Quote:
Socialism will get its first-ever face in the US Senate when veteran Vermont politician Bernard "Bernie" Sanders takes a seat in the powerful upper house of the legislature.
In a country where most people think more of North Korea when they hear the word "socialism" -- rather than, for instance, democratic socialist Scandinavian countries -- Sanders, 65, will be a new phenomenon in the staid two-party system of Washington.
The son of Jewish immigrants from Poland is hardly an extreme leftist. But those in his home state used to his gruff, straight-spoken ways say he could stir up the debate over the policies of President George W. Bush as he assumes his role as a key ally of the new but slim Democratic majority.
Sanders swept to victory with a decisive 65 percent of the vote in the Vermont senatorial race last November.
Running officially as an independent but never hiding his socialist ideas, he trounced a businessman who spent seven million dollars of his own fortune in the race.
But it was hardly surprising after a three decade career in Vermont politics, where people have learned that his disheveled air of a college professor and his strong accent from his native Brooklyn, New York, don't pose a threat to US democracy.
"I'm a democratic socialist," he says, explaining his beliefs.
"To my mind, our goal should be a society in which you have a strong entrepreneurial class creating wealth, creating good jobs, but at the same time you need a strong government presence to make sure that all of our people receive at least a minimum standard of living."
It is an idea Sanders has been pushing since he first ran for a Vermont seat in the Senate in the early 1970s. He only got six percent of the vote against mainstream Democratic and Republican party candidates.
But when he then decided instead to contest the mayorship of the state's largest city, Burlington, in 1981, he surprised everyone by beating the veteran Democratic incumbent by a bare 10 votes.
"No one expected him to win that race," said Peter Freyne, a political reporter for the local weekly Seven Days. "He was on the fringe, a loud mouth screamer."
His victory left local people nervous about the socialist label, rarely worn voluntarily by successful US politicians. Under Sanders the city was sarcastically branded "The People's Republic of Burlington."
"They were fearful," recalled Garrison Nelson, a University of Vermont political science professor who had to go on television to explain that a Soviet attack on a local air base was not imminent as a result of Sanders' taking office.
After his first triumph, few thought Sanders would last in politics, refusing to join either the Democrats and Republicans, and wearing his socialist views openly.
But on a strong record of managing Burlington, making it known as one of the country's most livable cities, he was reelected mayor three times in the 1980s.
That record helped carry him to victory in the 1990 contest for Vermont's sole seat in the US House of Representatives. He held the seat for eight two-year terms before deciding to chase the Senate seat last year.
"The most rural state in the union picking a Brooklyn Jewish socialist makes no sense. But that's the great paradox of Vermont," said Nelson.
Nelson said Sanders, who can come across as rude, sports hardly any of the normal attributes of successful US politicians.
"If you look at all the resources that usually exist to explain the success of an American politician, you realize that he has not a lot," Nelson said.
"He has no political party, he has no personal wealth. He's not what you call charming, no family connections."
Sanders is not shy of saying what he thinks, says Cathy Resmer, a local journalist, but it helps him.
"People think he is telling the truth and they like that. He tells them what he believes and not what they want to hear," Resmer said.
"He's an indefatigable politician, full of energy and dedicated to the people," adds Freyne.
"He has no hobby. Politics is his hobby, his life, and he's determined to get results."
The Senate will give Sanders a new soapbox for his views. He is officially listed as an independent, but in practice he and another independent will work with the Democrats and be key to their bare 51-49 seat majority over Bush's Republicans.
"He's going to do everything he can to make president Bush miserable," Nelson predicts. "He's a one-of-a-kind phenomenon."
