My 1st OP - be nice: Nader 2000 vs. Sanders 2016 is an Apples to Oranges comparison...
Recently on DU a Clinton 2016 supporter (onehandle) posted a video from the 2000 general election featuring some of the celebrity support Ralph Nader received and the large rallies that the Nader campaign held in the waning days before voting day 11/7/2000. Their point was that the Sanders 2016 primary campaign is just a Nader 2000 redo that will undermine the Democratic front-runner. I think that's a bogus comparison and that there are some stark differences between the Sanders 2016 and Nader 2000 campaigns. Here's the short list:
-> Bernie is running as a Democrat! Nader never did.
-> Bernie is winning primaries and hundreds of delegates. Nader never did.
-> Bernie is now polling ahead of his main/only rival, Hillary Clinton in national polls, and overwhelmingly beating all Republican candidates in head to head general election polls. Clinton isn't. And Nader never out-polled Al Gore in 2000 or the Republican nominee (Bush of course) in 2000 pre-election polling.
Beyond these basic facts of history - while some of the faces supporting Nader in 2000 may be backing Bernie in 2016 (Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins to name a few), and while Nader's message is very similar to Bernie's - there are key differences between the Nader v. Gore and Sanders v. Clinton races. Let me list a few more facts:
-> Bernie chose to run as a Democrat and is bringing new people to the party. Nader didn't and Clinton isn't! Nader never challenged the Democrats in the primaries.
-> Bernie is raising millions of dollars through small, individual campaign contributions. Nader operated on a shoe-string budget and funded itself basically from rally to rally...
-> Bernie's electoral momentum is creating more popularity and generating huge rallies of enormous size! Nader held rallies to create momentum and raise cash!
Bernie's electoral success and popularity far surpasses Nader's in 2000, and is beating the establishment candidates this year from both parties. Consider that the Sander's primary rally in NYC's Washington Square last week (27,000+ attendees) drew more people than Barack Obama's general election rally in September 2008 at the same location (20,000+ attending)! So Bernie Sanders isn't just NOT a Nader, he is outpacing the popularity of the master campaigner himself - President Barack Obama! Clinton's popularity and rally attendance just doesn't compare, and her "unfavorables" top her "favorables" going on several months now! Al Gore was able to draw large crowds in 2000, but Hillary just isn't capable of generating the modern campaign enthusiasm that I believe is critical to winning general elections! As the ultimate party insider, she is able to win primary and caucus votes sometimes - but over the long haul come November 2016, I have serious doubts that Hillary has what it takes to win it all!
Sanders 2016 is running a legitimate and classic Democratic campaign, with broad-based support of true liberals, progressives, some "moderates" and even a few conservatives. Some final facts to close out my first post - further highlighting why Bernie is not Ralph:
-> Bernie has already received well over 3 million votes to date in the Democratic Primaries, with NY, PA, CA and 16 other state primaries yet to occur.
-> Nader netted just under 3 million votes total nationwide in the 2000 GENERAL election, less votes than the number of people who have contributed to the Sanders campaign.
Think about it. To say Bernie is a Nader retread is flat-out WRONG! Bernie is positioned to eclipse even Obama's primary electoral success in vote-getting and campaign contributions. While Hillary is a formidable candidate in the Democratic primaries - I believe if she wins the Democratic nomination she stands a far greater chance of losing the general election, than if Sanders is the Democratic nominee. I think Bernie would win the 2016 general by no less than 5%!! But with Hillary as the nominee - even if nothing adverse comes out of the Panama Papers about her, and if she is able to withstand and counter the barrage of negative ads that is sure to come - Clinton wins it only by the slimmest of margins. Big ifs all around! I am sticking with the sure win - Bernie Sanders!! But first we need to make sure Bernie wins the Democratic nomination!!
= new reply since forum marked as read
Welcome to DU!
Why do you love communistic socialist jew heads?!?!!??
Sorry... had to give you that authentic first OP hillistine rebuttal. It's not DU, anymore, without it.
Welcome aboard!
thank you!
