Following Donald Trump’s surprise victory, Bernie Sanders says he’s not ruling out a presidential run in 2020
In a statement that will surprise some, and excite even more, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders says he’s not closing the door on a potential presidential run in 2020.
“Four years is a long time from now,” says Sanders. “We’ll take one thing at a time, but I’m not ruling out anything.”
Sanders, who is currently 75, would be nearly 80 come the 2020 election. However, Sanders has clearly shown that he has energy beyond his age, and seems to be in perfect health.
The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), the nation’s largest cannabis policy organization, has released their updated presidential candidate voter guide for the general election, which now includes third-party candidates. The full guide can be found by clicking here.
Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, who was nominated Sunday by the Libertarian Party, and physician Jill Stein, the presumptive Green Party nominee, were both added to the voter guide, and both received “A+” grades. Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump received a “C+” – primarily based on his past support for legalizing medical cannabis – and the two remaining Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, received a “B” and an “A,” respectively (though in all honesty, we here at TheJointBlog do take issue with Clinton receiving a “B”, when all she supports is rescheduling cannabis to schedule 2 alongside drugs such as cocaine; and even this she didn’t support until the current election cycle).
The Seattle Times, which is the largest daily newspaper in Washington State with the largest Sunday circulation in the Pacific Northwest, has officially recommended Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton as the Democratic candidate for president of the United States.
“Authenticity and consistency are so rare in politics these days — no wonder a strong number of voters are supporting U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ bid to become the Democratic candidate for president”, the paper’s editorial board states. “Sanders’ signature candor is a refreshing change from status quo politics. Many Americans share his frustration over the fact that more and more power is being concentrated today in the hands of a few.”
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has won the Democratic primary in New Hampshire, beating rival Hillary Clinton by double digits (60% to 38%), according to the Associated Press. The win comes a week after Sanders narrowly lost to Clinton in Iowa (49.6% to 49.8%), and just days after new polling found the two to be tied nationally.
The next Democratic primary is in Nevada on February 20th, followed by South Carolina on February 27th. This will be followed by “Super Tuesday” on March 1st, which will see nearly a dozen states – including Vermont, Georgia and Massachusetts – voting on the same day.
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are in a statistical tie nationwide according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. The poll is huge news for Sanders and his supporters, as the same poll had him trailing 30% to Clinton’s 61% the last time it was conducted in December. The poll was released just days after Clinton and Sanders finished in a near tie in the Iowa caucus, with Clinton winning narrowly (49.9% to 49.6%).
According to the poll, 44% of Democratic primary voters support Clinton, with 42% in support of Sanders. With the margin of error at +/- 4.5%, meaning it could swing either way, the two are in a statistical tie. 14% of voters are currently undecided, indicating that the nomination is entirely up in the air at the moment.
Vermont Senator (I) and Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders.
Not long ago, the mainstream consensus was that Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has no chance of winning the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, with only his supporters vocally opposing this sentiment. Now, in a short period of time, things have changed. According to a CBS News/YouGov poll released yesterday, Sanders leads Hillary Clinton in the first voting state of Iowa 47% to 46% (with voting just a week away). In the second voting state of New Hampshire, his lead is much larger; 57% to 38%. This type of lead would have been unheard of just a couple months ago.
A big part of this rapid uprising for Sanders is the fact that his message is finally being reached by a wider audience; several debates have taken place in the past couple months, the media has started to pay more attention to him, and probably most importantly of all, he recently began airing television commercials promoting his message (Sanders has received more individual donations at this point than any presidential candidate in history). Sanders large bump in support also came after announcing his support for ending cannabis prohibition on the federal level, removing cannabis as a controlled substance, even filing a bill in the Senate to do just that. Legalizing cannabis, of course, is supported by 58% of those in the United States, according to the most recent Gallup poll.
Hillary Clinton has announced that she supports removing cannabis as a schedule 1 controlled substance, which means it has “no known medical value” and is in the same category as drugs such as heroin. Clinton wants to reschedule cannabis to schedule 2, the same category as OxyContin and Adderall.
Clinton’s announcement, which was made during a recent town hall in South Carolina, comes just days after her primary rival, Senator Bernie Sanders, introduced legislation to fully end cannabis prohiibtion on the federal level by removing it entirely from the federal controlled substances list, rather than simply rescheduling it.
Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), a Democratic presidential candidate, introduced a bill Wednesday that would repeal all federal penalties for growing and possessing cannabis, giving states the full freedom to decide their own cannabis laws.
The Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2015 would remove cannabis from the federal controlled substances list, while retaining penalties for those transporting cannabis from states or jurisdictions where it is legal to those where it is not (as cities and states would still have the ability to prohibit the plant on a local level). This is the first bill ever introduced in the U.S. Senate that would end cannabis prohibition on the federal level.
Vermont Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
Presidential candidate and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders will announce this evening that he supports completely removing cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances, effectively ending cannabis prohibition throughout the nation. The announcement will come during a speech at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, which will begin at 7pm EDT.
“Too many Americans have seen their lives destroyed because they have criminal records as a result of marijuana use,” Sanders will say at the event, according to a press release we received from Sander’s campaign. “That’s wrong. That has got to change.”
During Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate, Vermont Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders expressed support for legalizing recreational cannabis. When asked if he would vote on an initiative to legalize cannabis which will appear on next year’s ballot in Nevada, Sanders responded “yes, I suspect I would”.
“This marks the first time a major-party presidential candidate has clearly expressed support for ending marijuana prohibition and regulating marijuana like alcohol”, says Mason Tvert, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project. “The people have typically led the politicians on this issue, and finally we’re seeing a presidential candidate who appears to have caught up with them.”
In a statement that will surprise some, and excite even more, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders says he’s not closing the door on a potential presidential run in 2020.
