Bernie Sanders, Wife, Attend ‘Hamilton’ Musical, As He Threatens Hillary Clinton At The Polls
Bernie Sanders loves Broadway?! Who knew? The Vermont senator took a much deserved breather from the campaign trail to attend Hamilton, the hit musical on Broadway, ABC News reports.
My latest: @BernieSanders‘s big win: Tickets to ‘Hamilton’ https://t.co/YwwTp8QT4X pic.twitter.com/jSFzm2kCZy
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) April 9, 2016
.@LilLizzard28 spots @BernieSanders at #Hamilton tonight! I hope that you BERN, @Lin_Manuel???? #FeelTheBern #ham4bern pic.twitter.com/bKRnZRQcos
— Ben Lerner (@LernerBen) April 9, 2016
The senator and his wife, Jane, were all smiles as they left a rally in Brooklyn and headed to Manhattan to see the popular Broadway show.
According to ABC, when Senator Sanders and his wife arrived in Times Square they abandoned their motorcade and walked about a block to the Richard Rodgers Theater. Even though they entered a side entrance, they were still noticed by theater goers, many of whom greeted Sanders with cheers when he walked by. Sanders and his wife were also given a standing ovation when they entered the theater.
ABC News also reports that the senator from Vermont also met with the cast backstage. And for those who may have thought that Sanders got his Broadway tickets for free, a rep from his campaign team has said that he paid the regular price for the tickets.
Bernie Sanders isn’t the only politician to have enjoyed a night watching Hamilton. According to ABC, Sanders’ current rival Hillary Clinton caught one of the shows in February, alongside husband Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea Clinton. President Barack Obama even invited the Hamilton cast to perform at the White House.
Hamilton centers around the life of U.S. founding father Alexander Hamilton and tells the story of his life through hip hop music and an ethnically diverse cast. According to The Guardian, the musical earns creator Lin Manuel Miranda $105,000 a week in royalties. This is partly due to its immense popularity and its pricey tickets. Premium tickets can cost as much as $549 each. That’s pennies compared to the costs on the black market. Black market tickets are almost triple the face value price. Few people doubt that the show has more than paid back investors the $12.5 million they put into the production.
This visit to the Hamilton musical comes as Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are closer in the polls than ever before. Vox reports that Bernie’s national poll numbers among Democratic voters are at an all-time high. The Huffington Post’s national polling average currently indicates that Bernie is only 2.5 points behind Hillary amongst Democrats. As Vox notes, the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign started at 50 points behind Hillary, so Sanders has done quite a bit of catch up. But will it be enough to clinch him the nomination?
Some experts say no, since Democrats in more than half of the country have already headed to the polls and Clinton has clobbered Sanders in most States.
“I don’t think it predicts what is going to happen in the next states,” pollster J. Ann Selzer told Vox, adding that it’s the statewide delegate contest that really counts. “The national average has historically been meaningless … it’s kind of interesting, but it’s not all that meaningful.”
In fact, in 2008, Hillary Clinton polled better than Barack Obama nationally for most of the race, even after he won the Democratic presidential nomination.
It looks like Bernie Sanders’ next big political move will be to meet the Pope at a conference in Rome. According to The Independent, the Bernie Sanders Pope meeting is already raising questions on whether the visit will hurt or help his chances in the nomination race.
Sanders has so far been accused of “courting the Catholic vote,” The Independent reports.
“I am delighted to have been invited by the Vatican to a meeting on restoring social justice and environmental sustainability to the world economy,” the Vermont senator said via a press statement.
“Pope Francis has made clear that we must overcome ‘the globalization of indifference’ in order to reduce economic inequalities, stop financial corruption and protect the natural environment.”
According to The Independent, Bernie Sanders was not invited to the conference but used political muscle for a chance to appeal to the Catholic vote.
“Sanders made the first move, for the obvious reasons,” says Professor Margaret Archer, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. “He may be going for the Catholic vote but this is not the Catholic vote and he should remember that and act accordingly – not that he will.”
[Photo by Mary Altaffer/AP Photo]