In Trump states Sanders tries to push Democrats to the left on health care
Bernie Sanders
But when  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) and Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.)  arrived  there were no waving signs.  They  were there to kick off the push for universal health care  with legislation queued up for September  and no expectation that the Republican-controlled Congress would pass it.
“Every major country in the world   they ’ve already got it ” said Conyers.
“More and more people agree with us ” said  Sanders .
As Washington prepares for a month of spending deadlines  and as Republicans and business groups try to shift the conversation to tax reform   Sanders  is trying to drive a discussion about single-payer health care — a debate that  he  admits would last for years before any legislative action.
The campaign will put the Senate’s only democratic socialist in a unique position. Republicans have already begun attacking Democrats over “government-run health care ” daring them to endorse  Sanders ’s plan. On the left  activists inspired by  Sanders ’s 2016 presidential bid intend to browbeat Democrats who don’t back  Sanders ’s and Conyers’s legislation.
[Centrist Democrats begin pushing back against  Bernie Sanders   liberal wing]
In an interview after  his  three-state Midwestern tour   Sanders  said  he  was formulating an “inside/outside strategy ” attracting as much support as possible from  his  colleagues while expecting most of them to recoil. It would be up to activists to make single-payer politically possible for the holdouts.
In the meantime  as the chair of the Senate Democrats’ political outreach   he  would continue to support colleagues in tough races  even if they rejected  his  bill.
Republicans  looking hungrily at a 2018 Senate map where 10 incumbent Democrats will compete in states won by Trump  were hoping for a litmus test. But in just two states  West Virginia and North Dakota  are incumbents being challenged by progressives in primaries. Neither challenger is being backed by  Sanders .
Still  as  Sanders  wove through Indiana  Ohio and Michigan  local conservatives mocked those states’ Democratic senators  even those who didn’t appear with  Sanders .
When  Sanders  stumped in Ohio’s Scioto County  one of the places that had seen a tight presidential race in 2012 but delivered a landslide for Donald Trump in 2016  Ohio Republican Party chair Jane Timken pointed out that Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) had frequently supported the idea of single-payer health care. (Brown did not appear at the event  though former governor Ted Strickland sat in the front row.)
“The only place Bernie Sanders’ socialist sales pitch will be welcomed today is in Senator Sherrod Brown’s office ” said Timken in a statement. “Scioto County voters rejected socialized health care and the job destroying economic policies of Sanders and Brown last year by overwhelmingly electing President Trump.”
“People are saying ‘the ACA did some good things  and the Republicans wanted to throw 22 million people off of it ’”  Sanders  said. “That’s an absurd idea to most people.”
But single-payer was not going to start with clear partisan support.  Sanders  intends to release a single-payer bill in the Senate  a companion to Conyers’s House Resolution 676  in the weeks after Labor Day.
[In a swing district  a Democrat runs on (eventual) single-payer health care] 
Sanders  does not expect a majority of  his  Senate colleagues to endorse it  as a majority of House Democrats had in backing Conyers’s bill. And  he  admits it would take work  perhaps years of it  to reframe single-payer health care as an aggregate cost-saver  instead of an expensive entitlement in any debate.
But when  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) and Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.)  arrived  there were no waving signs.  They  were there to kick off the push for universal health care  with legislation queued up for September  and no expectation that the Republican-controlled Congress would pass it.
“Every major country in the world   they ’ve already got it ” said Conyers.
“More and more people agree with us ” said  [TGT] .
As Washington prepares for a month of spending deadlines  and as Republicans and business groups try to shift the conversation to tax reform   Sanders  is trying to drive a discussion about single-payer health care — a debate that  he  admits would last for years before any legislative action.
The campaign will put the Senate’s only democratic socialist in a unique position. Republicans have already begun attacking Democrats over “government-run health care ” daring them to endorse  [TGT] ’s plan. On the left  activists inspired by  Sanders ’s 2016 presidential bid intend to browbeat Democrats who don’t back  Sanders ’s and Conyers’s legislation.
[Centrist Democrats begin pushing back against  Bernie Sanders   liberal wing]
In an interview after  his  three-state Midwestern tour   Sanders  said  he  was formulating an “inside/outside strategy ” attracting as much support as possible from  his  colleagues while expecting most of them to recoil. It would be up to activists to make single-payer politically possible for the holdouts.
In the meantime  as the chair of the Senate Democrats’ political outreach   he  would continue to support colleagues in tough races  even if they rejected  his  bill.
Republicans  looking hungrily at a 2018 Senate map where 10 incumbent Democrats will compete in states won by Trump  were hoping for a litmus test. But in just two states  West Virginia and North Dakota  are incumbents being challenged by progressives in primaries. Neither challenger is being backed by [TGT] .
Still  as  [TGT]wove through Indiana  Ohio and Michigan  local conservatives mocked those states’ Democratic senators  even those who didn’t appear with [TGT] .
When  [TGT]stumped in Ohio’s Scioto County  one of the places that had seen a tight presidential race in 2012 but delivered a landslide for Donald Trump in 2016  Ohio Republican Party chair Jane Timken pointed out that Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) had frequently supported the idea of single-payer health care. (Brown did not appear at the event  though former governor Ted Strickland sat in the front row.)
“The only place Bernie Sanders’ socialist sales pitch will be welcomed today is in Senator Sherrod Brown’s office ” said Timken in a statement. “Scioto County voters rejected socialized health care and the job destroying economic policies of [TGT] last year by overwhelmingly electing President Trump.”
“People are saying ‘the ACA did some good things  and the Republicans wanted to throw 22 million people off of it ’”  [TGT]said. “That’s an absurd idea to most people.”
But single-payer was not going to start with clear partisan support.  [TGT]intends to release a single-payer bill in the Senate  a companion to Conyers’s House Resolution 676  in the weeks after Labor Day.
[In a swing district  a Democrat runs on (eventual) single-payer health care] 
[TGT]does not expect a majority of  [TGT]  Senate colleagues to endorse it  as a majority of House Democrats had in backing Conyers’s bill. And  he  admits it would take work  perhaps years of it  to reframe single-payer health care as an aggregate cost-saver  instead of an expensive entitlement in any debate.