announcer: live wednesday on the c-span networks, at noon eastern on c-span, a discussion on countering violent extremism and the state department. it is at the hudson institute. at 2:00 p.m., a look at transatlantic relations at the wilson center after boot the withdrawal from the iran agreement. on c-span2 at 9:00 a.m., the national league of cities releases the annual state of cities report, examining urban trends and priorities. at noon eastern on c-span2, the cato institute looks at congressional war powers, and add 2:30 p.m., the state of climate action in the u.s. and globally. that is at the world resources institute. next, jeff weaver, campaign manager for senator bernie 2016 presidential campaign discusses his new book.

this is just under one hour. for bernie sanders' 2016 presidential campaign. he is also the author of "how bernie won." about 1900 delegates in the democratic -- between the title of your book. guest: we started the campaign in 2015, bernie was at 3% in the polls. he talked about medicare for all , $15 minimum wage, and free tuition at public universities. those issues have entered the mainstream of american politics. $15 minimum wage is passing everywhere in parts of the democratic party platform. free colleges -- we are making steps in place in new york,

rhode island, and other places. and it's for medicare for all -- candidates for medicaid for all -- the debate in this country is being won by the progressive side. issues bernie talked about, which were considered out of it the -- out of the mainstream, is primary. host: would you meet him? guest: 1986. he was running the governor of vermont at the time. he got 14% of the vote. host: did you think he would run for president? guest: i did not. i worked with him for most of my adult life. until 2015, i do not think any of us expected him to run for president. host: the success he talk about in this book, what you attribut ie it to? guest: there is hunger for

leadership to make the american lives better. old economics, politics will not cut it. people chose to go to president trump in the general election. in many cases, a sense of desperation. we have to offer people a positive alternative to address the issues they see in their lives. host: the alternative, the leadership, is it something bernie sanders can give in 2020? guest: no. ,f you look at the candidates they are talking about medicare for all, a lot of the issues bernie sanders was talking about in 2016 and before. he has been talking with these issues for 30 years. things he was successful is people in the country sensed he was not an authentic messenger. host: we are talking about jeff

weaver -- talking with jeff weaver and his book4." -- his book, "how bernie won." democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. talk about your role now and relationship with bernie sanders. -- i am andivisor advisor for his reelection campaign. he announced he is running for reelection in 2018 in vermont. his first was in 2006. before, he was a house member since 1991. as folks know, has been traveling the country, supporting democratic candidates up and down the ballot. he has been raising money for democratic candidates and talking about the issues. he was a leader one president trump was elected and attempted to take the health insurance away from tens of millions of

people. bernie sanders traveled the country, rallying the nation against that move. with the tax bill. he is active around the country. i've do work to support him -- i do work to support him. host: how are his candidates doing in support? well, there some reporting, which is not accurate. the lieutenant governor's race in pennsylvania. across the country, progresses are winning. host: talk about the virginia's governor's race, one of the biggest races of last year. what happened with bernie candidate -- sanders' candidate? guest: a lot of politics comes down to resources. he was out resource. the establishment was behind

ralph northam. tom. hello -- tom. ello had -- perry tom perry had barack obama in his ads. resources -- ralph northam had more resources. we can have an hour talking about -- i have a great relationship with what you would call the establishment in the democratic party, the dnc. i served on a unity reform mission. we have a package of reforms unanimously supported. the chair of the party pushed

those reforms forward. there is conservative elements in the establishment, which do not understand you need to respond to the people of the country. by and large, there is a significant move in the right direction. host: who are the folks leading? guest: the reaction? host: the barriers you were just talking about. guest: is not tied around one person. there are a group of people who are longtime members of the dnc. many of those people do not have interactions with politics in an electoral sense. when you talk to -- they have a much different view, they are much more open to the change we need. host: larry from l.a. we are talking to jeff weaver, former campaign manager to bernie sanders' 2016

