Apr 30, 2015 4 min read

The race for the Democratic presidential nomination just got a little more interesting.

No one is suggesting Hillary Clinton’s march to the party nod suffered some sort of crippling setback, but it’s still a significant development Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a darling of the far left, threw his hat in the ring.

Although President Obama and even Clinton were hit with the label over the years by some of the more delusional among us, Sanders is a real, live socialist. Officially an independent who caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate, he refers to himself as a democratic socialist.

To those on the right, Clinton is a liberal, but many of those from the Democratic Party’s left wing have their doubts about her. Some consider her just another corporate lackey, not that much different, in that regard, from some of the presidential candidates in the opposing party. They have no such qualms about Sanders. He’s the genuine article, someone who speaks loudly and often about the plight of the common man and woman in America, the evils of big money in politics, the dangers of an out-of-control Wall Street and the need to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure. He is a proponent of universal health care, and he even voted against the war in Iraq, which is something Clinton can’t say.

The 73-year-old Sanders, who rails against the bankrolling of campaigns by corporate interests and billionaire kingmakers, intends to run a grass-roots campaign that relies on small donations from regular Americans. He has no illusions he’ll be able to keep up with the fundraising machines of the “major” candidates.

Sanders won’t be the only other candidate in the Democratic race. Former Republican senator and Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chaffee already announced, and former Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor Martin O’Malley is mulling a run, but Sanders is the one with the much bigger national following and the ability, based on the positions he staked out over the years, to compel Clinton to address his issues and, perhaps, push her out of the comfortable middle of the road from time to time.

The Democratic National Committee didn’t exactly have a parade for Sanders when he announced his candidacy, but the welcome was warm enough.

“Sanders is well-recognized for his principled leadership and has consistently stood up for middle-class families,” said DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. “Throughout his service in the U.S. House and Senate, Bernie Sanders has clearly demonstrated his commitment to the values we all share as members of the Democratic Party.”

Matt Taibbi wrote a piece for Rolling Stone recalling the time he followed Sanders around for a month when Sanders was still a member of the U.S. House.

“He is the rarest of Washington animals, a completely honest person,” Taibbi wrote. “If he’s motivated by anything other than a desire to use his influence to protect people who can’t protect themselves, I’ve never seen it. Bernie Sanders is the kind of person who goes to bed at night thinking about how to increase the heating-oil aid program for the poor.”

That sounds to us like a person whose views should be welcomed during the primary season.

Let’s be clear. Hillary Clinton is still the overwhelming favorite to win the Democratic nomination, but at least when the primary debates are held, another, decidedly different voice will be heard, and it will be the voice of a man who won’t be afraid to speak his mind and is ready to do battle.

“People should not underestimate me,” Sanders said in an interview with the Associated Press. “I’ve run outside of the two-party system, defeating Democrats and Republicans, taking on big-money candidates and, you know, I think the message that has resonated in Vermont is a message that can resonate all over this country.”

It’s certainly worth a listen.