[WORLD NEWS★★] SENATOR SANDERS ENTERS 2016 RACE IN CHALLENGE TO CLINTON
(P1) Independent U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on Thursday announced he would seek the 2016 Democratic nomination for president in a bid likely to pressure Hillary Clinton from the left and challenge her on financial issues.
(P2) Sanders, a self-described socialist and one of the most outspoken liberals in Congress, faces a difficult fight against Clinton, the presumptive party frontrunner.
(P3) “The people at the top are grabbing all the new wealth and income for themselves, and the rest of America is being squeezed and left behind,” Sanders said in an email to supporters declaring his candidacy.
(P4) “The middle class in America is at a tipping point. It will not last another generation if we don’t boldly change course now,” he wrote.
(P5) Sanders, 73, is an ardent supporter of left-leaning policies such as expanding Social Security and raising the federal minimum wage. Now in his second Senate term and previously a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, he caucuses with Democrats even though he was elected as an independent.
(P6) He has cultivated a following among some American liberals for campaigns on income inequality and social issues.
(P7) In 2010, Sanders stood on the Senate floor for more than eight hours lecturing about corporate greed and criticizing Wall Street as he sought to delay a tax bill that would extend cuts initially enacted by former President George W. Bush.
(P8) He will likely struggle to compete against the fundraising might and name recognition of Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state and first lady. But after running for office and losing numerous times in the 1970s, Sanders has become known for doggedly fighting uphill battles.
(P9) Sanders could be embraced by activists as a substitute for U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a darling of the left who has said she is not running after liberals spent months urging her to get in the race.
(P10) Warren has made clear that she wants the party’s nominee to take progressive stances on battling Wall Street and bolstering the middle class.
(P11) Sanders may be able to use his entry into the primaries to nudge Clinton to take more liberal positions than she might have otherwise.
(P12) Clinton is under similar pressure from former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. He has not yet said whether he will run, but he has staked out liberal stances on issues such as free trade agreements being negotiated by the White House.
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SOURCE: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/30/us-usa-election-sanders-idUSKBN0NL1HA20150430
Discussion Questions
If you found the passage difficult to read or had problems understanding specific words or idiomatic expressions, please discuss them with your tutor. The following discussion questions should be answered in your own words and with your own arguments.
- Briefly summarize the content of the article in your own words.
- Political commentators agree that Senator Sanders has no real chance of getting the Democratic nomination for President. So why is he running?
- Senator Sanders is the farthest to the left of major U.S. politicians. Which politicians in your country are the farthest to the left?
- What other Democrats have been mentioned as possible challengers to Hillary Clinton? Will they run against her?
- What does Senator Sanders think about the future of the middle class in the United States?
Expressions to Practice
What do the following expressions mean? Practice using each expression in a sentence; extra points if you can use it in conversation.
- Tipping point
- Uphill battle
- Cultivate a following
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