presidential run. caller: good morning. i appreciate c-span. mr. weaver, i can appreciate you as well. guest: thank you. you can call me jeff. caller: ok, jeff. i have a question or two. i would like to know what you think. if hillary had selected bernie , doers as her running mate you think the possibility of a hillary-sanders ticket? in terms of winning the election. i will take my answer off-line. i thought if she had chosen bernie, the impetus he had created with his campaign and the voters, the interest he had

created could have overcome any of the issues that came up with the common thing -- the comey thing. i want to know what your impression is. host: thank you. we will let jeff answer. guest: we get a lot of crystal ball or time machine questions. having worked in a campaign that was not successful in securing the nomination, you go back and think, what if we did this? i do not want to speak for the clinton folks. i know many of them -- bernie was a very active campaigner for secretary clinton, as was i. they have said many times in solic because the race was close and so many places, probably one or two changes could have tipped it the other way. one thing they mentioned at a symposium i was at was bernie

would have flipped and the other way, along with other possible. host: what are other what if's do you talk about? guest: what was amazing about the campaign was -- he had a is conference to announced his presidential bid. host: explained what that is. guest: it is where the senators have press coverage is in the media is there. there is not a huge public province. -- public presence. usually, there is fanfare. he gave a speech and walked back in and went to work. it is pretty unconventional. he followed up with a formal haduncement in may when we people 5000 people in burlington, vermont. one of the biggest problems we had was not snowing the level of support, in terms of people's generosity. we were looking for budgeting

for a $30,000 presidential campaign. in politics, it is little. raised $230we million. in terms of our campaign's growth, it was slow at the beginning. we had to accelerated. -- accelerate it. we knew we would have the support, our campaign would be structured differently. campaign represented the policies of the new deal of fdr. if you look at the state of the , it is a laundry list of what bernie sanders was talking about in 2016. host: if he did more to prepare the growth, do you think it would have done something to diminish the spark that formed around the sanders' campaign?

host: i'm not talking about -- julynounced at the end of -- we had staff in new hampshire. secretary clinton had hundreds of people by that time. in terms of building the campaign infrastructure, we would have done it much earlier had we know we would have that. host: james in new york, on the line for democrats. caller: i am a hillary clinton supporter. bernie and your group have delusional math. democratic national nomination, but you pretended she did not. she should have been president instead of obama. i used to be a democrat. i intend to join the republican party. i will support everything trump has done.

he will get reelected. in former years, you will have a country more angry and divided. he will get his agenda of supporting extremist right-wing judges and attorney generals. it will be your fall. host: james, why is it something you want to vote for? caller: bernie had his own business running. hillary had paid her dues. it was her time. she won every minority by a great margin, greater than obama. now, i am tired. this is garbage. host: jeff weaver. guest: i hope you would not jump ship and go with the republicans, especially if you find a positions to be repugnant. theie sanders is part of senate democratic leadership. he runs with the endorsement of the vermont democratic party.

he ran in endorsement declare him a democrat last week. he raised money for democratic candidates. he received 42% of the vote in the democratic primary process. how could he not have a shot? i am a big believer of voters. given the outcome, 42% of the many members wanted a different selection. there is no doubt secretary clinton paid her dues. theypeccable resume, argued, the most qualified ever. it is a fair position on their part. we also wanted her to win. i was on tv all the time on the networks, advocating for secretary clinton's election. we have elections.

people: with hard feelings. that is what -- people, way with hard feelings. that is what -- people come away with hard feelings. that is what democracy is. he is considering another run for the presidency. when the time comes, we will have an answer. right now, he is considering it. host: donald in new york, line for independents. caller: i would like to say i am sorry, i do not have a computer. i cannot get the actual numbers. week in the senate on the veterans mission bill. i do not know -- i know it was a big majority voted for it. however, late in the vote, before it was getting time to end, bernie sanders rushed onto the floor, voted no, and rushed off the floor. i am a veteran.

