article_snippet.sent: (CNN)Bernie Sanders, my Vermont senator and, indeed, a friend of many years, is now running for president.  
article_snippet.sent: To most Americans, of course, Sen. Bernie Sanders is only a name, if that.  
article_snippet.sent: Sen. Bernie Sanders is barely known to the general public, which makes Sen. Bernie Sanders a very long shot indeed to win election to the highest office in the nation.
article_snippet.sent: Those who follow politics a little more closely will possibly think of Sen. Bernie Sanders as some left-wing kook that only the most liberal state in the union would ever dream of electing to the Senate, as we did in 2006.  
article_snippet.sent: And nobody should underestimate Sen. Bernie Sanders.
article_snippet.sent: When Sen. Bernie Sanders decided to run for Jim Jeffords' seat in the House of Representatives in 1988, many considered Sen. Bernie Sanders a long shot.  
article_snippet.sent: Sen. Bernie Sanders won his seat in the U.S. Senate, again and again.
article_snippet.sent: So what would it look like if, by some bizarre chance, Sen. Bernie Sanders caught fire and became President?
article_snippet.sent: Sen. Bernie Sanders knows what Sen. Bernie Sanders's doing.  
article_snippet.sent: But does Sen. Bernie Sanders actually have the slightest chance of winning the Democratic nomination?  
article_snippet.sent: And if Sen. Bernie Sanders won the Democratic nomination, could Sen. Bernie Sanders defeat a Republican candidate with billionaires at Sen. Bernie Sanders or a Republican candidate disposal?
article_snippet.sent: Sen. Bernie Sanders's not crazy.  
article_snippet.sent: In fact, Sen. Bernie Sanders's probably the sanest person in the presidential sweepstakes.  
article_snippet.sent: But Sen. Bernie Sanders can't win, and Sen. Bernie Sanders knows that.  
article_snippet.sent: A steep climb looms before Sen. Bernie Sanders.  
article_snippet.sent: But I applaud Bernie Sanders.  
article_snippet.sent: I hope Bernie Sanders soars and that Bernie Sanders brave and commonsensical voice is heard.
highlights_snippet.sent: Jay Parini: Bernie Sanders, who is running for President, is a liberal long shot, but Jay Parini's also a populist truth-teller who speaks without fear .
  