- Title: Winning Michigan in 2016 revived Sanders' campaign, will he be as lucky in 2020?
- Date: 9th March 2020
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANN ARBOR HEALTHCARE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WORKER, BENNY HENIG, 31, SAYING: "I'm also canvassing for Bernie, yesterday and tomorrow. And all the people I talk to in their hearts, they feel for Bernie. Thing well, maybe intellectually, maybe Biden's the more electable, but he's not. And after conversation with them, you figure out, you know he's not, 'you're right. Bernie is the right guy to get elected. Bernie is the right guy actually carry it forward.'" (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANN ARBOR STUDENT, 16, DAMARIS POTTER, SAYING: "The way he speaks just gets everybody ready to go. He has like an aura that young people really like. He's just very motivational and he stands for good things that we believe in, especially people in Ann Arbor. And so, we just wanted to hear him cause so inspirational. And we love him." HOLDING UP "BERNIE" SIGNS
- Embargoed: 23rd March 2020 10:01
- Keywords: Ann Arbor Bernie Sanders Democratic nomination Michigan Primary Sanders vs. Biden Super Tuesday youth vote
- Location: ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, UNITED STATES
- City: ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA003C4BXYKN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Once more Bernie Sanders's political back is up against the wall, and he's hoping the Michigan primary will give him new life.
That is how the story played out during the 2016 primary, when the independent Vermont was able to temporarily revive his campaign after winning the Michigan primary before ultimately succumbing to the establishment candidate, who was then Hillary Clinton.
This time around, however, it probably will be harder.
Ahead of Tuesday's (March 10) vote, the establishment candidate, former Vice President, Joe Biden, is showing strength with the same kinds of voters that Sanders relied upon in his surprise defeat of front-runner Hillary Clinton in the state in 2016.
On Sunday (March 8), more than 10,000 people turned out for a Sanders rally on the campus of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
"We are taking on in this campaign, not just Joe Biden," he said, as the former vice president's name was met with boos. "We're taking on the 60 billionaires who are funding his campaign. We're taking on the Wall Street executives who are helping to fund his campaign. We're taking on the corporate establishment. We're taking on the political establishment. We're going to win this election."
Sanders goes into Michigan badly in need of a win after Biden seized control of the race on Super Tuesday last week, winning a bevy of Southern states as well as Massachusetts, Minnesota and Texas and causing rivals Elizabeth Warren and Michael Bloomberg to drop out.
Biden got a boost on Sunday with an endorsement from Senator Kamala Harris of California, and the former 2020 Democratic rival will campaign with him Monday night in Detroit. Sanders won the backing of Rev. Jesse Jackson, a longtime civil rights leader who planned to campaign with him in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Sunday.
Michigan is the most competitive of the six states that hold nominating contests on Tuesday. It offers the largest number of the minimum 1,991 delegates a candidate needs to secure the nomination outright: 125. A victory in the state is critical for Sanders to recapture momentum before the contest shifts to Florida and Illinois the following week.
But even if he is defeated, his legacy is already firmly rooted to survive the 2020 election.
"The people I talk to in their hearts, they feel for Bernie," Benny Henig, a 32-year-old Ann Arbor healthcare information technology worker who also canvasses for the Sanders campaign, told Reuters.
(Production by: Dan Fastenberg and Hussein al Waaile) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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