Thread by @samsanders

HI! @BernieSanders is running for president (again), and as a former campaign reporter embedded with his 2016 run for a very long time, I have a lot of thoughts. Let's begin?

The 1 thing 2 have 2 know about Bernie, or remember about Bernie, is that he is not a Democrat. He wasn't in 2016. He is not running as one now. This tension animated the Democratic primary until THE very end. Remember the walkout? (My story: npr.org/2016/07/26/487…

I remember talking All the time with NEW democratic voters he brought into the fold. This was maybe good for Democracy, but weird for the DNC? I’ll never forget the Bernie supporter who didn’t know how superdelegates work, on the floor of the DNC
npr.org/2016/07/26/487…

So many of his supporters never came around to the process that led to his loss. Those wounds still sting for many in Bernie’s camp

ANOTHER THING: the narrative on Bernie and race; y’all got it wrong. He did better with Black and Brown voters than you think, especially with YOUNGER black and brown voters.
npr.org/2016/03/28/472…

Throughout the race, I CONSTANTLY found young voters of color who weren’t sold on Hillary. (Note: they’re still here)
npr.org/2016/02/11/466…

A thing we still have to get right is how we cover these voters, and differences in black voters specifically, on issues of POLICING, and how that’s affected by AGE. My story:
npr.org/templates/tran…

But perhaps the one thing I am waiting to see play out is how @SenSanders deals with what may have been his biggest vulnerability in 2016: the idea that he was a single-issue candidate.

You’ll recall the time he caught a lot of heat when, after a terror attack, his team actually told reporters to NOT ask him about ISIS

npr.org/2015/12/08/458…

Even close friends of Bernie admit, he’s been almost laser-focused on economic inequality above all else, for his entire career.

"His central concerns have never been war or civil rights or gay rights or women's rights."

npr.org/2016/06/15/481…

So, three things I’ll be watching as his run begins:
1. How will @SenSanders handle running for the Dem nomination — in a party that has co-opted a bunch of his views—even as he still isn’t a Dem?
2. Can he be more than a single issue candidate?
3. WILL HE GET IT RIGHT ON RACE???

Thanks for coming to my BernTalk

Oh one more thing: recent allegations of sexual harassment and mistreatment of women on the Bernie trail? Never saw it directly, but from the first day I got on the Bernie bus, the bro vibe was real and constant. So there’s that.