Bernie Sanders Has Heart Procedure
By This really isn’t a minor matter:
Bernie Sanders experienced chest discomfort during a campaign event Tuesday evening and had two stents inserted to address a blockage in an artery, his campaign announced.
“Sen. Sanders is conversing and in good spirits. He will be resting up over the next few days,” senior adviser Jeff Weaver said in a statement Wednesday. “We are canceling his events and appearances until further notice, and we will continue to provide appropriate updates.”
The Vermont lawmaker has kept up a relentless campaign schedule, particularly during the summer months, and often makes three or four stops a day in different regions. He was scheduled to attend a gun policy forum in Nevada on Wednesday, and then make seven appearances in California on Thursday and Friday.
At 78, Sanders is the oldest candidate in the Democratic field. But he projects vigor belying his age on the trail, and has not been faced with questions regarding his stamina and mental acuity that have plagued former Vice President Joe Biden, who is two years younger.
I generally don’t believe in dealbreakers, per se. I believe in the holistic evaluation of candidates. If the Democratic nomination came down to Bernie or, say, Tulsi or Michael Bennet (or of course Biden), I would still support Bernie without hesitation. But while I don’t think Sanders’s age is a dispositive issue, it certainly is an issue. Making a case for him over Warren at this point is pretty hard. The presidency is a really tough job and Bernie, like Biden, is at the point where age does become a real consideration.
It’s been somewhat forgotten because of the Comey tsunami, but it’s worth noting at this point that Clinton’s brief (and less serious) illness was a HUGE issue during the 2016 campaign, one of the few times when Clinton got significantly more media attention than Trump:
The DNC was in serious discussions about replacing her with Biden. Now, perhaps the media would treat Sanders differently if he had to suspend his campaign again in the general, but it’s worth considering how comfortable you are taking that chance.