The Secret History of Sanders’s Plot to Primary Obama

The Atlantic: “Bernie Sanders got so close to running a primary challenge to President Barack Obama that Senator Harry Reid had to intervene to stop him.”

“It took Reid two conversations over the summer of 2011 to get Sanders to scrap the idea.”

“That summer, Sanders privately discussed a potential primary challenge to Obama with several people, including Patrick Leahy, his fellow Vermont senator. Leahy, alarmed, warned Jim Messina, Obama’s presidential reelection-campaign manager… David Plouffe, another Obama strategist, confirmed Messina’s account, as did another person familiar with what happened.”