 So, I think it's safe to say that Bernie Sanders has been having a really good couple of weeks, because we learned recently that according to a Harvard University Institute of Politics poll, he has a double-digit lead among everyone else in the field when it comes to young voters. And additionally, we got a glimpse at his first quarter fundraising totals. And I think it's safe to say that he's doing okay. So as Max Greenwood of The Hill reports, Senator Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign raised $18.2 million in the first quarter of 2019. His advisor said Tuesday, a massive sum that is likely to put the progressive firebrand among the top fundraisers of the early 2020 Democratic primary season. Sanders' campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, said the senator's first quarter fundraising total was powered by roughly 900,000 individual donations with an average contribution size of $20. A number that Sanders is likely to highlight given an increasing focus on grassroots giving in Democratic politics. Shakir said 525,000 individuals across all U.S. states and territories gave to the campaign. The average age for Sanders' donors was under 39 years old, he said. Supporters have shown up big time for this campaign. Huge, you could say, Shakir told reporters. The fundraising numbers put Sanders' total haul for the quarter at $32 million, including $14 million that the senator had in other accounts to start with. Shakir said that the campaign finished the first quarter of 2019 with $28 million cash on hand. The first quarter haul sets up Sanders' campaign to expand its operations in key early voting states, said Jeff Weaver, a senior advisor to Sanders. He said that the campaign would add more staffers to its operation in Iowa and would begin staffing up in California in the coming weeks as well. So this is absolutely insane to me. I'm curious to see how others have been doing, such as Beto or Rourke, because we do know that Beto outraced him in the first day, however, Beto announced about a month or so after Bernie, so it's unlikely he's actually going to be able to surpass Bernie, but still I'm curious to see just for comparison's sake, but I mean, this is really good. This is phenomenal news for Bernie Sanders. This goes to show you that there is a people-powered movement that is absolutely enthusiastic to get someone in the White House that actually cares about them and not the large multinational corporations. And when you just go to the specifics here, the average donation now being $20, $7 lower than what he always talks about, the $27. That means that more people with less money are chipping in. And to anyone who said that he lost his 2016 mojo, now they have to eat crow. All those pundits who doubted Bernie Sanders, I think this demonstrates that they don't have their finger on the pulse of American politics, because we very much are still in this anti-establishment era. And we want someone who's not gonna get in and do the same thing that every other president has been doing. We want someone who's going to drastically change the system in a fundamental way. And Bernie Sanders, he's pledging to do that, and it shows how the people are responding to that because he's being incredibly successful. So this is getting even mainstream media pundits to pay attention to him. Because even MSNBC's Casey Hunt is taking notice. She tweeted out, if we used the metrics of any other year and applied them to Bernie, he would be called a front runner. He came in second last time, almost one Iowa, one New Hampshire, near top of early polls, huge fundraising numbers, proven appeal to base of party, and yet he gets ignored. It's absurd. And she adds, literally no other candidate with the possible exception of Biden has anywhere near as strong a list of front runner attributes. And I would argue Bernie is ahead of Biden in several areas. So if she sees it, there's no excuse for everyone else in mainstream media. It's clear that they have the blinders on and they don't want to admit that there's something really special happening right in front of them that they either don't see or they don't want to see. Maybe they see it, but they have cognitive dissonance. But pay attention because this is a historic moment. An entirely grassroots funded campaign is surging and it is powered by hundreds of thousands of people who are demanding a change to the status quo. And this isn't faux populism like Donald Trump was championing. This is true grassroots populist appeal. And it's really nice to see. I had no doubt that Bernie Sanders would be successful and even more successful the second time around because now he's coming in with the advantage of having name recognition. The first time nobody knew who Bernie Sanders was, but now people know who he is and they know what he stands for. And even though the field is certainly more crowded this time around, everyone knows that Bernie Sanders is perhaps the one politician who's been saying the same thing for decades. So I find this incredibly encouraging. But again, I want to emphasize because whenever I do these segments about how successful Bernie Sanders campaign has been, I don't want to convey to you this message that this means we're going to have an easy ride. We've got to work our asses off if we want him to get the nomination and win. And really the real work that we're going to have to put in will start once he is elected, once he's sitting in the Oval Office. So this by no means should communicate to you that we're going to have it easy. We're going to have to put in time. We're going to have to phone bank canvas for Bernie. You can text bank. We have to put in work. So don't take away from this that we've got this in the bag and I don't have to do anything. The opposite is true because he's doing so well. I think that that means that you really have to work harder because this means that the establishment and his opponents will be working that much harder because if someone really is perceived as the front runner, guess what that makes them? That makes them a target for attacks, not just from Democrats, but the right wing. So we're going to have to work hard and it's not going to be easy. However, just take a moment and celebrate what you helped Bernie Sanders to accomplish in the first quarter. This is absolutely astonishing. And anyone who tries to downplay this in mainstream media, they're just either not being real with themselves or they're intentionally trying to mislead people. Because this is absolutely an amazing run for the first quarter. Report. Sad. My views are much higher.