Sanders to Democrats: Abandon the establishment or lose in 2016

Presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is urging Democrats to rebel against the establishment if they want a chance to win the White House in 2016.

According to a prepared speech reported by CNN, Sanders had planned to encourage attendees at the Democratic National Committee summer meeting in Minneapolis to increase pressure on the political establishment at all levels to cut ties with Wall Street and corporations.

“If Democrats want to keep the White House and recapture Congress and make gains in statehouses, then establishment politics won’t do it,” Sanders was to argue in the speech.

The message will certainly distance Sanders from Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, who also planned to attend the event and whose ties to Wall Street and big business are well reported.

A recent Forbes article that frames Sanders as a potential spoiler for the Democrats in 2016 highlights why the Vermont lawmaker’s establishment message could pose big problems for Clinton, even if she becomes the party nominee.

From the piece:

Sanders threatens Hillary Clinton two ways in the primary stage. When she needs to consolidate her support with the Democrat base, Sanders appeals to the liberal core of it. He could potentially disgruntle a sizable portion of it to stay home. Or he could possibly force Clinton to run so far to the left to counter him that she cannot plausibly make the appeal needed to court Independents later.

Either outcome could be fatal for Clinton, who already demonstrates relatively weak appeals to hardcore liberals and Independents. With Clinton needing to counter both trends, the last thing she needs Sanders accentuating them.

Sanders has made no secret that his campaign is focused on courting disgruntled Democrats.

He recently told Democrats: “The Republicans did not win the mid-term election in November. The Democrats lost that election because voter turnout was abysmally low, and millions of working people, minorities and young people gave up on ‘politics as usual’ and stayed home.

“Let me be very clear. In my view, Democrats will not retain the White House, will not regain the Senate, will not gain the House and will not be successful in dozens of governor’s races unless we run a campaign which generates excitement and momentum and which produces a huge voter turnout.”

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