Bernie gets personal

“But I do think there's a realization that when folks elect a president, they're not just electing a stack of policy proposals."The opening tour, Weaver added, is “an attempt to draw a connection between Bernie Sanders’ life story and the policy agenda that he is that he is putting forward in the campaign.”Sanders’ campaign has also been tweeting and issuing press releases that nod to his past, including his time in Chicago when he “helped lead student protests against segregated campus housing, segregated schools and police brutality.”Sanders’ allies think his personal story —he’s the son of a Polish immigrant whose family members were killed in the Holocaust, grew up lower-middle class, mourned the death of his parents at a young age, and participated in the civil rights movement — could prove powerful in a time when many immigrants feel under siege by President Donald Trump and income inequality is on the rise. Though a majority of young voters of color cast a ballot for him, according to an analysis of exit polls in 25 states, Sanders lost by large margins among their older counterparts.But the strategy comes with risks: It could draw more attention to parts of Sanders’ life that could prove damaging, such as when he said more than 30 years ago that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro “totally transformed the society.” And there's a chance it will be viewed by some of his fans as phony.It also remains to be seen whether beyond this weekend Sanders will talk extensively about his biography — or whether his campaign will more often do it for him.Sanders’ supporters have long urged him to talk more about his background.This week Justice Democrats, a progressive political action committee that recruited Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), posted a video on Twitter suggesting Sanders should spotlight his biography."I think voters who feel under attack by Trump deserve to hear his personal story about why Bernie believes he’s the leader for today,” Waleed Shahid, communications director for Justice Democrats and a former Sanders staffer, told POLITICO. Free college tuition is a centerpiece of his agenda."I think it signifies that this is not a new idea, but an idea that used to be prevalent in America but has since been lost,” Weaver said.He also said “his family’s immigrant experience was powerful in 2016,” and "growing up in a community in the very recent past that faced the worst kind of oppression, to the point of genocide, also is an important factor in understanding Bernie Sanders the person.”According to prepared remarks, Sanders is planning to say this weekend that he “learned a great deal about immigration as a child because my father came to this country from Poland at the age of 17, without a nickel in his pocket.