i think every veteran in this country should be aware of what this man did in any potential future he may have in local office -- in political office should be wiped out because of that vote. millennials with veterans in their family should inform the people of what he did. as people can get on and see the vote and see the group of democrats that voted against it, everyone of these people should be voted out of office. the head of it should be bernie sanders. i will wait for your comment. host: i will let just respond, but i will give you the numbers. the proposal called eva mission va mission acthe are the only senators voted against it, sanders, shasta, corker.

remembered bernie and john mccain two years ago work together to create the in a generation. the bill you are talking about, there is a big concern the bill wanted to lead to more privatized health care for veterans. bernie has been a longtime advocate for increasing resources for the va, expanding the va system to address the issues of waiting lines. when i worked for him on the hill, he worked hard to establish veterans' community centers. some on the other side wanted to dismantle the v.a.. -- the va. bernie sanders has ever supported that. he will continue to fight for the va.

-- the va. gary in indiana, line for democrats. go ahead. caller: yes, that is right. i'm here to take a stand. last thing the caller said about the vote. he was elected twice as president. mr. weaver, i appreciate the fact you represent one of the greatest candidates for president there ever was, in my personal estimation. i would have recalled that book berniernie -- "why should have won." he is against the unions. republican governors want to use

his antiunion legislation -- they call it right to work. it is bs conditions, as i call it. party seems to be a powerful entity with the resources and everything. i find it discouraging. we are a mouse trying to fight a grizzly bear. is there any hope, you think? more voters would help, hint, hint. it rather unsettling. they have power, dude. can makeis any way you me feel any better. tell me different. is there any hope at all? host: gary, the voice of the common man. guest: thanks for the call.

there is hope. i try not to do food how things in my life. thingse of -- do futile in my life. a couple of things -- corporate elite in this country and the wealthy are supporting the republican party. with the republican tax bill, a huge giveaway of resources to the rich and most powerful country. the need for more voters. state after state, an effort by republican governors and legislators to roll back putting protections to exclude more and more people in the polls, particularly poor, minorities, and young people. we have to fight and keep fighting to make sure everybody entitled to vote gets to vote. host: stacy in atlanta, georgia, my for democrats. go ahead. are you with us? is a republican, go ahead.

caller: we are conservative not just because of our views. our fiscal conservatives. of -- sanders a lot bernie sanders, a lot of people say, we want bernie. we have to pay for this. how can bernie pay for everyone's education and medicare? host: that is a good point. bernie sanders was a small city mayor. he never raised the property tax rate. he greatly expanded government services at the same time, really squeezed a lot of excess waste out of the previous administration's programs. in the presidential campaign,

every program he advocated for, we provided to pay for. -- you wanttuition to put a tax on wall street situation. medicare for all, it is not a question of more money, spreading the money around in a way to bring out excesses of waste you have from private insurance industry. -- we alreadyd spend twice as much as our democratic allies do per person on health care. we have worth outcomes -- we have worse outcomes and they do. it is squeezing the waste out of the current system. back to the think 2016 campaign, where did you see the intersection between donald trump's supporters and bernie sanders' supporters?

plenty of colors that if bernie sanders did not win the democratic primary, i will vote for trump. --st: some of those folks there has been some reporting on this in the country. folks who supported bernie and voted for trump. there was full reporting, how many people supported for secretary clinton and voted for john mccain and not barack obama. there's a lot of discussion about this. we were beating the bushes, trying to get them to stay with the team and vote for the secretary. there are a lot of working class people who -- it is tough. if you look at the exit polling and research, 30% of blacks .oted for trump 20% of latinos voted for trump,

despite all of his gated record -- his bigoted rhetoric. anye is desperation of world. when you get outside of the washington bubble, folks are having a hard time and are looking for illusions. they are not -- they do not want to hear the same old, same old. the: how much do you credit bernie sanders support during the primary -- anti-establishment or however you do find it? guest: there are people who want change in the country. you can see it. our campaign deserve some credit. there are some going social movements. some intersecting with our campaign. some are independent. the women's march we saw in d.c., black lives matter, a movement that grew out of the excesses of police violence.

