If they're willing to vote for Bernie as a protest vote, they might be willing to cross the aisle. Goodness knows I've been thinking about it many times in the last decade. Hillary is up to 70% in the polls. She's running away with the nomination. The debate criteria could easily get Bernie off the stage and into single digit territory. He will endorse Hillary as he's expected to do so. Rand can still swoop in and get the ones hungry for change. All it takes is this:
1. Don't call Bernie a nazi or Hitler when his supporters are watching you. Don't bring down their candidate at the expense of introducing them to your candidate.
2. Those pictures and memes that insult Bernie and his fans you're posting to social media? They make us look partisan. Especially memes that draw similarities between Hillary and Bernie. Don't unite those factions against us. Post memes that draw similarities between Rand and Bernie. It brings them closer to us.
3. Bernie fans are disconnected. Their elders are likely neocon voters. That's a major reason they gravitate away from their parents politics. If you convert a Bernite, you probably have a Rand subverter in a neocon household. At least the kid is thinking Republican and it may help with outreach to Republicans we have trouble connecting with.
4. Bernie fans are disconnected. Again. Bernie will fade away. He's not doing an educational campaign. He's got people thinking, but he doesn't appear to have the infrastructure to start a lasting movement. We do. When this season is over, those Bernites will go back to being apathetic. But not a whole lot will go back to being party zombies. They've had their eyes opened for the first time and now they're looking for something to call true. We have a movement. We have a philosophy. We have a plan. It's Ron. It's Rand. It's Amash. It's Massie. We're in it for a long haul. Present your ideas as the truth they're seeking.
5. If and when the OutsidersTM fall they fill up a Cruz balloon. Cruz can continue past Texas. Don't count on building our support at his expense any time soon. Build it at Bernie's. Bernie is no threat to us. Hillary will keep him in line. Cruz is a serious threat. We can't attack him directly because he's just such a nice guy. He has to deflate on his own. That's gonna take time. In the meantime we gain serious staying power by bringing more voters to our side.
After all, isn't that really the goal of the big tent idea?
