Sanders has “lot of energy” after health scare

Bernie Sanders began the slow process of reintroducing himself to the 2020 campaign, venturing Tuesday outside his Vermont home briefly to say he had been more fatigued than usual in recent weeks and was boneheaded for ignoring symptoms that might have foretold his heart attack last week. But he provided no hints on how he will restart his suspended White House bid.

“I must confess, I was dumb,” the 78-year-old Vermont senator said, speaking in calm tones with his wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders, looking on behind him. “Thank God, I have a lot of energy, and during this campaign I’ve been doing, in some cases, three or four rallies a day all over the state, Iowa, New Hampshire, wherever. And yet I, in the last month or two, just was more fatigued than I usually have been. And I should have listened to those symptoms.”

Sanders’ campaign has said he will be at next week’s Democratic presidential debate in Ohio. It hasn’t commented on if or when he will resume campaigning before that — or what his next steps will be. NBC News announced it would air an “exclusive” interview with Sanders, his first since the heart attack, on Wednesday.

His health problems come at a precarious time. Sanders was already facing questions about being the oldest candidate seeking the White House, and has seen his recent poll numbers decline compared to 2020 rival Elizabeth Warren, his chief competitor for the Democratic Party’s most-progressive wing.

Sanders also shook up his campaign staff in Iowa and New Hampshire, states that kick off the presidential nominating process.

Supporters privately conceded that the timing of the heart attack — which came just as the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump was escalating — helped limit the political fallout. But they also acknowledge that he will have to more directly address lingering health concerns then, if not before.

Last week began on a high note for Sanders when he announced that he had raised $25.3 million during the year’s third quarter, more than Warren and any other Democratic presidential hopeful.