the see the activity of the dreamers around immigrants' righ ts. there are social movements springing up around the country. it is an exciting time to be in politics in america. host: dan, myrtle beach, republican. caller: thank you for c-span. jeff, how do you feel about hillary clinton rigging the election for bernie? discussed this in the book. it was a topic of some controversy during the campaign. at various times, it was clear the dnc, debbie wasserman schultz, was pushing, putting their fingers on the scale to help secretary clinton. donna brazile was the acting chair in her book -- chair, in

her book, there were documents, s.ving clinton veto book.are detailed in the am i happy about it? no, i am not. one of the mandates of a reform commission is to remedy some of these problems so this never happens again. one of the biggest steps we can superdelegates, party officials who can vote on the virtue of their position, not elected as a delegate. if you look at the aggregate, they have more votes than 25 states in the district of columbia combine. host: is that going to happen? guest: we are working on it. there is a lot of movement in the grassroots. a lot of folks at the dnc who

are involved in electoral politics understand we need to democratize the process. host: what is the push back you get? what is the argument for superdelegates? guest: we need it as a check to make sure the people do not make the wrong decision. in a democracy, by definition, the people should be making the decisions. if you look into her clay -- i do not support trump or anything he does. he was elected in a process where there were no superdelegates. in the democratic party, superdelegates played a huge role. they empirically producing more electable candidate. host: what is your relationship with debbie wasserman schultz and donna brazile? guest: i do not to make it with debbie wasserman schultz. i commuted with donna brazil. caller: i am honored to be talking with jeff. thank you so much for all of

your efforts. everyone in america loves bernie. who do not people like bernie has a fear of socialism when they do not realize -- even their local fire departments are based on everybody paying a little tax and having a fire department when you need one that is not provided by the private industry. $25,000 to put out a small kitchen fire. greed out ofo take our health care system, which is ripping all of us off. dnc and the triple we cannot rely on .heir action they are still kind of leaning toward the money. i will close with this.

to me, the swamp is the money interest that is owning and running our state and federal government. l drain that's what. trump has five goldman sachs guys working for him. until we drain the swamp, you get money out of the federal government. what the people's dreams and hopes are -- obama was bad with this, too. we had to get wall street out of running our government or else it will never work for our government. trump has filled it to the brim with raw sewage. host: you are calling on our lines for republicans. caller: i called on the democratic line.

host: let's let jeff weaver respond. guest: i appreciate the kind words. in terms of money and politics -- it is a major crocks of a problem of this country. money controls money and politics in this country. they pour millions of dollars into it to see the candidates they want elected. people areities, having a hard time paying for schools, fire, and police protection. at the same time, trump is giving millions of dollars a way to campaign contributors. host: 25 minutes left with jeff weaver. his new book, "how bernie won inside the revolution taking it that our country." you could run our conversation -- democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002.

i want to focus on independents for jeff. you mentioned bernie sanders' 1988 campaign. a passage from your book, even though bernie lost, he said it was an important political marker. in vermont, he was a viable alternative to the republicans. throughout 1986 in 1980, bernie had to contend with the exit media narrative he was going to be responsible for electing the republican by taking away democrat votes. talk about the status of independent bids in the wake of what bernie sanders it in 2015. -- sanders did in 2015. outside ising difficult to do. it is rarely successful. bernie sanders is a long serving independent in congress here he is the exception that proves the rule. as we have seen the rise of

trump is a and extremism -- extremism, bernie sanders is working closer with the democratic party. he raises money for democrats. it is difficult to run outside of the system. bernie has an incredible credibility with independent voters. caucusesatic areas and , he was winning the voters 3-1, 4-1, in some cases, five-want. public polling show him strong of hishups is because strength with independent voters. host: can an independent truly run outside of the two party system? do they have to capture one of the parties to be successful? guest: to win the presidency, it is virtually impossible for

