The siren song Bernie Sanders is singing for young, naïve dopes idealists in the Democratic Party has already gotten out of tune with reality. Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg reports:
Bernie Sanders' pitch to Democrats is that all the new voters he'll energize will compel Congress to support the transformative programs they want, like single-payer health care and free college tuition.
"I think what we need, when I talk about a political revolution, is bringing millions and millions of people into the political process in a way that does not exist right now," the Vermont senator told MSNBC in an interview set to air Thursday.
The first tests are in, and the signs of a revolution at the ballot box are scant. Rather than a surge of the previously disaffected, Democratic turnout was down in the first two states to hold contests in the nomination race-by 28 percent in Iowa and 13 percent in New Hampshire.
In Iowa, 172,000 Democrats took part in the party caucuses. The number in 2008 was 240,000.
In the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, 251,000 Democrats voted. The number in 2008 was 288,000.
Voters, in other words, are staying away in droves.
Except, that is, for Republican voters:
Meanwhile, Republican voter turnout broke records in both states, rising from 2008 levels by 15,000 in Iowa, and 33,000 in New Hampshire.
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