Unlike Hillary Clinton his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination Bernie Sanders didn't use a splashy big budget video to announce his campaign. Instead the Vermont senator opted for a series of one on one television interviews Wednesday followed by a low key launch event outside the US Capitol Thursday morning. I believe that in a democracy what elections are about are serious debates over serious issues he said Thursday. Not political gossip not making campaigns into soap operas. This is not the Red Sox vs. the Yankees this is the debate over major issues facing the American people.
Pundits are already dismissing Sanders who has in the past described himself as a socialist rather than a Democrat as a long shot candidate with little chance of defeating Hillary Clinton for the Democrats' 2016 nomination. But Sanders is already beating Clinton on one metric Answering questions from the press.
Earlier this week National Journal's Zach Cohen counted all of the times Clinton has answered press questions since she announced her presidential campaign on April 12. Cohen counted just seven answers about half of which ignored the actual question. When asked about whether a super PAC would support her campaign she said I don't know. When she was quizzed about her chances in Iowa she said I'm having a great time can't look forward any more than I am.
Sanders who needs all the press attention he can get kicked off his presidential campaign by fielding a barrage of questions from TV news reporters in interviews Wednesday. Over the course of one five minute exchange with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday Sanders answered seven separate questions. The trend continued at Sanders' campaign launch event Thursday morning where he took six more questions.
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