someone to run outside of the two-party system and win in our system currently. host: in virginia, go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. 2016, threection states -- wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania -- all went to trump. the vote between trump and hillary was less than the amount of votes jill stein that. do you think because the way the dnc treated bernie, a lot of bernie's supporters went for just on because they cannot wentrt hillary or trump -- for jill stein because they cannot support hillary or trump? guest: that happens in every

election. the most famous is ralph nader in florida in 2000. this is part of the struggle any candidate has you have to build a coalition. not everybody supports you will perfectly aligned with you on issues. you have to reach out. the clinton campaign try to reach out. bernie tried to help her in that regard, by traveling. host: claudia, tallahassee, florida, my for democrats. -- line for democrats. bernie killed the election for hillary. back.isappointed he went it was a real problem for me.

host: you are going in and out. do you want to take anything from that? guest: i hear what she is saying. small minority -- i will get destroyed on social media. there was a small number of people in the democratic party who said bernie should have not run. do you really want him running outside of the democratic party for the resident of the united states -- for the president of the united states? you would guarantee it for a republican. they want him to go away. he represents a large and growing part of the democratic party. 4-1, people voted for him,

five to 1, 6-1, in some cases. the wing of the party he represents, the wing which is becoming the entire bert, is the future of the democratic party -- entire bird, is the future of the democratic party. we need to bring the young people in. we need people to listen. host: jerry in ohio, line for independents. caller: the morning, c-span. thanks for taking my call -- good morning, c-span. and for taking my call. i am a vietnam disabled veteran. you talk about the va and bernie's ideal on it. i live out in the country. i am 35 miles from my va clinic. at that clinic, they do very little. the hospital they want to send 90to, the va hospital, is

miles away. i need surgery right now. they say i have to go to the va hospital in columbus, 100 miles away or the, 140 miles away -- 140eacon, 100 -- or dayton, miles away. i need advertised insurance -- need privatized insurance. the closest hospitals around here are 40 miles from my house. ate nothing closer that can do -- ain't nothing closer that can do me any good. one va hospital they sent me to. beenour times, i have dissatisfied with the care, diagnosis, and treatment. i had been appointed for a test. two hours later, they cut me back and said, you do not have an up limit for the test has

begin not do that test -- have an appointment for the test. call me and they do not have the test. guest: the challenge we have is veterans have served this country and earned benefits. that should be honored. i grew up in a rural place as well. i know many veterans who had to travel to get the care to which they are entitled. that is wrong. the answer is not to privatize and dismantle the va. resources.is to put host: why are you worried about aboute cetacean -- about privatization? guest: they have doctors who specialize in many types of injuries veterans have been exposed to. toprovides a centralized way

address veteran's illnesses. getting the specialized care needed and the research is difficult in the private system. always want the next war, but they never want to pay for the cost for the last war. host: jerry in new jersey, democrat. caller: i have a couple of questions. i want to comment about the va. you're exaggerating. they are not trying to get rid of the va. the previous caller does not have the opportunity to go where he is to go, he can have an alternative and go to private care. you are exaggerating about getting rid of the va.

sanderserstand bernie has a like site home -- a lake supporting hillary clinton during the election. what is going on with the fbi against -- fbi investigation against his wife? , we filedinst the dnc and sued in december 2015 to get access to data we put into a centralized data bank the dnc was withholding. that suit has been dismissed because we reached an agreement with them to get access back to the data. that's it is long gone. bernie sanders does have a vacation home, which he recently acquired online champlain in vermont -- acquired on lake

champlain in vermont. he had a successful book. as a member of congress, he was a humble lifestyle. you see pictures of him walking t-shirts to the cleaners or in the grocery store. a man was a president -- a woman was a president of -- they are still looking at it. i have known jane sanders for 30 years. the problem is when you run a school or business and you leave and has a problem half a decade later, people like to point their fingers of who was there previously. host: what is the revolution? guest: is a nonprofit coming out of -- inspired by bernie sanders' run for president.

