By Miriam Raftery

Photos: Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden

March 13, 2020 (Washington D.C.) -- Former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the Democratic presidential contenders, criticized President Donald Trump's handling of the COVID-19 panedemic and offered plans of their own to address the crisis.

Biden and Sanders will also square off in a debate Sunday on CNN starting at 4 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. The debate was moved from Arizona to CNN's studio in Washington D.C. due to the coronavirus outbreak.  You can tune in via cable TV, as well as on the CNN website, the Univision website, and both networks’ mobile apps.

New CBS poll shows Warren drawing even with Biden, Sanders ahead in Calif. on Election Eve:  Biden and Warren could see boosts after Klobucher withdrawal

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Amy Klobucher, cc by SA via Bing

March 2, 2020 (San Diego) – Minnesota Senator Amy Klobucher plans to suspend her presidential campaign and endorse moderate Democrat and former Vice President Joe Biden, CNN reports.

The news follows disappointing finishes for Klobucher in four early primary states including sixth places finishes in South Carolina and Nevada.  Tomorrow, her home state of Minnesota is among those voting on Super Tuesday. However a rally by Vermont Senator Bernie slated there tonight raises the prospect that Klobucher could lose her home state, since Sanders has been drawing rock-star crowds numbering over 10,000 in other recent appearances.

She is expected to appear with Biden at a rally tonight to announce her formal endorsement.

Klobucher is the third prominent candidate to suspend or end a campaign after the South Carolina primary, following the withdrawals of Pete Buttigieg and Tom Steyer.

Despite her endorsement of Biden, some pundits speculate that a substantial number of Klobucher’s supporters could shift to Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, the only remaining woman in the race who has earned delegates to date.

CA race narrows to five contenders polling in double-digits:  Sanders, Biden, Warren, Buttigieg and Bloomberg

By Miriam Raftery

February 19, 2020 (San Diego) – A poll released Tuesday by the Public Policy Institute of California finds Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders solidly in the lead among likely Democratic voters in the March 3 primary, with 32% support.  Four other candidates polled neck and neck: former Vice President Joe Biden at 14%, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren at 13%,  South Bend Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg at 12% each.

Four of the top five candidates have been campaigning hard throughout the long primary race.  But Bloomberg, a billionaire and former investment banker with an MBA from Harvard, entered the race late and has been outspending opponents on ads. He is seen by some moderates as an alternative to Biden, though like Buttigieg his only political experience is local, not national. But troubling news reports emerging have some questioning Bloomberg’s viability against Donald Trump--and some disturbing similarities.

Read highlights of all 14 presidential hopefuls seeking California’s 416 delegates—the nation’s biggest electoral prize in the 2020 election  

Article and photos by Angela de Joseph

June 5, 2019 (San Francisco) – Fourteen of the 24 Democratic presidential candidates brought their “A” games and Olympic stamina to a three-day mini-marathon at the California Democratic Party (CDP) “Organizing” Convention,  held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco May 31-June 2.

By Ken Stone

Reprinted with permission from Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association.

Photo:  John Mattes speaks to San Diego Democrats for Equality, the predominantly gay club in Hillcrest. Photo by Ken Stone

May 27, 2017 (San Diego) - Oliver Mitov was dispatched by the Kremlin to get Bernie Sanders fans to vote third-party in the November election, write in the Democratic primary loser for president — or not vote at all.

By Miriam Raftery

July 25, 2016 (Philadelphia) – Speaking at the Democratic National Convention tonight, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders told delegates, “This election is about – and must be about – the needs of the American people and the kind of future we create for our children and grandchildren.” He then laid out reasons why he has endorsed his former rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for the presidency.

East County News Service

Photo: 10 News Twitter feed

June 6, 2016 (San Diego) – At a concert and rally in Qualcomm’s parking lot Sunday, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders told a crowd of around 4,500 supporters that Donald Trump will  not win in November, “because in the year 2016, the American people will not accept a bigoted president.” 

First, though, Californians will head to the polls for Tuesday’s primary election—and California polls show Senator Sanders running neck and neck with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  

Sanders told San Diego supporters, “Real change has never taken place from the top down, only from the bottom up.” He urged people to reject income inequality and billionaires seeking to “buy elections.”

East County Magazine

Photo: Twitter

 May 30, 2016 (Oakland) – After several campaign stops including addressing a crowd of 60,000 people in Oakland, Senator Bernie Sanders took time out to enjoy a Warriors game along with actor/activist Danny Glover at Oracle Arena, where the Golden State Warriors are playing Game 7 of the NBA’s Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The winner will go on to play for the NBA Championship.

Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections, by Richard L. Hasen (Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, 2016, 241 pages).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

May 28, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) - Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections, this scholarly and insightful book by Richard L. Hasen, a leading expert on election law, gives a compelling answer to the dilemmas of money in politics, and comes at a time when presidential candidates such as Bernie Sanders has as his mantra campaign finance and reform. Hasen, Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine, has written this book in the midst of one of the most unusual presidential campaigns in memory, where the character and personas of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders seem to shape our political history and agendas.

East County News Service

May 24, 2016 (San Diego) – Two weeks before the hotly contested California Democratic primary election on June 7th, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has backed out of her earlier pledge to debate her opponent, Vermont Senator Sanders, in California.

East County News Service

Photo: Sanders Twitter feed

May 21, 2016 (San Diego) -- U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders today toured Friendship Park, a meeting place for separated families between San Diego and Tijuana.

“All of this tells us why we need comprehensive immigration reform,” Sanders said after hearing the stories of families who can only see their loved ones on weekends. “I would hope that the Republicans in Congress understand that we have a very, very broken immigration system and that it must be reformed and that they should in fact work with Democrats to pass comprehensive immigration reform. If not and if I am elected president of the United States, I will use the executive powers that the president has to do that the best that I can.”

Trump gets 66% of Oregon votes in uncontested Republican primary

By Miriam Raftery

May 19, 2016 (San Diego) – Both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders will each pick up 27 delegates in the Kentucky primary where with 100% of precincts counted,  Clinton received 46.8% of the vote and Sanders 46.3%.

In Oregon, Sanders scored victory with 56% of the vote, while Clinton took 44%. Sanders will get 34 delegates and Clinton 25, as of the results with 96% of the count tallied, Associated Press reports.

East County News Service

May 10, 2016 (San Diego) – Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders soundly defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today in the West Virginia  Democratic primary, a state Clinton won handily against Barack Obama in 2008.  Sanders breezed to a win with over 51% of the vote, while Clinton got just 36%.

By Miriam Raftery

April 20, 2016 (San Diego) – Frontrunners widened their leads in yesterday’s New York presidential primary, where three of the five contenders had strong New York ties.

New York’s former Senator Hillary Clinton won with 58% percent of the vote, picking up 139 delegates.  But Senator Bernie Sanders, who was raised in Brooklyn, got 42% and picked up 106 of the delegates.

On the Republican side, New York businessman Donald Trump scored a resounding victory with 60, winning 89 delegates. In second place, Ohio Governor John Kasich got 25% and earned 3 delegates.  Texas Senator Ted Cruz, with just 14.5%, was shut out of receiving any delegates.

By Miriam Raftery

April 10, 2016 (San Diego) – The Sanders sweep continues.   Tonight Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders won the Democratic presidential primary in Wyoming, the “Cowboy State,” with nearly 56% of votes.  Former Secretary of State Clinton took 44%.