Winners & Losers in Pittsburgh
On Saturday seven candidates for the Democratic Presidential nomination came to Pittsburgh to talk about education. Four candidates emerged as winners, as I saw things. Three of the names won’t surprise you: Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Joe Biden. After all, this all-day event was organized by the two national teacher unions and other progressive groups.
Who’s the fourth–and biggest–winner? You may be thinking it’s the Mayor of South Bend, Pete Buttigeig, but you would be wrong. To help you along, here’s the full list of the seven hopefuls: Senator Michael Bennet, Biden, Buttigieg, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Sanders, Tom Steyer, and Warren. (After initially declining the invitation, Senator Cory Booker changed his mind at the 11th hour but then came down with a bad cold and cancelled.)
(There was a fifth winner, but that’s not revealed until the final paragraph.)
No surprise: Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Joe Biden were the crowd favorites.
No surprise: All seven candidates favor paying teachers more and want to at least triple federal funding for Title One. Everyone said that we test students too much. Just about everyone claimed to have teachers in their family tree.
Slight surprise: Most spoke in favor of apprenticeships and community schools.
Big surprise: the NBC journalists did not push very hard on some questionable assertions or surprising claims, particularly Mayor Pete’s embrace of valued-added CONTINUE READING: Winners & Losers in Pittsburgh | The Merrow Report