enough,” Sanders says in
a skit. “We need to unite and work together if we’re all
going to get through this.”
Reflecting that proletarian zeal, Lane County for Bernie
Sanders is a grassroots campaign lead by a leadership
committee, and the work is delegated among a group of
volunteers.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
“He’s an honest person. I don’t even like using the term
politician,” says Joe Montez, a member of the Lane County
for Bernie Sanders leadership. “He’s doing something that
hasn’t been done by not taking money from any kind of
corporations or Super PACs.”
Montez, a lifelong Democrat, volunteered in the past
three presidential elections, and says he’d like to see the
party become more progressive. “I feel like we’re going
center-right, instead of to the left, and I’d like us to move
more towards progressive values and ideas.”
Sanders has used his refusal to accept Super PAC funds
as a platform for his election, and says he’ll move to repeal
the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court that
removes restrictions on campaign contributions. Sanders
says money in politics is undermining the political process.
Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited sums of
money donated from corporations, unions, associations and
individuals to advocate for or against political candidates.
“The American people are saying ‘No’ to a rigged
economy,” Sanders said during his speech following the
Iowa caucus.
eugeneweekly.com • February 18, 2016
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