The Coney Island boardwalk, like a quiet block in Midwood, doesn’t usually play host to presidential candidates.
But Bernie Sanders, a 74-year-old who calls himself a democratic socialist, is an atypical candidate in a year unlike any other. And it’s only fitting that New York City, for so long irrelevant in the presidential year circus, gets its moment in the spotlight, with its streets and parks and playgrounds serving as a backdrop for the struggle over the future of the United States. Mr. Sanders, standing this afternoon near the foot of the Thunderbolt roller coaster at Brooklyn’s iconic Coney Island, touched on his usual themes—Wall Street’s greed, Hillary Clinton’s Iraq War vote, the need to bring universal healthcare to America—but he did so in his native borough, where thousands lined up on Surf Avenue to reach the boardwalk where he would speak.
Michael Stipe, the former singer for the rock band R.E.M., introduced Mr. Sanders, and the Vermont senator’s nods to his birthplace were brief. He said he used to swim in the waters of Coney Island beach and took credit for eating “about half” the hot dogs Nathan’s produced. Onlookers who didn’t want to cram onto the boardwalk stood on the beach to watch.
After that, it was the usual Bernie, and his fans loved it as always. He took direct aim at Ms. Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, taking her to task again for collecting six-figure speaking fees, backing free-trade and raising cash from the financial industry. He even wagged his finger at the major television networks for not covering the issues he believes are important.
“One of the points of this campaign is we as Americans, we have go to determine what the issues are. It’s not gonna be CNN, CBS or ABC,” Mr. Sanders said. “Because they will talk about anything except the most important issues facing the middle class of this country.”
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