[L]AS VEGAS — Bernie Sanders is no big fan of frills, fortunes or fancy suits, so a Las Vegas debate wasn’t exactly a great fit for the rumpled senator from Vermont.
Anderson Cooper, who moderated the CNN debate Tuesday night, seemed puzzled at Sanders’ presence on the Vegas stage. “You supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. You honeymooned in the Soviet Union. And just this weekend, you said you’re not a capitalist.”
“Just let me just be clear,” Anderson added, “Is there anybody else on the stage who is not a capitalist?”
None of the candidates responded.
The moderator’s implication was clear: This is a foreign place for you, Bernie. Why are you even here?
“Do I consider myself part of the casino capitalist process by which so few have so much and so many have so little, by which Wall Street’s greed and recklessness wrecked this economy?” Sanders said in his reply to Cooper. “No, I don’t.”
The Wynn on Tuesday
The Wynn Resort and Casino, where the debate took place, is a bastion of the very capitalistic ideals that Sanders despises. It’s an insular world, full of glitzy restaurants and high-stakes casino parlors where money is tossed on the table without a second thought. It’s a falsely optimistic place that’s short on windows.
Sanders arrived here Saturday after a rally in Boulder, Colorado, though he opted to stay at a hotel in Henderson, a quiet town a few miles from Las Vegas with the slogan, “A Place To Call Home.” An adviser said Sanders was looking to avoid “the hubbub from the Strip.”
But he couldn’t avoid the bacchanalian strip forever, and he arrived at the Wynn shortly after noon Tuesday. The walking route to the debate area featured hallways adorned with golden water fountains, all-you-can-eat buffets and an indoor merry-go-round.
There were no co-ops to be found, and the steaks at the Frank Sinatra-themed restaurant? Let’s just say they probably weren’t grass fed.
Not only was it not Vermont, but the Wynn Las Vegas was like no real place on earth.
Gambling never stops in the casino, neither does drinking. Ashtrays pepper the resort in order to accommodate smokers who never want to leave the fuzzy, golden walls of the casino.
Advisers said Sanders didn’t do any casino betting in his short Vegas stint.
A few hours before the debate, Steve Wynn, the CEO of Wynn Resorts, strutted through the media area, smoking a fat cigar and talking with a colleague. Heads turned. It was clear from Wynn’s swagger and appearance that he a) has a lot of money and b) asks for “The Donald” in tanning salon sessions.
Grassroots supporters in Sin City
A couple hundred nurses representing the National Union of Healthcare Workers rallied outside the Wynn early Tuesday in support of Sanders, a group that stuck out much in the same way Sanders did.
They wore red T-shirts reading “#Nurses4Bernie” and held signs that laid out his economic platform. Some looked like they would fit in at a Saturday farmers market in Burlington.
A scruffy man wearing a green cap and linen shirt and who only identified himself as Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest, talked about his love of Sanders’ proposed Robin Hood tax, which would levy a tax on Wall Street transactions in order to fund free tuition at every public college. “I support his messaging as a co-sponsor of the Robin Hood tax,” he said.
Practicing policy backstage
Security was heavy on debate day, with Las Vegas police, the Secret Service and the Transportation Security Administration sniffing and searching reporters’ bags. There were even a few Men In Black, shirts that is, which read “Armor Security.”
All the campaigns met with CNN in the days leading up to the debate, and Team Bernie made a suggestion that stuck: begin with two-minute introductions.
Sander packed the intro with his strongest policy points.
Sanders had “a very light study session” early Tuesday, according to spokesman Michael Briggs. He spent most of the prep time on foreign policy, an issue that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton basically owns.
Sanders had short briefings, engaged in question and answer sessions, and became accustomed to the debate format, said Tad Devine, his chief strategist.
“Clinton’s strong suit is she has done this for a long time and been very successful,” Devine said before the Tuesday matchup. “She’s won almost every one of them.”
Sanders, whose voice has taken on a permanent roughness, often drinks hot tea before he has to speak, but he has no favorite brand or flavor.
“It’s usually whatever they have at the McDonald’s or Dairy Queen we stop at,” Briggs said.
Lasting impact of the debate
Team Sanders shied away from talking about the debate as a “defining event.” Devine described the Vegas debate as a “moment” in a long timeline.
“You string enough of these moments together, and if they are good ones, that’s how you win an election,” he said.
