Bernie Sanders is living proof of the old adage, "What goes around comes around." Debbie Wasserman Schultz does Sanders a bad turn, Sanders does one right back.
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman DWS tries to block voters' access to Sanders by limiting primary presidential debates; Sanders lends his formula for fundraising success and campaign charisma to Tim Canova, DWS' CD 23 challenger.
You know what they say about payback.
Now all of a sudden DWS is facing her first real primary fight since she was elected to Congress from Florida in 2004.
“People are unhappy with her leadership of the DNC and they express that in many ways," Canova says of Wasserman Schultz. "They sign petitions, they protest, and they also donate to her challenger."
Canova, a progressive law professor, is a strong candidate in his own right. But it's difficult to imagine where he would be today without Bernie Sanders who, frankly, would be happier than a pig in a pen to take Debbie and the whole Democratic political establishment down.
For what seems like forever, Sanders has called for a “political revolution” that would sweep ideological allies into office up and down the ballot. Canova isn't the only congressional candidate running on a platform similar to Sanders and benefiting from The Bern's heat. But he may be the one Sanders is rooting for whole heart and soul.
A story Thursday in NBCNews.com makes a case for Sanders and Canova teaming up against the Weston congresswoman. Canova can feel it, too. “We are part of the same movement,” he said of Sanders.
The Vermont senator’s former Florida campaign director, Zack Exley, left the presidential race the day after the Florida primary to work on Canova’s campaign.
Don't forget, Sanders and Canova aren't strangers. In 2011, Sanders appointed the political neophyte to a Senate advisory panel on the Federal Reserve.
Canova has raised more than $657,000 so far this year, an astronomical sum for a non-incumbent. Almost all of it came from small online donations, and guess how he managed that? He got help from the same digital consulting firm behind Sanders’ money machine, Revolution Messaging.
Wasserman Schultz outraised her challenger by about $60,000 in the first quarter, but Canova received more individual contributions.
“I’ve probably never worked a congressional race with this much interest,” said Revolution Messaging strategist Mike Nellis, who is working with the Canova campaign.
The dynamic has led many to view the Canova-Wasserman Schultz race as a proxy fight between Sanders and the DNC. Sanders' campaign sued the DNC in federal court, openly accusing it of trying to shove him off a cliff and rig the election for Hillary Clinton.
Both congressional candidates have received most of their money from out of state, and both are drawing on nationalized – but very different – support bases. And Sanders supporters from across the country have donated or offered to volunteer for Canova.
In a Friday story, the Broward-Palm Beach New Times reported this: "At this point, it's clear that virtually all of the support for Tim Canova's congressional campaign is coming from the same frothing section of the populace that's pulling for Bernie Sanders. In March, two major unions — the Communication Workers of America and National Nurses United — both endorsed Canova after also throwing their support behind Sanders. (Nurses United has even been driving "Bernie Buses" around, canvassing on foot for the frozen warlock of a presidential candidate.) Veterans for Bernie Sanders too has thrown its support behind Canova ... Today, Canova picked up yet another big endorsement, this time from the Transportation Workers United 538, which represents the 2,500 Miami International Airport employees."
NBCNews.com quoted Howie Klein, a longtime critic of Democratic congressional leaders, who runs the Blue America PAC. He said supporting candidates like Canova is the next organic phase of the Sanders movement.
“Bernie has made it real clear that the revolution isn’t about getting him in the White House,” he said. “It’s about galvanizing and inspiring a whole generation of people, and many generations of people, to be a part of a mass movement to make real changes to the status quo.”
Blue America has a project called “Bernie Congress,” aimed at bolstering campaigns from candidates like Canova who back Sanders and meet a high ideological threshold.
Make no mistake, Canova is still the underdog. In fact, CD 23 is center left -- a long way away from Sanders and Canova. The biggest criticisms of Debbie Wasserman Schultz I've heard from her constituents is that she's too liberal. But, who knows? She's the establishment compared to Sanders. And look at him now. Who would have expected Bernie Sanders to be on such a roll in April 2016? It's an anything-can-happen kind of year.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
