“Bern“ers Begin Building Grassroots Machine

Anti-police brutality activist Barbara Fair said she wishes presidential candidate Bernie Sanders had spoken out earlier and more forcefully when Michael Brown was shot in Ferguson.

But she still plans to vote for him in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.

Fair (at left in above photo) was one of 16“Berners” who showed up to a call for volunteers at the Fair Haven Public Library Thursday night — the second organizational meeting in the Third U.S. Congressional District. Organizers encouraged newbies to join the high-energy grassroots machine powering Sanders’ presidential campaign, as he fights to be seen as a viable political option against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Polls have shown Sanders, a self-describe democratic socialist who represents Vermont and swears off ​“Super-PAC” money, leading Clinton in the initial primary and caucus states of New Hampshire and Iowa. Sanders has called for single-payer health care, free universal college tuition, a $15 national minimum wage, and higher taxes on the wealthy and on high-speed stock transactions.

Fair said she knows many black people who will vote for Clinton because she is a mainstream Democratic candidate. But she said she doesn’t trust mainstream politicians.

“I’ve been listening to Bernie for years anyway,” she said. ​“He’s so different from the others.”

In Connecticut, and nationwide, people continue to ​“feel the Bern.” Though Thursday night’s meeting was small—much smaller than July’s organizing party—it did not include the 350 volunteers already signed up in the district and 1,200 statewide, said Kara Rochelle, state events coordinator. About 50 people showed up to the first organizational meeting in the summer, she said.

Volunteers aim to boost Sanders’ visibility as a viable candidate, register people to vote before the primary, and make enough noise to secure the state’s electoral college votes in the main election, Rochelle said.

Elaine Snowbeck is planning a house party to watch the first televised debate among Democratic candidates this coming Tuesday night. She said she heard about Sanders ​“on social networking” and from the members of her ​“pretty liberal” family spread across the country. Snowbeck (pictured second from left) is retired and said she wants to donate her free time to the campaign.

The only Sanders supporters she knows in Connecticut are ​“either online or here,” she said, motioning around the library’s basement room. Snowbeck sent out an email inviting friends to attend her debate-watch party.

“Some surprising people are coming,” she said, including friends who she didn’t think had any interest in politics.

A party can be a good recruiting tool. But volunteer coordinator Sarah Ganong (pictured above right) encouraged Snowbeck to think bigger and harness existing support to boost events.

“Everything is everybody’s thing,” Ganong said. For example, she could get a permit for a float in an upcoming parade and have dozens of people ​“show up with their Bernie shirts on,” Ganong said.

Volunteers at Thursday’s event trended older. Ganong said she has seen a lot of ​“millennials and retired folks,” since it’s difficult to reach people who are working full time. Ganong lives in the Dwight neighborhood and works for an environmental organization.

The hardest part, she said, is finding concrete tasks for the swell of volunteers.

“It’s blown up quickly,” she said. ​“We’re not prepared for having people available every weekend.”

Bonita Yarboro, who lives in Morris Cove, showed up to a Sanders meeting in Glastonbury in August and was recruited to lead outreach for the Third District. New to grassroots organizing, she said she was ​“not excited” about Clinton’s campaign and realized she could get behind Sanders soon after he launched his campaign.

Yarboro is in charge of social media for the district. ​“I tweet for this group all the time,” she said.

Once Sanders eventually comes to Connecticut, Yarboro said, ​“we’ll have the machinery in place. They’ll just have to say, ​‘We need people to do x, y or z.’” In less than a month, volunteers plan to canvass Greater New Haven and eventually New Hampshire.