Sanders predicts repeat win in NH primary

New Hampshire Union Leader

Oct. 31--CONCORD -- Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders predicts he'll win his second straight New Hampshire presidential primary because voters embrace his "big and bold" agenda of Medicare for all, tuition-free public college and raising taxes on the corporate and business elite to pay for it.

The 78-year-old Vermont senator said he's "feeling great" after recovering from his heart attack and vowed to outwork all of his primary rivals on the way to winning the Democratic nomination that he lost in 2016 to Hillary Clinton.

"I am feeling great and expect at the end of the day we will do more events in NH than any other candidate," he told reporters.

Sanders said he's got 6,000 volunteers and 9,000 campaign donors from the state and believes his organization has no peer.

"What wins it is grassroots activism and there is no other campaign that has the grassroots activism that we do," he told reporters after formally filing for the first-in-the-nation primary expected to be held Feb. 11.

Sanders said his blowout win versus Clinton here led to his winning in 21 other states and getting more young voters than Clinton and Donald Trump combined.

"I owe and the country owes a deep debt of gratitude to the people of New Hampshire," he said.

Like Clinton before him, Sanders this time faces a stiff challenge from an insurgent liberal candidate, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who is neck-and-neck with Sanders in the polls here.

"I am not here to disparage Senator Warren or anyone else," Sanders said adding he's got longevity on pushing his platform that Warren as a 10-year politician does not have.

"Some of you may know I am 78 years old, simply the point is there is an advantage having been in politics for a long time.

"These are not new ideas to me. I am a son of the American working class ... that is who I am, that is what I have done for decades."

Sanders did fire back at fiscally conservative Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia who said earlier this week if the choice is between Sanders and Trump, he would not support the Democratic nominee.

"Bernie brings a lot to the table, but it's not practical where I come from," Manchin told Fox News Wednesday.

"Bernie we can't even pay for Medicare for some, the fund is going to go broke in 2026 and now you want to expand it and what happens?"

Sanders pointed out in the 2016 primary with Clinton that he won every county in West Virginia.

"His state is one of the states in the country that is really struggling the most. It is a state like New Hampshire, hit hard by the opioid epidemic, it is a pocket of real poverty and income equality," Sanders said.

"I would say to Joe Manchin he should start worrying about the needs of the working class in his state rather than protecting corporate interests."

Sanders has also ramped up his attacks on Democratic frontrunner and former Vice President Joe Biden who has said Sanders' Medicare for All plan is not affordable.

"I would hope Joe Biden explains to the American people how under his plan that maintains a dysfunctional, cruel, private insurance system that is costing us twice as much a person than Medicare for All would," Sanders said.

"I want Joe to explain to the American people how much will the premiums go up, how much will co-pays go up and how many more will go bankrupt due to a health care crisis."

"The time for candidates who support Medicare for All to be straight with Granite Staters and the rest of the country about how much their plans are going to cost is now," Meira Bernstein, Biden's NH communications director responded in a statement.

"Joe Biden refuses to raise middle class taxes or jeopardize the progress we've made with the Affordable Care Act. That's why he supports protecting and expanding the ACA at one thirtieth the cost of Medicare for All."

Sanders spoke outside the State House in the rain to a spirited rally of supporters that was smaller than the one that turned out to see South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg sign up to run.

State Rep. Renny Cushing, D-Hampton and Executive Council candidate and Rye Democrat Mindi Messner are Sanders' co-chairs as they were in 2016.

"Bernie is no stranger to our state and for decades he has walked the talk of progressive politics," Cushing said. "Nobody has the moral compass to lead this nation out of the wilderness."

klandrigan@unionleader.com

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