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Ammons feels the Bern

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Illinois

* Bernie Sanders has been criticized for not doing much of anything to help the bottom of the ticket. He addressed that today in a fundraising e-mail to his supporters…

No president, not Bernie Sanders, not the greatest president you could possibly imagine, can take on the billionaire class alone. And that’s because change never happens from the top down, it always occurs from the bottom up.

That’s why today I am announcing my support for eight progressive state legislative candidates who embody the spirit of our political revolution.

Today, they are state representatives running for re-election or challenging to win their first race. Tomorrow, they’ll be progressives running for Congress and maybe even the presidency. And in 2020, they’ll help determine how congressional districts are drawn for the remainder of the next decade — a key to Democrats taking back and holding the House of Representatives for the decade to come.

It’s up to us to transform the future of the Democratic Party, and that’s why I am proud to ask:

Can I count on you to split a $100 contribution to our campaign and a great slate of progressive state legislative candidates as a way of saying we are going to fight to transform our country, and the Democratic Party, from the bottom up? […]

Carol Ammons became the first African-American woman to win election in her district of the Illinois State Legislature, scoring an upset election victory against a well-funded establishment opponent. She’s fighting for progressive issues and candidates and deserves our support.

So, he wants to split a hundred bucks with a legislator in a solidly Democratic district with no current Republican opponent?

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 1:50 pm

Comments

Bernie beat Hillary in Champaign County by 10,000 votes. She has been with him since the beginning, I think this is a just a thank you for sticking with me. What I don’t understand is why Bernie didn’t have Ammons traveling the state voicing his support for him to dispel the narrative that he has no African American support.

Ammons is building a small army in Champaign County, her clout is continuing to grow their unchecked for better or worse.

Comment by Almost the Weekend Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 1:59 pm
It’s not about her. It’s about him.

Comment by Ray del Camino Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 2:00 pm
The idea that Sanders has done *nothing* for down-ticket races is not true. He’s endorsed several Reps on fundraising emails and they’ve gotten big money from that endorsement. I fully expect post-convention most of his energy will be spent on such races.

Comment by Chicago mom Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 2:09 pm
It’s a fair criticism that he’s showing interest in the future of the Democratic Party now (when there is something in it for him), but couldn’t bring himself to be associated with them formally for the past quarter century.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 2:14 pm
And here come the Bernie Bro’s saying, “look, he IS going to help the party,” except, helping A democrat, in a safe seat, isn’t doing a thing to turn either chamber blue this November.

Comment by realkewlio Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 2:18 pm
==It’s a fair criticism that he’s showing interest in the future of the Democratic Party now (when there is something in it for him), but couldn’t bring himself to be associated with them formally for the past quarter century.==

That simply isn’t true. Yes, he’s had a complicated history with them, but he’s also caucused with them for at least the last 20 years and held leadership positions closely aligned with them. But he is surely not afraid to criticize the party when they need called out

Comment by Johnny Pyle Driver Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 2:27 pm
=And here come the Bernie Bro’s saying, “look, he IS going to help the party,” except, helping A democrat, in a safe seat, isn’t doing a thing to turn either chamber blue this November.=

Well he does seem to be doing more for folks down ticket than Clinton.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/clinton-fundraising-leaves-little-for-state-parties-222670

Comment by Carhartt Representative Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 2:39 pm
“He wants to split a hundred bucks with a legislator in a solidly Democratic district with no current Republican opponent?”

So Ammons is a lock to come in first, while Bernie will finish second — who we got coming in third to round out this $100 trifecta?

– MrJM

Comment by @MisterJayEm Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 2:42 pm
Hillary Clinton has been campaigning for Democrats all over the country since the 1970s. on the ground and raising money. Believe that Bernie was still collecting unemployment back then.

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 2:46 pm
Perhaps his plan is to have her given the 50 bucks, then “redistribute” it back to HIS campaign to serve the greatest public “good”.

Seriously, how can any knowledgeable person support the guy give that STILL sees the pre-1990 Soviet Union, Cuba and Venezuela as the economic models that the US should follow?

