By Siobhan Hughes
WASHINGTON-- Bernie Sanders doesn't exercise in the U.S. Senate
gym, where many of his colleagues hang out and forge friendships.
He is more likely to have breakfast amid the interns in a basement
cafeteria than in the formal Senate dining room. And the Vermont
Independent is sometimes so focused on business that he often
launches into phone conversations without even saying "hello."
On the campaign trail, the 73-year-old who is running for
president as a Democrat, is attracting large, cheering crowds drawn
by his unabashedly liberal positions on Wall Street, taxes and
government spending. Inside the Capitol, where he's served for more
than 20 years, he cuts a different figure--a distant and quirky
lawmaker whose legislative record is mostly made up of modest wins
captured through compromise.
In 2010, he and other Democrats inserted money for community
health centers into President Barack Obama's signature health
law--a boon for Vermont--despite Mr. Sanders's preference for an
alternative health system. He tucked language into the 2010
Dodd-Frank financial regulation law that allowed for an audit of
the Federal Reserve's response to the financial crisis, although he
had wanted to subject the central bank to routine audits.
Earlier, he went on an amendment spree in the House, using the
process to secure money for home-weatherization assistance, aid to
older Americans, and so many other projects that even the House
Appropriations Committee chairman at the time took note. "Bernie
had a good instinct for knowing what people would like to vote
for," recalled former Rep. David Obey (D., Wis.) in an
interview.
"To suggest that I cannot work with people who disagree with me
would be pretty absurd," Mr. Sanders said in a telephone interview
when asked about his legislative record.
While most of his successes have produced incremental change,
Mr. Sanders was responsible for the biggest legislative victory for
Senate Democrats last year.
At the time, he was chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs
Committee and, after extensive negotiations with Sen. John McCain
(R., Ariz.), the committee's top Republican, and House Veterans
Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R., Fla.), he passed a
measure to shorten wait times at the Department of Veterans Affairs
after agency leaders were accused of abandoning patients and
cooking the books to get bonuses. The agreement marked the largest
expansion of government services since Republicans took control of
the House in the 2010 elections.
Mr. Sanders now is calling for an even greater role for the
federal government, including funding the higher education system
to eliminate college tuition.
While lagging badly behind Democratic presidential front-runner
Hillary Clinton in national polls, the Senate's only self-described
Socialist is drawing ebullient crowds and rising in the early
primary state polls. His support stands at 21% in Iowa, which kicks
off the nominating process, and 30% in New Hampshire, according to
the latest data compiled by Real Clear Politics.
Some of the Sanders' boomlet can be explained by a restless wing
of the Democratic Party looking at an alternative to Mrs. Clinton.
It also can be attributed to timing. After years of operating as an
outlier on domestic and foreign policy, the political landscape has
been shifting in his direction in recent years--from both the left
and the right.
He has been talking about the gap between rich and poor since he
came to Congress in 1991. He helped found the Congressional
Progressive Caucus to advance his views, which has seen its
membership grow from six House members to 69--more than a third of
the House Democratic caucus.
Mr. Sanders also has been raising alarms about the Export-Import
Bank for decades, a cause now shared by the Republican presidential
candidate Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell (R., Ky.) Congress recently let the bank's charter lapse
and Mr. Sanders's Democratic colleagues are pressing to reinstate
it.
Mr. Sanders said that taking up causes that don't get a lot of
attention initially is part of what makes an effective legislator,
because leadership involves setting the agenda.
Noting growing public support for such policies as raising the
minimum wage, Mr. Sanders said that "those things don't happen by
accident. It happens by people getting out in front of the
curve."
A recurring criticism of Mr. Sanders from within his own ranks
is that he isn't as effective as he could be because his
independent streak holds him back even from others who share his
ideas.
"One of the problems we've all had with Bernie is that he
doesn't return calls and he doesn't connect with the progressive
citizen groups," said Ralph Nader, an attorney and former
presidential candidate. "He's like a lone ranger."
Mr. Sanders also has long had a confrontational streak, a
feistiness that appeals to voters frustrated with government on
both sides of the spectrum.
In 2010, he staged an eight hour talk on the Senate floor to
protest a deal negotiated between Mr. Obama and Mr. McConnell to
extend the Bush tax cuts for two years, including reductions for
the wealthiest Americas. "How many yachts can you own?" Mr. Sanders
asked. The speech was later published as a book.
Mr. Sanders remains a legend in his home state for a particular
incident: Barging into the local offices of the Associated Press
with a "60 Minutes" crew in tow and holding an impromptu news
conference after he became so angry they hadn't attended his
official ones during his 1988 campaign for Congress.
Now, Mr. Sanders uses social media to get around the traditional
media. In June, there was more chatter about him on Facebook than
about any of the four other senators running for the
presidency--even though he was talking about economics and not
popular culture, according to Facebook data.
And last week, when Mrs. Clinton came to Capitol Hill to meet
with groups of Democratic lawmakers, Mr. Sanders held another
impromptu press event, taking to a podium near the Senate floor to
outline his differences with her on everything from trade and the
minimum wage to the Iraq war authorization vote. (She voted for it;
he opposed it.)
Rep. Peter Welch (D., Vt.), who holds the House seat that Mr.
Sanders once occupied, said that when he runs into him these days
it appears that Mr. Sanders is having more fun.
"He is less gregarious than most politicians," but "I told him
the other day he's smiling so much he's in danger of making people
start to like him," Mr. Welch quipped.
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