SANDERS SUPPORTERS PSYCHED ABOUT SURGE
Euphoric Bernie Sanders supporters are rejoicing over the surging Vermont senator’s sudden 7-point lead over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, calling it a long overdue recognition of the huge crowds he’s been drawing all summer long.
“Hallelujah!” exclaimed Dudley Dudley, a well-known Democratic New Hampshire activist who has endorsed Sanders. “It’s about time! I don’t want to complain about the press, but when I watch the attention that (Donald) Trump is getting for far fewer events where there have been huge crowds, it’s just incredible.”
Sanders’ campaign account retweeted several links to Tuesday’s Franklin Pierce University/Boston Herald poll showing him leading Clinton in New Hampshire for the first time, 44-37 percent.
Sanders’ senior adviser Tad Devine was cautiously hopeful about the poll, but acknowledged the campaign is still a fundraising underdog compared to Clinton’s.
“I think it’s a very good development for Bernie,” Devine told Boston Herald Radio. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. Not only in Iowa and New Hampshire, but throughout the country. Hillary Clinton is a formidable opponent.”
Arnie Arnesen, a New Hampshire radio talk show host and Democratic activist, said Sanders fits the mold as a viable alternative to Clinton, whom Arnesen said is too tied to Wall Street and corporate CEOs.
“Nobody likes an anointment, especially Democrats,” said Arnesen, who hosted an event for Sanders at her home earlier this year but remains unaffiliated. “Democrats don’t want to be told what to do and they never have. … There is a desire for change, and while Bernie has been a congressman and senator, he’s been an outsider. It’s not like you look at him and see Washington.”
Sanders’ big challenge now is convincing voters he can actually win.
Even more important than poll numbers, Arnesen said, is the number of people he can convince to donate even small sums to his campaign.
“If you give someone money, you’ll vote for them,” Arnesen said.
New Hampshire National
‘Democrats don’t want to be told what to do and they never have.’ — ARNIE ARNESEN N.H. Democratic activist
Democratic Committee member Kathy Sullivan, a Clinton supporter, denied the campaign has to shake up its strategy, and sought to dismiss the poll, saying it over-sampled younger voters and independents more likely to support Sanders.
“I always expected this would be a competitive race,” Sullivan said. “The Clinton campaign has a plan and has been sticking to the plan all along.”
A source close to the Clinton campaign said, “We are taking this race very seriously as we have from the get-go. But one public poll doesn’t affect our strategy to earn every vote.”