I can understand playing on the class envy against “Billlllllionahhhes”, but at some point you’d think common sense would prevail.

Comment by Illinois Bob Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 2:51 pm
In the year of the outsider candidate, party loyalists sneer at Bernie Sanders for not doing more to elect corporate party insiders. Methinks this line of attack will fall on deaf ears.

Comment by Johnny Pyle Driver Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 2:53 pm
Illinois Bob, you compare social democracy to the Soviet Union and it’s everybody else that needs to use common sense? You may want to revisit that…

Comment by Johnny Pyle Driver Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 2:55 pm
Who are the other seven candidates?

Comment by Dome Gnome Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 3:01 pm
Johnny- I know it’s easier to pretend people like IL Bob are just crazy and your fun, hip, Bernie Sanders style socialism is totally different from socialism of the past… but the man literally honeymooned to the USSR in 1988.

Comment by Robert the 1st Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 3:06 pm
Ron Burgundy

+1

Comment by L.A. Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 3:09 pm
A quick overview of the other candidates:

Justin Bamberg: Actual tight race in SC for state rep.
David Bowen: Heavy blue district in Wisconsin, ran unopposed in 2014 for state rep.
Clara Hart: ? from SD for state rep.
Terry Alexander: Running unopposed in SC.
Chris Pearson: ? from VT for state senate.
Jane Kim: Running to fill a vacancy by a D in CA in state senate.
Joe Salazar: Actual tight race in CO state rep.

In other words, only 2 candidates may actually benefit.

Comment by hodor Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 3:11 pm
@Johnny Pyle Driver

If you read up on what Bernie wants it’s clearly socialism where government OWNS the means of production, not “social democracy” as they currently have in Scandinavian countries. There they encourage large corporations to grow and prosper with government protection from competition, and they take a large government nut from the big corporation profits for government to prosper and “redistribute”.

Bernie is trying to slap down big corporations and “billlllionahhhes” which go hand in hand with social free enterprise democracy that fund social programs.

There’s a big difference. Read up on it.

Comment by Illinois Bob Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 3:13 pm
Robert,
It isn’t easier to study the differences between social democracy, which is practiced to some extent here and in basically every other major democracy on the planet, and soviet style communism. The easy path is to pull the first boogey man out of your mind and then make a hit and run comment about him taking a vacation in USSR. What does that even mean? He must be a stalinist because he went to USSR before?

Comment by Johnny Pyle Driver Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 3:13 pm
Illinois Bob, it’s funny, I’ve been studying this stuff for over a decade and been campaigning for Bernie for a year now and for every person that makes the claim you are making, not a single person can substantiate it. I’m well acquainted with all his plans. Maybe you should do your own homework and back up your assertion that he wants the government to take over the means of production on some significant level

Comment by Johnny Pyle Driver Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 3:16 pm
-Well he does seem to be doing more for folks down ticket than Clinton.-

I seemed to miss where in that article it discussed any money Bernie raised for any other candidates.

Comment by realkewlio Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 3:20 pm
“I seemed to miss where in that article it discussed any money Bernie raised for any other candidates.”

It wasn’t an ‘article’. It was the latest email that the Sanders campaign sent out. There have been several others sent out for other down ballot candidates previously.

Comment by MikeMacD Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 3:27 pm
That’s not his ticket, he just caucuses with the democrats. He’s never claimed to be a member of the party.

Comment by NoGifts Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 3:38 pm
===That simply isn’t true.===

It’s mostly true. Sanders only became a Democrat because it made his path to run for the Presidency easier. My personal favorite is the fact that he’s never registered as a Democrat nor ever attended/participated in a Democratic National Convention, yet is constantly complaining that the party rules are stacked against him.

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 4:00 pm
47th, you’re absolutely right. The guy’s a socialist who’s a “Democrat of convenience”, much like Trump is a “Republican of convenience”.

We know that Hillary is all about the Benjamin’s and that’s what drives her policy decisions, but who knows what the Donald and Bernie would have as their political center…

Comment by Illinois Bob Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 4:05 pm
“who knows what the Donald and Bernie would have as their political center…”

Ego and chewy nougat.

