Ilhan is finishing up her remarks, Bernie on shortly.
“Ilhan and I share a common link as the descendants of families who fled violence and poverty, and who came to this country as immigrants. But that is not just my story, or Ilhan's story — that is the story of America." — @BernieSanders with @IlhanMN in Minneapolis pic.twitter.com/bUGVwhHqpl
The Sanders-Ocasio-Cortez events will Iowa will be open to the public. The schedule is:
6 p.m., Friday, Nov. 8: Council Bluffs Rally with Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez at Iowa Western Community College, Reiver Arena, 2700 College Road, Council Bluffs. Noon, Saturday, Nov. 9: Des Moines Climate Crisis Summit with Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, Drake University, Bell Center, 1421 27th St., Des Moines. Transportation will be provided to Iowa State University and Grinnell College students. 6:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 9: Coralville Rally with Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, Coralville Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, 300 E. Ninth St., Coralville. A shuttle will run from the University of Iowa campus to the Coralville Marriott Hotel before and after the rally.
Since Sen. Bernie Sanders’ triumphant rally in Queens, New York, last Sunday, the Vermont senator has regained momentum after his heart attack in early October.
Sanders’ bid for the Democratic presidential nomination sagged in the aftermath of heart surgery that left him sidelined for two weeks. But after a strong performance on the debate stage last week and the biggest campaign event of the Democratic primary season with 25,000 fans, Sanders’ polls have bumped up.
In the weeks leading up to the heart attack, Sanders’ numbers stagnated, trailing Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden in national polls.
On Tuesday, Emerson College published a nationwide poll that had Sanders moving back into second place with 25%, yo-yoing with Warren who moved back into third position with 21%. Biden still leads the pack, but by a slim margin, at 27%.
Despite that uptick, Sanders has lost ground with primary voters who are gravitating to Warren, and the Vermont senator will need to redouble his efforts in order to win over former supporters, according to Brendan Kane, a research assistant for the Emerson College survey.
“To create a winning coalition in the primary, Sanders will need to win back more of the voters who supported him in 2016 from Warren than he is currently receiving,” Kane said in a statement.
In a CNN poll released on Wednesday, Sanders and Warren are neck and neck for second place. Warren is at 19% and Sanders is just behind with 16%. Both progressive candidates are well behind Biden, who at 34% is now at his strongest showing in CNN polling since he announced his candidacy for president in April.
Sanders’ uptick in the polls comes after he received endorsements from Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who are part of the progressive Congressional group nicknamed “The Squad.”
After Ocasio-Cortez joined Sanders in Queens, New York, for his rally, Omar is scheduled to attend a Nov. 3 Sanders rally in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Another member of the group, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., is expected to publicly endorse Sanders for president during a rally in Detroit, Michigan, Sunday evening.
Riding this momentum, the Sanders campaign unveiled a plan to legalize marijuana in the first 100 days in office.
Sanders outlined his intention to make cannabis legal in August — when he announced his criminal justice reform plan. The formal announcement last week coincided with President Donald Trump’s speech at a justice forum in the early primary state of South Carolina.
While Sanders has stabilized in national polls, he is behind other top candidates in Iowa.
In an Iowa State University survey of likely Iowa Caucus attendees published Thursday, Warren moved into first place at 28%, with South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg second at 20%, and Sanders coming in third at 18%. Biden, meanwhile, who fell to 12% in the poll, slipped to fourth place.
On the same day the Iowa poll was released, news broke that Sanders had won the endorsement of Stacey Walker, a rising political star in Iowa who boasts an impressive organizing apparatus, according to Politico.
Walker told Politico he backed Sanders because he believes the nation needs a “bold leader,” and “as a black man living in America, I’ve had enough of politicians telling me we have to scale back our dreams and ambitions.”
Despite being down in the polls, the Sanders team is confident it will win Iowa and earn the much coveted momentum it needs heading into New Hampshire.
“We have the biggest volunteer base in the state. We’re making massive investments on TV and digital. And we’re not going to stop until we win,” said Bill Neidhardt, deputy Iowa director for the campaign, on Twitter Friday.
Other noteworthy…
Bernie Sanders and Rep. Rashida Tlaib are currently visiting the Brightmoor Connection Food Pantry in Detroit, talking about poverty, food and water scarcity, and corporate greed. pic.twitter.com/dFuy3NGmuK
Jack White to Perform at Bernie Sanders’ Detroit Rally
Rock star and former White Stripes frontman Jack White will join U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib at a rally for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday.
White, who was born in Detroit and graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1993, will perform a set before speeches from Sanders and Tlaib. Detroit-area activists and leaders will join Sanders and Tlaib to discuss racial, environmental, and economic justice, as well as the impact of corporate power on working Americans.
In 2016, White expressed his distaste for President Donald Trump when his Detroit-founded record company, Third Man Records, released T-shirts with the words “Icky Trump” on the front. The language on the T-shirts was a play on the White Stripes’ 2007 album and song titled “Icky Thump.”
The rally will begin at 5 p.m. on Sunday in the Arena Gymnasium of Cass Technical High School, which is located at 2501 Second Ave. in Detroit. Doors open at 3:30 p.m., and the event is free and open to the public
Did anyone watch the POTUS’s speech? I had to walk Ruby and listen to Bruce Springsteen’s new album, “Western Stars”. Hard work but someone’s gotta do it!
