Bernie Sanders picks up first major labor endorsement

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is considered the front runner for the Democratic nomination in 2016.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, that white-haired Energizer bunny of socialist populism, barnstormed the Bay Area on Monday to unleash an income-inequality tirade and pick up his first national union endorsement. The nurses’ union opposes the deal because they say it would empower the pharmaceutical industry and increase drug costs for patients.

The 185,000-member National Nurses United endorsed Sanders during an event with the independent senator in Oakland, California. And he said that our paltry health care system is a global embarrassment.

His comments come as Clinton pays a political price – reflected in polling results that show a majority of Americans say she’s not honest and trustworthy – for her use of a personal email address on a private server during her tenure as America’s top diplomat, and her family foundation’s acceptance of foreign contributions during that period. “A month ago, I switched to democrat so I could vote for Bernie Sanders, because I believe in the Constitution and protecting it”.

Sanders is easily distinguished from “from the more conventional establishment politician who is consistently hedging, and also begging for funding from major sources”, said Jack Citrin, director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC-Berkeley.

On a questionnaire sent to the candidates, she added, “he scored perfectly”.

“She provides a unique and accomplished set of credentials that the other candidates don’t have”, Twomey said.

Elsewhere, he has hit enough of a populist nerve to draw tremendous crowds. Sanders has been drawing large crowds in recent weeks, including tens of thousands of supporters over the weekend at stops in Seattle and Portland.

Asked Monday how he feels about such protest tactics, Sanders replied only that “the goals of the Black Lives Movement are absolutely right” and repeated his pledges to end institutional racism, reform the criminal justice system to reduce incarceration, and create economic opportunity for all Americans. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at a rally, Monday, August 10, 2015, at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles.

“(Sanders) has a huge idea of what it means to be someone who is a young adult trying to get through college, dealing with student loans, and he’s trying to be there for us so that when we’re stuck with our student debt, we aren’t going to just fall through the cracks”, attendee Kirsti Stangeland said.