– MrJM

Comment by @MisterJayEm Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 4:25 pm
Sanders is trying to gain favor with African Americans, something he sorely lacks in voting so far. He still believes he can somehow prevail in the nomination process.

Comment by Wensicia Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 4:41 pm
@MisterJayEm

=“who knows what the Donald and Bernie would have as their political center…”

Ego and chewy nougat.=

Classic!LOL I’ll refrain from jokes about cannibalism of public officials….

Comment by Illinois Bob Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 4:57 pm
After some hunting, I found a list of the eight candidates. Ammons is the only one from Illinois:

Justin Bamberg is a state representative from South Carolina who was an early endorser of Hillary Clinton’s campaign but switched his endorsement before the primary because of Bernie’s work for “racial, social, and economic justice.” Justin won his last election by only 113 votes.

David Bowen is the son of Jamaican immigrants who is running for his second term in the Wisconsin State Legislature. He fought for and won a living wage for Milwaukee city employees.

Clara Hart is a refugee from Mozambique whose family fled from violence when she was just 8 years old. Now she’s running for the South Dakota House, where she hopes to continue her work for immigrant families.

Terry Alexander is a representative in the South Carolina legislature who supports raising the minimum wage, expanding health care and protecting the right to vote.

Carol Ammons became the first African-American woman to win election in her district of the Illinois State Legislature, scoring an upset election victory against a well-funded establishment opponent.

Jane Kim is the first Korean-American to win election in San Francisco, and she’s running to become a California state senator. The daughter of immigrants, Jane is a civil rights attorney who’s fought for affordable housing and fair wages in her city.

Joe Salazar is a state representative in Colorado who is a tireless advocate for stopping fracking, protecting civil rights and advancing criminal justice reform. He won his last election by just 221 votes.

Chris Pearson is running for the Vermont State Senate after spending four terms in the Vermont House of Representatives. He is a champion on the issues of livable wages, strong labor union advocacy, climate change and voting rights. This year he was able to pass a bill into law for automatic voter registration.

Comment by Dome Gnome Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 5:24 pm
Hillary is farther ahead at this point than Obama was ahead of her in 2008 at this point. she actually got more votes than Obama did during the primaries. Hillary stayed in the race and made the case that she would be the better general candidate. but there was not remotely the same bitterness from her and her camp that we are hearing from Bernie. that is a mighty big difference. He’s not a Democrat but he wants to use the party. it is getting dangerous to the general push for Democrats. Bernie needs to tone it down. way down.

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 8:07 pm
==Hillary Clinton has been campaigning for Democrats all over the country since the 1970s. ==

in the 60s she was campaigning for Goldwater while blacks were they’re heads bashed in…

Comment by atsuishin Tuesday, May 24, 16 @ 8:44 pm
Atsuishin, if you’re going to bash Hillary for being a self-proclaimed “Goldwater girl” back in 1964, keep in mind she was seventeen at the time. How about acknowledging her role for moderate-to-progressive Democratic causes in her twenties, thirties, forties, and fifties — such as working as a Senate staffer for a Watergate investigative committee; working with the Children’s Defense Fund; fighting for universal access to health care as first lady; fighting for women’s rights as U.S. senator. Her career, in other words, amounts to more than a stance she took when she was getting ready to graduate from high school.

Comment by Anonymous 88 Wednesday, May 25, 16 @ 5:21 am
For a website populated by political junkies, I’m stunned no one here has pointed out that Rep. Ammons’ husband is a Bernie delegate to the Dem. National Convention.

And the good Rep’s 2014 opponent was a political novice who was all over the map, policy-wise. Additionally, she bore the stain of being a single mom who had been a Newt Gingrich delegate in the prior presidential cycle. Kristin Williamson was most assuredly NOT the sharpest knife in the drawer, but got her candidacy via cultivation of ties with the former head of the Champaign County Republican Party. Ever since her defeat, she seems to have disappeared off the scene.

Comment by Lynn S. Thursday, May 26, 16 @ 2:23 am