MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Monday railed against conventional Beltway wisdom that Bernie Sanders doesn't stand a chance for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.
“The Beltway media has been thinking of Bernie Sanders as an asterisk in this campaign, right? As kind of the Dennis Kucinich character this year,” Maddow said on her program. “But he has not been functioning that way at all.”
Maddow, who has chastised Washington, D.C.-based media for dismissing Sanders' candidacy in the past, went on to describe the grassroots support Sanders has generated since he launched his campaign. Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, has attracted oversized crowds in Davenport, Iowa, as well as in Ames, Iowa, and Minneapolis. He also has performed well in fundraising.
The New York Times described Sanders' event in Davenport as the “largest rally in the state for any single candidate this campaign season.”
“Ever since Bernie Sanders has gotten in, it’s been good news for Bernie Sanders after good news for him after good news for him,” Maddow said.
Hillary Clinton has been treated as the presumptive Democratic nominee, but Maddow posed the question: “What does it mean if Bernie Sanders continues to do as well as he has been doing? … What do you think the message of that is for the Hillary Clinton folks?”
