Independent Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders continues to make noise ahead of a possible presidential run, including going so far as to criticize how Rahm Emanuel won reelection as mayor of Chicago.
While elected an independent, Sanders caucuses with the Democratic Party in the US Senate. Should he run, he could choose to seek the Democratic nomination – which would mean a head to head battle with Hilary Clinton – or wait to run as an independent in the general elections in 2016.
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Should he choose the latter, Sanders would only siphon off votes from Clinton as Nader did to Gore in 2000, drawing the ire of all of his democratic colleagues in the Senate.
Sanders told the Huffington Post that he sees the recent Chicago mayoral race as an example of big corporate money deciding elections which it can now do in America thanks to the landmark Supreme Court decision known as Citizen United.
Emanuel was able to outspend his opponent by a margin of $23 million to $6 million on advertising thanks largely from money raised from billionaires.
The Senator supported Emanuel’s opponent in this week’s run off, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, because “he had put together a strong coalition of working-class people, blacks and whites and Hispanics, and that is what we need to do all over this country.”
“So the lesson of Chicago is, you know, big money put a lot of money into Rahm Emanuel. We’re seeing this all over the country, ” Sanders told the Huffington Post, “and unless we overturn this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, I worry about the future of American democracy.”
Sanders also called for universal free higher education saying, “The folks who control politics in America, the people who control the media aren’t particularly interested in that discussion. They’re doing just fine. Ninety-nine percent of all new income being generated is going to the top one percent. The top one tenth of one percent own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. ‘What’s your problem? Things are going just great.'”
In order to counter this disparity he added, “I think what we need to do is say yes, higher education should be a right. Not for everybody, people who have the ability, people who have the desire, because that makes our country stronger.”
Newsweek cited polls that show Sanders currently trailing Hilary Clinton 47% to 8 percent%. But there are ten months to go until the New Hampshire primary next year.
