Why is He Running?

You may have heard that Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is entering the 2016 Democratic Party race for president. Many say that he doesn't have a chance of winning the nomination, but, he has good reasons for running. Why run then? Sanders hopes to influence the debate within the party. He plans by entering is to drag everyone else to the left on major issues like trade, campaign finance reform and income inequality. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/04/29/bernie-sanders-isnt-going-to-be-president-but-he-matters-anyway/

It may be interesting then to take a closer look at his voting record. I usually go to a few trusted sites to gather information on prospective candidates. GovTrackUS gives a report card on all members of Congress.  Here's their report card on Sanders:  https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/bernard_sanders/400357/report-card/2014 Note these stats are only for the 113th Congress and compare him to others in that congress.

Another site, Project Vote Smart, gives Sanders recorded votes on past bills in Congress:  https://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/27110/bernie-sanders#.VUI7RPlViko  You can go there to see how he voted on issues that matter to you.

On the Issues is a site that gives you quotes of what political leaders say on major issues facing our country.  Here's their set of quotes by Sanders on the issues:  http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/bernie_sanders.htm

Finally, I will share a link to my favorite political information site, Ballotpedia.
http://ballotpedia.org/Bernie_Sanders  By searching this site, you can find out relevant information about Sanders.

I hope you will do your own research and not just accept what the main stream media decides you should know.