they support progressive in its. -- progressive candidates. ,ost: headline from politico our revolution is flailing. a review showing concerns about a potential to 20 bit. 2020 bid.l guest: the have a 40% success is good.ich there is a lot of work. they carried on an important tactic. to activateternet volunteers across the country help races and where they did not live. i have done good work. -- they have done good work.

host: are you guys involved? guest: i left in 2017. host: why did you leave? guest: i went back to work for bernie. the organization was new. i came in to get it up and running. tina turner is the president of it now -- nina turner is the president of it now. bernie is not directly involved in it. it would be in violation of senate ethic rules. host: a raising -- a story raised questions nina -- what would you say to it? guest: this is a gossipy backbiting article with a lot of anonymous sources. senator turner is doing hard work in organizing this country. it is difficult. are you going to please all the people all the time?

you are not. if she using it as a platform for president? she is not. host: we are talking about his book, "how bernie won." the phone lines for democrats, republicans, and independence. jennifer, go ahead. caller: i am not a bernie fan, but i like to listen to other ideas to see what we can gain. i do not like he encouraged violence. a lot of the incidence have been theillary and trump's -- other part i would like to address is the constitution wanted the united states to be diverse and wanted us to be a sanctuary plays from those suffering like the not see nazis -- suffering

from those like the nazis in germany. we are not designed to be the backdoor or suburbs for all of the south american countries. we are no longer becoming diverse. we are becoming tilted toward only one group of people in the world. i would like to see our government change that. he jumpsnifer, before in. what do remember from the campaign, specifically, encouraging violence? caller: at the end of a number of he talks, he would say, be sure you are heard. be sure you are not denied a voice, scream louder, scream louder, get present, be there. that was taken to the nth degree. he should have relies that. guest: i am not -- he should have realized that. guest: i am not aware of it.

this is news to me. i do november that line. -- i do not remember that line. he activated a generation of voters across the country. it was president trump who encouraged people to be people up. foraid he what pay the legal bills. people at these rallies -- host: the immigration issue was everything she brought up. we are a diverse country. there's nothing to be afraid of. i grew up in a very white place in america. i live in a more diverse place.

allraces, all creates, identities -- all creeds, all identities -- the -- the faster people -- with the french spiderman, the man who climbed the building to save young child was an undocumented person in france. reminds us superheroes walk among us. people do not know, i own a comic book store in virginia as well. brave acts of heroism come out of every community. immigrants aren making to the country, including undocumented people, is phenomenal. we should be more welcoming of our neighbors. host: why do you own a comic book store? guest: i like comic books. i left politics in 2009. i was bernie's chief of staff.

i opened a comic book store for a laid-back lifestyle. it is a tough business. he cut me back in 2015. it was difficult for me to say no to bernie. i left that to run the presidential campaign. host: audrey in philly. caller: mr. weaver, thank you for all the hard work you did. i finished reading your book a few days ago. it was great. it was a good title. i hope bernie runs in 2020. if he does not, things are different because what he did and what you help them do. thank you. i also love comic books. 50 years ago, i used to spend all of my money on comic books. [laughter] i have two questions. we heard from at schulz -- from ed schulz. he was in burlington when he announced -- when bernie

announced he would run for president. he was called by phil griffin five minutes before and was told not to do it. based on the previous caller, who was a hillary supporter and very hostile, what is senator sanders going to do differently to combat the toxicity of the hillary people? this information from the media? hillaryr people, di -- people, disinformation from the media? california stop doing the exit polls, one of the sedition things that happened during the primary. what do you know about it? guest: thank you. knowxit poll issue, folks

