Sanders took the stage, located in the end zone of the football field. By then, the audience, which had waited hours to be admitted and screened by security, filled the seats directly in front of Sanders. The rest, their view blocked by a media platform, stood on the artificial turf in a crowd extending to the 50-yard line. Veteran actor and song-and-dance man Dick Van Dyke, white-haired and still handsome, introduced Sanders. “In my 90 years, I have been watching the disintegration of our Democratic republic,” he said before introducing “the sanest man in the United States.” Sanders’ speech sounded like he had written it himself. It lacked President Barack Obama’s elegance or the usual careful presidential-candidate rhetoric. That’s part of his charm. His approach to the California initiative to legalize marijuana, on the November ballot, provided an example of his informal style. “If I lived in your state, I would vote for that initiative,” he said, adding that addictive opiates “should be treated as a health issue, not a criminal issue.” He simply dropped the drug issue into the middle of his speech, then moved on to another topic. It’s an interesting technique for keeping his listeners engaged—interposing extensive policy portions of his speech with subjects such as marijuana that will interest or excite his audience. Another example of this was his take on the media, which the crowd seemed to collectively despise (although individuals were friendly to me). Sanders doesn’t just refer to it as “the media.” It’s “the corporate media, which talks about everything except what is important.” Any mention of Clinton got a strong crowd reaction. Her pulling out of a California pre-primary debate, he said, “is a little bit insulting to the people of California.” Clinton, he said, is “very nervous lately. So if you promise not to tell her, we’re going to win in California.” As he passed the hour mark, I felt his speech was getting exhausting, especially when he circled back to same-sex marriage after a lengthy endorsement at the beginning. I don’t think he missed a single issue. “Isn’t there one problem he doesn’t have to include in this speech?” I asked a friend. But I was in the minority. The good spirits of the crowd continued as many members walked to the train station, and they remained undiminished as we pulled out of Santa Monica and headed toward Los Angeles. Sanders had said in his speech that he plans to speak to “well over 200,000 people” in rallies such as this before the California primary. Nobody really knows if this is possible, or how the carefully planned field organization will work in such a big state. Clinton may not be able to fire up a high school football stadium, but she has won more votes than Sanders around the nation so far. Like him, she intends to win the California primary, the nomination and the election. To see photos and videos from the Bernie Sanders rally in Santa Monica, click here. Your support matters…

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#2016 election#bernie sanders#california#hillary clinton#primary#santa monica#td-original#usa