R.I. strategist wrote the year’s smartest political book, ‘How the Democrats Screwed Bernie’ in 2016
For decades, Rhode Island’s Tad Devine has been one of the Democratic Party’s most accomplished media strategists.
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Now, the chief strategist behind Bernie Sanders’ insurgent 2016 presidential campaign has penned a new book offering an insider’s account of one of the most consequential Democratic primaries in modern history.
In “How the Democrats Screwed Bernie,” the La Salle Academy and Brown University graduate walks readers through the 2016 Democratic primary from the Sanders campaign’s perspective, arguing that the Democratic establishment tilted the scales in Hillary Clinton’sfavor. Despite its provocative title, the book comes across as more insightful than bitter, offering plenty of lessons about modern political campaigns.
Readers follow the campaign from Sanders’ improbable launch and the massive crowds that soon followed – particularly young voters – all the way to the Democratic convention, which Devine skipped after his relationship with Sanders had frayed, only to return later to help write the Vermont senator’s endorsement of Clinton.
There are also a few fun Rhode Island nuggets along the way. Just before news broke that Sanders had fathered a child out of wedlock, Devine recalls bumping into fellow La Salle Academy graduate and US Senator Jack Reed at the airport. Wondering how damaging the revelation might be, Devine says Reed – in an unusually un-Reed-like moment – shrugged it off: “Nobody gives a shit.”
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In one of the book’s few moments that feels like score-settling, Devine notes that while he appreciated Bill and Hillary Clinton attending Providence fund-raising legend Mark Weiner’s funeral in August 2016, he also questions whether Hillary would have been better served campaigning in Wisconsin, a pivotal state that Donald Trumpultimately carried.
Devine never wavers from his belief that “the deck was stacked against us.” But rather than dwelling on old grievances, he closes with a prescription for the Democratic Party’s future: “The party is in desperate need of new leadership and a new image, one that makes the Democratic Party look like the future rather than stuck in the past.”
This story first appeared in Rhode Map, our free newsletter about Rhode Island that also contains information about local events, links to interesting stories, and more. If you’d like to receive it via email Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.
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