Gore strategist signs on to Sanders 2016

Veteran Democratic strategist Tad Devine has signed on to a possible presidential bid by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

“If he runs, I’m going to help him,” Devine told The Washington Post. “He is not only a longtime client but a friend. I believe he could deliver an enormously powerful message that the country is waiting to hear right now and do it in a way that succeeds.”

{mosads}The move is another sign that Sanders is likely to mount a presidential run. He faces extremely long odds against Hillary Clinton in a Democratic primary but would be a voice for the left in the process.

Devine was a senior adviser to Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000 and John Kerry’s campaign in 2004. He has worked with Sanders in Senate campaigns.

Sanders told the Post that he will be returning to the critical presidential state of Iowa in December and talked up his previous visits, including speaking to a packed church there in September. 

“I’ve been there, I think, three times, and we’ve already drawn large turnouts,” Sanders said. “We work with grassroots progressives organizations, and they bring out a lot of working-class and middle-class people. On the last visit to Des Moines, we couldn’t get any more people in the church. There were about 450 people there.”

Sanders’s campaign would be likely to take on a much more populist tone than Clinton’s. 

“People are angry and frustrated, and they want someone to speak to them,” Sanders said. “Democrats cannot run away from the simple reality that you have a billionaire class in America that is enormously greedy.”

Devine expressed optimism in Sanders’s fundraising potential.

“In terms of fundraising, there would be real interest in him at the grassroots level,” Devine said. “He knows how to do the organizing that’s required. As a mass media person, I also think he would be a great television candidate. He can connect on that level.”