Bernie Sanders provides clear-eyed reason why he urges some Americans to run as independents.

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24. In my rural and red area, the Democratic brand just seems toxic

Of course it's not based in reality but rather on decades of right-wing hate radio about how evil Democrats are. I hate the fact that this is the perception, but we have to face the voters we are dealt.

Locally, we ran candidates objectively better than the Republicans and spent far more effort reaching out to voters, and yet we still were crushed by over 70%. Sometimes I wonder whether an independent might get more traction. I think Republicans would still win here, but maybe by less dominating margins that could improve over time.

I don't mean this as criticism of Democrats or our ideas. It's just that voters here don't even consider us a legitimate choice. We're like the 'heel' in wrestling, the ones that the crowd likes to hate on. Without a competitive media infrastructure, I don't see how we have much hope of turning that around.

Areas like mine might benefit from this strategy.