By Chris Collins
Massachusetts has its first bite at the presidential apple Tuesday and there seems to be no shortage of local opinions on the Democratic race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
“There’s lots of excitement and energy right now,” state Rep. Paul Mark said just hours after he introduced Sanders to a capacity crowd at the Mullins Center on the UMass campus. “People really seem to respond to him.”
While that impression is clearly true based on the size of his rallies, it’s an adoration that is by no means universal, based on some of the responses to an informal Facebook poll I recently conducted.
“I support Hillary Clinton, though many Sanders supporters think that my support is caving to the status quo,” Northampton resident Valle Dwight wrote. “I actually think it’s quite radical to have a smart, experienced, talented woman as president of these United States.”
For some, however, Bernie’s perceived “outsider” status is one of his best qualities.
“I am tired of big business and the mainstream media picking our government,” Greenfield resident Cathy King wrote. “And I do believe his proposals will be able to work, and work well for those of us who are struggling to keep our heads above water.”
For some Hillary supporters, it boils down to simple qualifications.
“There is no candidate running for president of the United States more qualified and more ready to go (than Clinton),” long-time Greenfield Democratic Town Committee member T.J. Strahan wrote. “I do like a lot what Bernie says but I have no idea how he’s going to come up with the money.”
Some people have caught the “Bernie bug” from the scads of younger voters who are attracted to his populist message.
“I’m a Democrat and will vote with the party, but I began ‘feeling the Bern’ through the excitement of my college-aged daughter,” teacher Alana Martineau of Turners Falls wrote. “To me, Bernie is the most real politician I’ve encountered to date. He is most definitely a man of the people.”
So, it would appear, is Donald Trump, the current front-runner for the Republican nomination. These comments were largely offered before “The Donald” won New Hampshire, South Carolina and, most recently, Nevada, and before the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, which, depending on your political persuasion, either puts Roe V. Wade or the 2nd Amendment at immediate risk.
Trump’s perceived misogyny has already alienated plenty of female voters, a number of whom were already in Hillary’s camp to begin with.
“Hillary has spent the better part of her adult life working for issues I care about,” Greenfield Planning Board Chair Roxann Wedegartner said. “Protecting and improving the lives of middle class Americans as well as making lives better for the poorest of the poor, women’s issues across the board, including a strong commitment to access to jobs and to reproductive health care.”
The problem is, Clinton won’t get to work on any of that stuff if she wins the nomination and Sanders supporters stay home in November.
“That’s my biggest fear,” Recorder My Turn contributor and former Greenfield resident Danny Brown wrote, “If that happens, Trump or Cruz will win, after which, they’ll spend the next four years whining about it … speaking as someone who voted for Nader in 2000 and learned my lesson.”
There are others for whom this year’s batch of candidates is a big disappointment.
“Am I the only one who cannot find one candidate to back on either side of the aisle?” Penny Ricketts wrote.
I’m guessing not, but that doesn’t change the fact that one of these birds will be sitting in the Oval Office next January, and Tuesday is one of only two chances we get to have a say in the matter. And it’s a chance we should take, regardless of how we feel about the “choices” presented to us.
Chris Collins, who worked in local radio in a number of capacities, has observed political life in Franklin County for years. He also is a former staff reporter for The Recorder and a Greenfield native.