I was amused, although not that surprised to hear that Bernie Sanders is running for President. I love Bernie, but he doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in a firestorm to make it out alive, and everybody knows that. If you don’t know him, Bernie is the Vermont socialist who started out as Mayor of Burlington, then managed to get himself elected to Congress — and Vermont is so tiny it has only one Congressional seat — and finally got himself elected to the Senate.

Bernie’s quest is so quixotic that even the Washington Post opened its coverage of his candidacy with a nicely-toned article that argues that it’s not the point of his candidacy to become President. He wants to change the conversation. And he may very well do that, especially since every indication is that Elizabeth Warren will not get into the race.

I hope the news media will give Bernie lots of airtime. Running as a Democrat — although everyone knows that he’s just about the only elected socialist in America, at least the only one elected to a substantive office — they’ll actually have to include him in some of the debates.

Bernie’s 73 and in the downslope of his career. With the Senate controlled by Republicans, it’s not like he’s going to be able to accomplish anything in the next 18 months in Washington anyway. So I hope Bernie has some fun, tweaks Hilary Clinton a little bit, and broadens the discussion on the Democratic side in the way that it needs to be broadened. Give ’em hell, Bernie!