Bernie Sanders made an appearance at the opening of his Memphis campaign office. The Bernie 'look' is becoming a 'thing.' ©Scott Sines

‘All politics is local’ – Tip O’Neill, Speaker of the House

©By Scott Sines

It’s easy to miss the light in politics right now. Passions and tempers are close to the surface. It’s ugly. Still, voters are turning their frustration into action. Voter turnout in New Hampshire set records. There is no reason to believe it won’t continue through the election season. That’s a good thing but in the end someone will lose. Then what happens to the passion, the ugliness?

I’ll be volunteering at Bernie Sanders headquarters in the run up to the Tennessee primary on March 1. My best hope is that I’m able to get a peek at the inside and ask those questions. Access is and always will be an issue not because the campaign workers are media haters, they are just incredibly busy. Twelve hour days are common and dealing with volunteers comes with an aspirin bottle full of headaches. Having a curious independent journalist along makes their job a little harder. I get that.

Still the story of a deep blue candidate running against odds in a flaming red state is worth telling. At worst I’ll learn a lot and share some of the thoughts and pictures with you.

Here are some pics from the opening of the Sanders campaign office in Memphis over the weekend.

A family of three visits the office. There was a fully-equipped play room, poster painting and other activities for kids. In the entry area there were laptops set up for volunteers to register to door knock, phone bank or be general office help.
A family of three visits the office. There was a fully-equipped play room, poster painting and other activities for kids. In the entry area there were laptops set up for volunteers to register to door knock, phone bank or be general office help.
©Scott Sines

Sanders supporters gathered in the office to talk about the election. The campaign supplied pizza, cookies and drinks. Several work stations were available to offer instruction on writing letters to the editor, press releases and poster painting among other activities. ©Scott Sines
Sanders supporters gathered in the office to talk about the election. The campaign supplied pizza, cookies and drinks. Several work stations, like the one pictured, here were available to offer instruction on writing letters to the editor, press releases and poster painting among other activities. ©Scott Sines
The poster painting station stayed busy for my entire two-hour stay. The crowd included boys, girls, men and women in roughly equal numbers. The gender split seemed about even. There seemed to be a few more white people than Black. The number of older (than me) people was noticeable as was the number of twenty-somethings. ©Scott Sines
The poster painting station stayed busy for my entire two-hour stay. The crowd included boys, girls, men and women in roughly equal numbers. The gender split seemed about even. There seemed to be a few more white people than Black. The number of older (than me) people was noticeable as was the number of twenty-somethings. ©Scott Sines
In theme with the campaign's message folk singing provided the backbeat for the office. One of the campaigns's slogans is creating 'A Political Revolution' reminiscent of political activism of the 1960's. ©Scott Sines
In theme with the campaign’s message folk singing provided the backbeat for the office. One of the campaigns’s slogans is creating ‘A Political Revolution’ reminiscent of political activism of the 1960’s. ©Scott Sines

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