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Sanders strategically endorsed Clinton but still has shot at nomination, Bernie-backer insists

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July 21, 2016, 7:27 am

Michael Gibson isn’t headed to Philadelphia next week for the Democratic National Convention. As a Bernie 2016 field organizer for Western Colorado, Gibson’s presidential candidate all but threw in the towel last week to presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton.

Michael Gibson

Michael Gibson

But Gibson, a No Name resident whose company reps electrical power systems, insists Sanders’ endorsement of Clinton was a tactical maneuver in order for the Vermont senator to speak at the convention, and that nervous superdelegates worried about Clinton’s polling numbers against Republican nominee Donald Trump will flock to Sanders next week.

Gibson, who helped deliver 22 Western Slope counties to Sanders on Super Tuesday in March, says disgruntled Bernie-crats are poised to abandon the Dems if Clinton is nominated next week. Overall, Sanders won Colorado 59 percent to 41 percent for Clinton on March 1.

“We already have [seen an exodus],” Gibson said. “Because of Bernie’s endorsement of Hillary there’s been a huge — massive actually — move to change voter affiliation from Democrat to Green or to independent.”

Green Party U.S. Senate candidate Arn Menconi is counting on disaffected Bernie-crats in his race against incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet. But Gibson is telling millennial Dems and anyone else disgusted with party politics to wait and see what happens next week.

The Never Trump movement spearheaded by Colorado Republicans may have failed at this week’s GOP convention in Cleveland, but Bernie’s revolution is not done, Gibson insists.

“I’ve been doing my absolute best to tell people to hold onto their hats — the 25th [of July] hasn’t occurred yet. Bernie has not conceded. The logic is all toward the superdelegates actually voting for Bernie. I’ve heard from so many Democrats who say in an election like this, who’s the best candidate to beat the Republican? And right now Bernie polls so much better than Hillary.”

Gibson says Clinton is vulnerable following FBI findings that she was extremely careless in her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state, and because of her insistence that natural gas is a bridge fuel necessitating ongoing hydraulic fracturing.

“To get done what needs to get done, we need not just the White House but we need a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, we need a majority in the Congress, and we have to have it if we’re going to achieve any kind of momentum around the issues that the Bernie campaign has been about, but most importantly global warming, because that cannot wait,” Gibson said.

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David O. Williams

Managing Editor at RealVail
David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.