Brendan Nyhan, a professor of political science at Dartmouth College, agreed that the debates rarely affect candidates’ standing as much as people or the media think.
“They can sometimes matter more in primaries — ask Rick Perry! — but Hillary Clinton is very likely to remain the overwhelming favorite to win the Democratic nomination after tonight,” Nyhan told VTDigger. “I don’t expect her standing in the race to change much.”
Sanders arrived at the debate hall shortly after noon Tuesday, accompanied by his wife, Jane, and his son, Levi, among others. His top advisers were also present: Phil Fiermonte, Jeff Weaver, Devine and Briggs.
He did a walkthrough of the debate stage around 1 p.m., learning how the timing lights worked and where the cameras were located. He was followed by the other candidates, save Clinton, who sent top adviser Huma Abedin out to snap photos of the setup.
Sanders huddled with advisers in a Star Wagon trailer before the debate began.
He tweaked his rallying points from his stump speeches, including his signature table-pounding rhetoric on wealth inequality and his disdainful language for weak campaign finance laws. He got attacked by both Clinton and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley about his gun record, a debate topic he lost.
He didn’t take Clinton to task for her flip-flops on policy issues that he has been consistent on, like gay marriage or the Trans Pacific Partnership. Sanders even offered a lifeline on the email controversy that has been dogging her campaign for months, saying “The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.”
The Spin Room lit up after the debate, as hundreds of journalists ran from the filing center to get a comment from campaign surrogates.
Sanders was represented by Weaver, his campaign manager, as well as Ed Schultz, a liberal pundit who used to have a show on MSNBC.
“It’s about substance with Bernie, it’s not about a slick sound bite or being the next hottest thing on a magazine,” Schultz said, declaring a Sanders’ win. “It’s all about the substance, and that’s what people are gravitating to.”
Clinton surrogates also declared a victory in the Spin Room, saying Clinton drove the argument the entire time. They also thanked Sanders for his treatment of Clinton.
“He was gracious in his comments, but he reflected where most Democrats are, which is they want to talk about their lives, not about Hillary Clinton’s emails,” John Podesta, chairman of Clinton’s campaign, said.
“She’s answered a lot of questions about this, and she’ll continue to do so,” Podesta continued. “She answers questions from the press but she doesn’t get many questions on this from voters.”
Clinton never stepped foot in the room to spin, but Sanders whirled in without notice for a short interview with Chris Matthews for MSNBC after the matchup.
After the interview, Sanders was swarmed by dozens of journalists barking questions. A human wall formed around Sanders that included Shannon Jackson, a deputy field director, and Marcus Ferrell, the campaign’s African-American outreach coordinator.
Sanders seemed claustrophobic and eager to leave, but he was cornered all around.
“Excuse me, please step back,” he said at one point while conducting a short interview with Andrea Mitchell, who was squeezed in the scrum and whom Sanders had to defend from being trampled.
Everyone wanted to ask him a question, everyone needed an exclusive. Sanders’ advisers perspired as they tried to give their boss some room to breathe.
“We need some space here, please,” field director Phil Fiermonte told reporters as they closed in.
After another minute, Briggs pointed to the exit and the Sanders crew bolted, a throng of reporters in tow. In the chaos, people tripped, cameras were bumped and velvet rope barriers fell down.
Sanders’ wife, Jane, got lost in the pack and had to be rescued.
“Are you OK, Jane?” Sanders asked moments before the team slipped into a private room and escaped.
The door slammed shut. Sanders was leaving Las Vegas, headed back to “A Place To Call Home.”
Adjusting to the limelight
With the debate in the rearview mirror, the Sanders campaign is organizing an aggressive travel schedule to capitalize on his newfound recognition. He jetted to Los Angeles Wednesday to appear on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and attend a Beverly Hills fundraiser at the home of Syd and Linda Leibovitch, a wealthy real estate family.
Tickets for the event start at $250, and with Sanders advisers estimating a crowd of at least 1,000, the senator should be able to capitalize on his growing recognition. The band America is scheduled to play.
Staffers are also gearing up in South Carolina and Nevada, two crucial nominating states that hold contests in the spring. Weaver said Sanders’ staffers arrived in Nevada last week, and that the campaign is now making a big push for Latino support.
“We have seven people now on the ground in Nevada and that team is going to grow,” he said. “That’s in addition to teams we have on the ground in South Carolina, Iowa and New Hampshire.”
