Yes, it's true. This past weekend, I joined 11,000 other people in Phoenix to "feel the Bern," as the supporters of Bernie Sanders would put it. Sanders held a rally in the city immediately after the Netroots Nation conference concluded, which made it pretty easy for me to attend (and take a few photos). Netroots routinely draws a crowd of around 3,000, so even if everyone from the conference went to the Bernie rally (actually, not everyone did), the conference crowd could only roughly have been about a quarter of the people there to see Bernie. The rest were locals from a very red state. All there to feel the Bern, as it were.

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It's time once again to take a look at the vastness of the Republican field of candidates for president. The last time I devoted an article to the Republican primary race was back in May, so like it or not, the time has come again.

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As for the Netroots Nation convention itself, the most notable thing was that two Democratic candidates for president showed up, and three did not. Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley were both on hand to court Lefties, but I had to wonder where Hillary Clinton was. Lincoln Chafee seems to barely be running, so it's easy to see why he might not have had the cash on hand for a plane ticket. Jim Webb seems to only be courting Southern white voters, so he may have made a conscious decision to snub Netroots. But Hillary's absence was indeed notable.

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Today, we stand here and say loudly and clearly that: "Enough is enough. This great nation and its government belong to all of the people, and not to a handful of billionaires, their Super-PACs and their lobbyists."

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I know how hard hit Nevadans were by the Great Recession. This state in particular suffered some very tough blows. There was a much higher than average foreclosure rate, for example. A lot of people lost their jobs or their hours were cut dramatically, which made it more difficult for them to continue to make a good living.

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We must deliberately and carefully extricate ourselves from expensive wars. Just think about how better this money could be spent.

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I want to talk with you today about The American Dream we share -- its powerful history, its current condition, and most importantly, its urgent need for rebuilding.

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It's been a while since I've spoken to your group but I think I can safely say that I am still the only person ever elected to statewide office in Virginia with a union card, two Purple Hearts, and three tattoos.

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For the next few days, we're going to present the full text of speeches given by Democratic candidates for president. We did this back in 2007, and we still feel it's an important thing to do.

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Yes, it's strange but true -- Donald Trump is now a frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president. That's a pretty breathtaking place for the Republican Party to find itself in, isn't it? But it cannot be denied. Trump is sucking so much oxygen from the nomination race, it's a wonder any of the other candidates are still drawing breath. Trump is not only the major subject all other candidates get asked about in interviews, he's also been climbing in the polling. Oh, sure, some of that is likely just name recognition, but not all of it. Like it or not (for the Republican Party), Trump's views on immigration are resonating with a certain slice of the party's base. This doesn't exactly bode well for any attempt by the Republican Party to reach out to Latino voters, of course.

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