Second Rally!

Today I attended my second Presidential campaign rally for Senator Bernie Sanders.
In this blog post I will be speaking about the 3 key differences between the first rally and the second, and why I believe these changes are significant.

#1 - Secret Service Protection

For those who think that the addition of Secret Service protection and a detail for the presidential candidate and current Vermont senator is not a big deal,  it goes a long way to show the current status of political affairs in the country. In July, Sanders had crowd in Arizona of over 12,000 people. He had crowds ranging from 10 - 15 thousand people throughout the country so he was by no means a "nobody" in the political arena. With that being said, there was almost no security and everyone was free to enter the Phoenix Convention Center for the July rally without much effort.

There was a stark contrast between the two rallies as I counted 34 officers patrolling just the front of the convention center with airport-esque security.  Security for Senator Sanders has escalated to levels that even Obama didn't have at this point in the election of 2008. I believe that an increase in security is a result of the direct attacks and comments made by other candidates, specifically Donald Trump. Trump told Sanders that he will send his supporters after Sanders - a microcosm for the unprecedented amount of political tension seen in American Politics today. On a positive note, it shows the passion of current supporters of both camps, as this type of political involvement is unparalleled this early in the election cycle.

#2 - Direct attacks at Sec. Clinton and Mr. Trump

During the first rally, Sanders attempted to not mention Hillary Clinton or any other candidates throughout his speech. His second rally displays the change in campaign strategy over the course of the last 8 months. He directly attacked Clinton for her lack of consistency along with her lack of cooperation to hand over her Wall-Street speech transcripts. He also devoted about 3-5 minutes of the speech to speak about why he didn't believe Donald Trump would ultimately become president. It was excellent to see Sanders finally take on the more popular figures. He can still remain civil and professional about his remarks but taking them on and expressing their flaws can help sway undecided voters in his favor.

#3 - Higher emphasis on Hispanic rights and Illegal Immigration

To be clear I understand that Latino rights and illegal immigration are two completely separate topics. However, due to the geography of Arizona (in relation to Mexico) they tend to overlap. Senator Sanders continued his support of helping undocumented immigrants and played well to the latino community in the crowd. There was a clear rise in the number of Hispanics from this rally to the last and I think that Senator Sanders came to Arizona to secure the Hispanic vote. He spoke about how deportation is a waste of time and money, and the campaign brought out a little girl who had to watch her parents be deported on TV and he later spoke about how he  believes that no child should have to go through that and no family should be put in a situation that allows that.

The 2 rallies were similar in rhetoric yet were different due to the subtle differences. I enjoyed both, but I am happy with the changes the campaign made. Thanks for reading!