BERNIE SAYS IT WAS HILLARY NOT THE RUSSIANS

Bernie Sanders thinks he has a pretty good idea why Hillary Clinton and Democrats lost in the 2016 election.

"Look, you can't simply go around to wealthy people's homes raising money and expect to win elections," the Vermont senator, who gave Clinton a surprisingly strong run for the Democratic nomination, told NPR's David Greene in an interview airing on Morning Edition. "You've got to go out and mix it up and be with ordinary people."

That picks up on a criticism of Clinton devoting too much time to fundraising — and not enough to on-the-ground campaigning in traditionally Democratic states, like Michigan and Wisconsin. In the general election, Clinton never visited Wisconsin after she became the nominee and visited Michigan late in the game. The two Upper Midwestern states swung narrowly to Trump: Wisconsin by slightly more than 20,000 votes and Michigan by slightly more than 10,000. During the primary, Sanders boasted of his small-donor donations.

"The Democratic Party swallowed the bait," he argued. "They became hooked on big money."


Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders Says Democrats Are Not Doing A Good Job Reaching Out To Communities : NPR