Democrats Already Pushing a President AOC!

And then today came this, from Yahoo News:

As she took the stage here on Friday night, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., noted it was her “first time” in the key presidential primary state. But many of the thousands of people who came to see her campaign for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, were confident it wouldn’t be her last visit. 

“You’re going to be the first female president,” one woman told Ocasio-Cortez as she met with audience members on a rope line after the event.

“I’m hope I’m not the first,” Ocasio-Cortez said, adding that she’d like a woman president “sooner” than that.

The Constitution prohibits anyone under the age of 35 from running for president or vice president. Ocasio-Cortez, who is 30, won’t be eligible until the next election cycle. And she isn’t backing any of the women running for president this year. She has thrown her support behind Sanders and traveled to Iowa to campaign with him at a trio of events on Friday and Saturday. 

The fact that Ocasio-Cortez isn’t eligible to run for president herself was news to at least one supporter, Fanny Mandelberger, who came out to see the congresswoman campaign with Sanders in Des Moines on Saturday and said she hoped Ocasio-Cortez might “be his running mate.” Mandelberger responded with clear dismay when she was informed of the law.

“What? She can’t?” Mandelberger asked. “How old is she?”

When she was informed of Ocasio-Cortez’s age, Mandelberger was impressed. 

“Good for her. Oh, my God,” she said.

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The shock is understandable. Ocasio-Cortez’s career arc has been unprecedented. After scoring a shocking upset against one of the highest-ranking Democrats in the House of Representatives last year, she became the youngest woman in Congress. Her improbable victory, progressive brand of politics and strong presence on social media have kept her in the spotlight and made her one of the most visible members of the Democratic Party. 

Indeed, Ocasio-Cortez’s ascent has not come without controversy. Her progressivism has made her a favorite target for conservatives. Outside the event in Des Moines, a small group supporting President Trump held a protest. One man had a sign mocking the possibility of an Ocasio-Cortez candidacy that said, “Bartender 2021.” A truck circled the auditorium with an electric sign paid for by a pro-Trump political committee that cast Ocasio-Cortez and a group of three other freshman progressives — who are often called “the Squad” — as the nefarious leaders of the Democratic Party.

“The squad, ruling the Democrats, controlling the agenda, open borders, socialism, Green New Deal. Vote Trump 2020,” the sign said.

Ocasio-Cortez reflected on her meteoric rise as she spoke to the crowd in Council Bluffs and noted it was just two days after the anniversary of her election. 

“It just came so quickly. … Last February I was still bartending in downtown Manhattan,” she said. “It seems sometimes like that was ages ago, but it was just last February.” 

The freshman lawmaker announced her endorsement of Sanders last month after the senator suffered a heart attack that took him off the campaign trail for several days. She has described that moment as a “gut check” that pushed her to publicly support him. 

She has also attributed that decision to Sanders’s decades of pushing for progressive policies including universal health care, free public education and a federal jobs program. The endorsement came as his standing in national polls had dipped to its lowest point. In the month since, he has rebounded and remains one of the top three candidates in the crowded Democratic field.

Sanders’s campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, told Yahoo News that Ocasio-Cortez “brought a breath of fresh energy to the campaign.”

“There have been a few factors involved in the rise in the polling. He had a great debate performance. He’s had some wonderful big events around the country with key endorsements,” Shakir said. “But we’ve also seen volunteers, staff and surrogates step up their efforts in a big way when he went through the health scare.”

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Sanders’s campaign has aggressively promoted Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement. This campaign swing through Iowa came on the heels of a massive rally in the congresswoman’s Queens, N.Y., district last month. Onstage at that event, Ocasio-Cortez, who is Puerto Rican, dubbed Sanders her tio, the Spanish word for uncle. In Iowa, the Sanders campaign was selling newly minted “Tio Bernie” shirts to supporters.   

Apart from her desire to see a woman in the White House, the endorsement was a natural fit for Ocasio-Cortez, who began her career as an organizer for Sanders’s 2016 campaign. The pair both identify as democratic socialists, and his climate plan hews more closely to the “Green New Deal” that Ocasio-Cortez has championed in Congress than any other presidential candidate’s.