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Enlarge this image A year ago, many progressives told NPR they weren't so sure they wanted to see Bernie Sanders run for president again. But now, it appears those voters are coming back. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images A year ago, some New Hampshire progressives, who had elevated Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to a decisive victory in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary there, told NPR they weren't so sure they wanted to see him run for president again. But with just days until the first votes of the 2020 presidential contest, in Iowa, it appears that progressives are coming back to Sanders. His polling has risen in recent weeks, as a number of progressive groups announced their support for him and as many voters on the left ultimately decided to stick with him. Burt Cohen is one such voter. He's known Sanders since the 1970s, and in the last presidential election he was a delegate for the Vermont senator at the Democratic National Convention. But Cohen was initially skeptical of a Sanders sequel. "I wasn't sure it was a good idea, to be perfectly honest," the former New Hampshire state senator-turned-podcast host said recently. "What held me back a little bit was, as Bernie says, 'It's not me, it's us,' and that so many other candidates were picking up what he was talking about." Many progressives said similar things at the beginning of this campaign cycle. They felt the issues that Sanders has championed, such as "Medicare for All," were now part of the party's mainstream debate. But as the campaign dragged on, some voters, like New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate Andy Volinsky, began to have doubts about other candidates. "I am not convinced that Sanders' level of commitment to things like Medicare for All exists among very many other candidates," he said. Enlarge this image Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren speaks during a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Sunday. Stephen Maturen/AFP via Getty Images In 2016, Volinsky was Sanders' New Hampshire attorney. But this year, he took months to make a decision. He said he was impressed with Elizabeth Warren and even introduced her at a rally. But he was worried that the Massachusetts senator is "not as readily accepted by working people as Bernie is." That was a common concern voiced by progressive voters who said they had considered Warren before coming back to Sanders. "I had been for Warren back in 2015," Cohen said. "I had a sticker on my car — 'Run, Warren, Run.' " He said Warren would make a "terrific" president but, he said, Democrats need a candidate who can win back the voters the party lost in 2016. "Frankly," he said, "the Harvard, professorial style, I don't know how well that would do in the Midwest." But that same concern is what led Bill Stelling away from Sanders, whom he supported in 2
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