The Nation has this interview with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). Sanders says he is thinking about running for president and if he did run, he has not decided whether he would run independently of the Democratic Party, or participate in the Democratic Party presidential primaries. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
The ballot access deadlines and obstacles will make this decision for him. If he waits much longer, he will be forced to run with the Democrats or have no chance of being on all the ballots.
I don’t agree. The earliest petition deadline of any state to get on for president is in June 2016, if one uses the method with the latest deadline.
“If you CAN be petitioning, you SHOULD be petitioning”. Even if he had the money and the organization, he would still be up against time and space. Logistically speaking, he would be hard-pressed to complete all the ballots.
Should he run as an independent or alternative-party candidate, watch for the Democrats to try to keep him off of as many state ballots as possible, as they did in 2004 with Ralph Nader.
How many BILLIONS of $$$ will the Elephants give to Sen. B.S. IF he is an *independent* to guess what —
DIVIDE and CONQUER.
See 1860. See 1992.
I really hope Bernie Sanders doesn’t run for President.
If he does run, his campaign will be very destructive to many smaller parties.
He will most certainly run as a Democrat if he does run.
The effect will be that he will draw whatever grassroots efforts that would have gone to the Greens back into the Democratic Party.
It’ll be like what Ron Paul has recently done to the Libertarians or what (I think) Howard Dean did to the Greens in 2004, or what Ralph Nader did to the Greens in 2004 and again in 2008.
If Senator Sanders does run as an “independent” he will have to find supporters to form new state level parties and to entice state chapters of larger parties to break free from their national coalitions in order to place his name on their state’s ballot. He’ll cause the splintering and disunity of some existing parties this way.
I don’t really think there’s a strong national level of support for Bernie Sanders as a Presidential candidate.
He’s best where he is, as an independent in the Senate.
However, if he does run I hope he publicly joins the Green Party, seeks their nomination, runs as a Green if nominated, or withdraws from the general election if they choose another candidate.
He could also endorse the Green candidate. That would be helpful.
This is a good point. If you are Bernie Sanders, you better have a battery of lawyers ready to back up your ballot access work! Do you know why? Because Bernie Sanders has actually done things for people. Just like Ralph Nader. He’s a leader and that means he’s a threat.
The last time Ralph Nader “did things for people” there was no deposit required for soda cans and Mama Cass was still alive.
If Bernie doens’t run as a Green Party candidate, he will have enormous ballot access problems.
When it comes to ballot access.. Bernie doesn’t know, what he doesn’t know.
I hope he runs as a Green Party candidate. It is the only way I see any reason for him to run…