Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders made a brief appearance at the Hyatt House on Shellmound to speak at a 10 a.m. news conference today. CHP, throngs of secret service and a crowd of supportive Nurses filled the lobby and parking lot to greet the Vermont Senator.

Sanders came to discuss health care at a news conference coordinated by National Nurses United. The NNU is the country’s largest nurses union and have endorsed Sanders for president. Sanders then proceeded to his next stop at a rally in Santa Cruz.
Sanders made his way through the hotel lobby prior to his speech (Video: D. Martinez):
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Sanders spoke for about 10 minutes and did not field any questions from the Media. “We got a dysfunctional system and we are gonna change that system. That is what the American people want,” Sanders said at the podium surrounded by nurses. “We are gonna take on the private insurance companies. We are gonna take on the drug companies. The function of health care of in a democratic, civilized society is to provide quality care to all of our people in a cost-effective way, not to make billions of dollars in profits from the drug companies or the insurance companies or golden parachutes of $180 million for some CEO of a drug company.”

Ironically (and probably unbeknownst to Sanders), the Hyatt House was once the Woodfin Suites and the epicenter of a battle over Measure C which was a hotel ordinance that boosted the wages and working conditions of hotel workers in our city. Woodfin sold the hotel to Hyatt in 2011 after settling with the city over ordinance violations.

California Governor Jerry Brown has already endorsed rival Hillary Clinton ahead of the California June 7th Primary. Clinton is just 72 away from the 2,383 delegates needed for a majority of delegates to win the Democratic convention and is likely to hit that milestone at the New Jersey primary prior to polls closing in our state.
Sanders’ appearances have drawn large crowds as he looks to make what could be a last stand in our State. A race that some say is already mathematically over. Sanders’ longshot strategy to capture the nomination is to flip pledged superdelegates if he can convince them he has a better shot of beating presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump or even the possibility of forcing a Vice presidential nod. As NBC News explains, if Clinton were to win California and Sanders were to exit the race, Clinton would receive a dramatic boost in her head to head poll numbers vs. Trump.
Last Week Tonight host John Oliver addressed the process on this recent segment:
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