I saw my first Bernie Sanders “Feel the Bern” bumper sticker yesterday and it made me bemoan the state of our public education system. Really, guys? 

Seems, though, my friend in the yellow VW Bug who cut me off in a left turn lane by gliding through two lanes of traffic and almost causing several accidents in order to meander their way cluelessly onto a main thoroughfare, is not alone in their complete ignorance of how government and financial systems actually operate. Bernie Sanders managed to raise an astounding $26 million haul in a single fundraising quarter, reportedly trailing Hillary Clinton by a mere $2 million.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton technically beat Bernie Sanders by $2 million in the chase for campaign cash over the past three months. But that isn’t the story — not even close.

Clinton held 58 fundraising events to raise her total; Sanders held seven. As of the end of September, Sanders had brought in 1.3 million total donations from 650,000 individuals since he began running. Clinton’s campaign did not release how many total donors she has. And Sanders ended September with $25 million in the bank; Clinton did not release how much money her campaign had on hand.”

This is important because it means Sanders can compete in a more traditional political sense – with television ads in early states, key to throwing Clinton off her game. It also means that Hillary Clinton is having a more difficult time than expected launching a ground game, which will damage her in places like Iowa and New Hampshire, where involved politicos tend to lean leftward, but also make up a substanital portion of caucus-goers and primary voters. Sanders already has word of mouth, and name recognition through media can only make him more popular, while Hillary struggles to hang on to the coalition she’s built. 

This all makes Sanders largely competitive for the nomination, if you take into account money alone. We’ve yet to have a debate, and all accounts seem to indicate that that will favor Clinton, if only because Bernie Sanders both perpetually looks like he’s late for a plane, and has no trouble claiming he’s basically a Communist, even on live television. Hollywood celebrities may find that an attractive quality, but people who can’t afford to give away a third of their earnings to people who camped out for months as part of Occupy Wall Street because they believe gainful employment to be a prison of mediocrity constructed by “the Man,” and cannot understand the function of the heirarchy which keeps them in a cashier position at Noodles & Company (true story), may be less than enthusiastic about Sanders’s plan.