A crowd of Bernie Delegates gathered at Steve Camara’s beautiful summer retreat in Westport Point overlooking the Westport River. We met to fashion strategy to win enough delegates to result in a win of a majority of the pledged delegates in NJ, Ca, Mt, N. Da, S. Da, NM, PR, VI, and DC.
The enthusiasm to make a stand for Bernie was high. It crystallized into a unified plan with a definite message, who to target, who to do it to, and when to do what. It took shape over 4 prescribed hours, with extra sessions of schmoozing among the 25+ Bernie delegates. It got done with expert facilitating by Bruce Taub, and Leslie Phillips.
There was some ante meeting input from Maryann Rutter, and Lind Pinti:
Also there is a great article at the Huffpost today that is very relevant to this from the Exec. Director of the National Nurses United — worth the read:
Possible Talking Points for Why Superdelegates Should Support Sanders
(1) The polls consistently show Sanders doing much better against Trump than Hillary in the general.
(2) Bernie is the most popular candidate of the 3, lowest unfavorables of any candidate in the race — and highest favorables; also he is the most popular Senator in the senate in their own state — and his supporters are very passionate in their support which translates into turnout.
(3) Due to voter suppression laws and measures that have gone into effect since the last presidential election resulting from the Supreme court decision that gutted the Voting Rights act, we must have a huge turnout to win in November. Bernie will inspire record turnout as he does much better among youth, progressives and independents than Clinton, does better with whites and men than Clinton, does well with women, and Hispanics and increasingly is doing better and better with African Americans as they have gotten to know him and his record of working for civil rights since his college days.
(4) Bernie doesn’t have the Clinton baggage which is considerable for both Hill and Bill. (see new IG report on what the media is starting to call “emailgate,” that is a scathing assessment of Hillary’s judgment.) This now has legs and will likely grow (with or without indictment) and the Clinton Foundation revelations are just beginning. Trump will exploit every one of them and everyday we will hear about it! For anyone who says this is just more of the VRWC that attacks the Clintons, remind them that despite a Republican congress bent on destroying Obama, we have had two terms with no Barack or Michelle scandals. Remember no drama Obama — it can be done and that is how it would be with Bernie and Jane.
(5) Sanders will help heal and transform America and complete the Roosevelt agenda that he enumerated in his Economic Bill of Rights at the end of his last State of the Union speech in 1944. Bernie and Jane would be Franklin and Eleanor for the 21st century.
(6) Obama was a transitional presidency, Sanders would be transformational.
(7) Sanders is the best candidate to help heal planet Earth — as he has said, for social, economic racial and environmental justice — people are praying for him around the world including Tibetan monks praying to clear obstacles in his path.
(8) And let us not forget that if anyone will know how to steal an election from our fragile election machine apparatus, it will be the Trump Thug organization — there is no way that he will allow a woman to beat him. The best defense we have against an attempted steal is a landslide size voter turnout which will only happen with Bernie.
AND
As demonstrated by this primary campaign, Bernie captures the following groups that Hillary doesn’t:
1) first-time voters:. In the NH primary, Bernie got 72% of newly registered voters, those voting for the first time
2) young voters: in 2016, 17% of registered voters are under 30. This is up a full 3 percentage points from 2008. In a few more years, ONE IN FIVE VOTERS will belong to the demographic!
3) voters not enrolled in a party (so-called “independent” voters): Bernie bested Hillary wth this group, sometimes by double-digit percentage points, and can even pull voters away from Trump among these voters. They will MAKE OR BREAK this election.
And amalgamating the two with the discussion in Steve’s living room, here is a draft conversation with a Ma Super Delegate:
Hello “Super Delegate X” Glad to meet you. My name is Dr. Donald Green. I’m a retired Family Doc. As an Alternate Bernie Sanders I represent CD6 . I appreciate you have taken the time to listen to me.
Like you, we Bernie supporters want a Democrat in the White House, and will definitely work hard for down the line Democrats in governor seats, along with state and federal legislators. There is no doubt both of us also want Federal Court appointees who understand our present times when interpreting the Constitution. This are common objectives for all Democrats.
By now you know Bernie has a winning message and record. Voters like him, trust him, and voted for him in spite of great political odds. No one can deny the strong attraction of his brand of presidential leadership. I know you have seen the polls that confirm this. He is the overwhelming preference of election day voters when he is sized up against Donald Trump.
I understand you feel differently, but Bernie’s primary and caucus victories, and especially his momentum, can not be dismissed. He brings new life and energy to our Party. Young people, first time voters, and most importantly Independents, all by large winning margins against other contestants. All Democrats want and must have this broad appeal to score a victory in November.
You have extraordinary power, plus you are free to decide who should be our nominee. The vote you cast represents thousands. By being appointed a Super Delegate, the choice of candidate, has to foremost represent your constituency. It is also my view that it is not nation wide, since this is a state by state appointment, and is the same way votes are tallied in the General.
As a Commonwealth citizen, my vote has been set to be cast for Bernie by proportion. It is only logical, and quite frankly fair to expect Super Delegates to do the same. So I’m asking you to listen to the Democratic Voting Public, and consider support for the candidate with the broadest appeal, and by present polls, has the best chance to defeat Donald Trump. That candidate, not by say so, but the people’s say so, is Senator Bernie Sanders.
Thanks again for listening. I appreciate you have a tough job. I wish you the wisdom to do the right thing.
STOP TALKING AND LISTEN. ONLY ANSWER QUESTIONS, NOT THEIR OBJECTIONS.
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