there has been discussion of exit polls. some of the networks that put money into them have pulled out. there is a lot of talk in bernie's circles about the exit polls and what they mean. we had our own pollster on the campaign who did a phenomenal job. problems. have their i am not a big fan of exit polls. they tend to over represent the people -- to overrepresent the people. the night of the new york primary, we ended up losing to secretary clinton by 16 points. exit polls had us losing by four. people in the media perceived it as a huge victory for us as it was her home state. mead media people calling

congratulate me, only to have to face the truth that we lost the blue vote by 16. exit polling has its problems. we are re-examining that a lot of people are re-examining how we deal with it. the issues of the dnc are being dealt with through community reform, hopefully. there was a period -- in terms of the media and how it intersects with presidential campaigns. there is discussion of it on the book. commentators in particular and the role they played. they were to sabotage bernie's effort. folks interested in the media and the role it plays in politics, you will find the book to be of interest. ert,: robw for democrats. caller: -- robert, line four

democrats. caller: i recently developed cancer. the doctor informed me they were doing -- they were not doing surgeries. there are outsourcing it. i got a call from the va think i qualify for tri-care. they call the doctor and he said he does not excepted. this -- accept it. this privatization does not help it. why would you be a doctor in the va and then outsource it? issue.this is an you go to a doctor and the doctor may be does not take your doctornce -- drcot

maybe does not take your insurance. on ane my leg, put hospital, taken to a done in x-ray, and was told it did not accept my insurance. host: do you think the media has treated resident from fairly? guest: we can have an hour-long conversation about the media and president trump. the media plays into his hands. he tweets and the media amplifies it for hours in -- hours and hours. media people are on twitter. the president has no problem. he put that on twitter. the media puts it on tv.

president's tweet gets amplified. he is a master regulator. -- master manipulator. the media walks into it. caller: i am a hillary supporter who worked on the get out the vote effort. running, if instead of bernie supported hillary, she would have won. there are people who hold that view. at the end of the day, voters have to be the one who make the decision. democratic primary, voters chose hillary clinton. it is not to be preordained before we have a primary. we have another primary in 2020. bernie may or may not run. we will have a large democratic field. the voters should decide, which candidate will be the democratic bearer.

arounda world, people him during the campaign said hillary should have gone out a long time ago. -- this complaint is often lodged. present obama ultimately won. if he had not, i'm sure secretary clinton would have gotten blame for why she caused him to lose. host: one or two more calls. on the line for independents, go ahead. if you i wanted to say -- as an independent everybody organization puts money in. it takes a lot of money to run for president. if you are going to be an independent, do not opposite the

democrats. i bet the republicans had a rule where trump could not run. guest: bernie sanders did not take money from the democratic party. all of that money was raised from grassroots america. bernie sanders is a major contributor to democratic candidates up and down the ballot. $100,000 in a campaign. on the candidates will put a money into a pool, which benefits the candidates. he is a major funder of that. host: is that funding left over from his presidential run? hist: that is money in friends of bernie sanders. he raised money for down ballot

democrats. his relationship with the democratic party -- if you talk to people who look at it objectively, in a positive. -- rick inin texas, texas, independent. go ahead. caller: i almost voted for bernie. when i researched him, he is not s -- he hasa lot a not accomplished a lot as a politician. i am wondering what else he accomplishing government. but whenat he said, i researched, that is all i ever found. what else has he accomplished? host: meet at the last minute. guest: in the book, i talked --

host: you get the last minute. guest: in the book, i talk about the gulf war illness. it was a major crusade on his part, along with others in congress to make sure the veterans of the gulf war got the benefits they earned through their service. in the house, he was called the amendment king. he passed more amendments in a republican house than any other member of congress. there was a lot of narrative about him not having a lot of legislative competence. our false -- legislative, schmitz. -- legislative accomplishments. host: the book came out may 15, "how bernie won -- inside the revolution taking back our country and where we go from here." jeff weaver is the author. thank 2018.

>> "washington journal" continues. for discussion on criminal justice reform, we're joined by mark holden, chair of the group