Bernie Sanders furthers appeal to youth through stars, encourages caucusing

Alex Connor and Ashley Green
January 30, 2016

IOWA CITY — Bernie supporters lined the streets outside of The Field House in Iowa City on Saturday night in preparation of an event featuring the Democratic presidential hopeful and a lineup of guests supporting Sanders.

With only two days before the Iowa Caucus, presidential candidates have scoured Iowa, hoping to draw in the last of undecided voters.

This is one of Sanders’ many events around Iowa the week before caucus. Free to the public, the rally, officially called Students for Bernie Sanders concert, featured Ezra Koenig and Chris Tomson from Vampire Weekend, with Dave Longstreth of the Dirty Projectors.

Koenig and Tomson performed before the the rally at the Java House in Iowa City, giving students and others the chance to talk with the band.

Awful Purdies, Lissie, Jill Sobule, Foster the People, and Jill, Kay, Michelle also took the stage with performances. Speakers will also include actors Josh Hutcherson, Connor Paolo and American philosopher Dr. Cornel West.

“Come together, stand up, [and] fight for a one of a kind candidate,” said Hutcherson, who took the stage about a half hour before Sanders made his arrival.

Sanders is within 3 percentage points of Clinton, according to the final Iowa Poll before the caucus released Saturday from The Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics.

The event reached full-capacity of 3,500 people an hour and a half before Sanders arrival, with a first come-first served policy. Standing room only, supporters stood shoulder-to-shoulder surrounding the stage, while others waited in line outside.

Before Sanders took stage, a huge focus was implemented on getting everyone out to caucus for Sanders. This was done through showing videos about how to caucus, and a table with information about caucus locations and times.

“If people caucus, we will win,” a staff member of Sanders’ campaign said to the crowd.

“People are paying attention to us, and we still have work to do,” another said. “Bernie Sanders has been standing up for us for decades, for us and all we believe in.

Part of Sanders’ campaign strategy has been to attract and bring out younger votes. While primary rivalry Clinton has been doing this by welcoming pop stars Demi Lovato and Katy Perry on to stage, Sanders has had more of a pull with the youth.

This was a strategy used by President Barack Obama in his 2008 presidential election. The only problem facing this, is that younger voters may not go out and caucus as will older voters, a main reason the rally is putting a focus on caucusing.

West, who was one of the last speakers before Sanders took stage, advised the crowd to “get on the love train,” and spoke on Sanders’ impact on the people.

“Justice is what love looks like in public,” West said.

Sanders hit his usual points during his stump speech. Touching on the Republicans’ “family values,” saying that their values take away women’s rights to their own body.

He also hit on the decriminalization of marijuana, saying he’d like to take it out of the controlled substance act.

Sanders also tried to gain the attention of his supporters through creating a more open and diverse society by ending institutional racism and a broken criminal justice system.

 After speaking for about 20 minutes, Sanders ended on a note, literally, singing “This your land is your land,” with some of the performers throughout his rally.

“On Monday night we are poised to make history,” Sanders said as he asked his supporters to “join the political revolution.”

The following Sunday, Sanders held a surprise rally in the Memorial Union here in Ames.