Democrats have a real problem on their hands. Almost all of the energy is in the Bernie wing of the party, but rank and file Democrats are bothered by the fact that Bernie isn’t even a party member.
They certainly don’t want another primary battle like the one they had in 2016, so they’re taking precautionary measures.
Stephen Sorace reports at FOX News:
Bid to block Bernie Sanders? DNC adopts rule change, wants only avowed Democrats to runThe Democratic National Committee adopted a new rule Friday aimed at preventing non-Democrats, such as independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, from seeking the party’s 2020 presidential nomination, reports said.The rule change, adopted at a DNC meeting in Providence, R.I., requires all candidates for the party’s nomination to “run and serve” as Democrats, Yahoo News reported.Some supporters of Sanders — who caucuses with the Democrats despite declining to declare a party affiliation — say the move was motivated by “spite” after Sanders gave Hillary Clinton a run for her money during the Democratic primaries in 2016.But a source told Yahoo News it was actually part of a push to limit the power of so-called superdelegates — which, ironically, has long been a goal of Sanders.’
The Bernie people are understandably, not happy about this development.
David Siders writes at Politico:
DNC rule change angers Sanders supportersDemocratic National Committee officials on Friday moved forward with a proposal to force the party’s presidential candidates to identify as Democrats, a move that drew immediate criticism from a top official in Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign…Sources familiar with the discussion said officials believed the rule change could help garner support for a separate bid to reduce the influence of superdelegates in the party’s presidential nomination process — a priority of Sanders’ supporters after the 2016 election. Both proposals are scheduled to be considered by the full DNC in August.Still, Mark Longabaugh, a senior adviser to Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, bristled at the DNC committee’s action.“I really don’t get the motivation for the resolution at all,” he said. “You know, Bernie Sanders got 13 million votes in 2016. Thousands, if not millions, of those votes were young people and independents he brought into the Democratic Party. And I’m just stunned that the Democratic Party’s rules committee would want to try to make the Democratic Party an exclusive club, for which we want to exclude voters and large segments of the American electorate.”He said, “I just find it a stunning resolution.”
It’s amazing that this fight for the party is still going on two years after the election. Things aren’t going to get any easier, either. Wait until there are over twenty candidates battling for attention and money in the race for the 2020 nomination.
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