Inside the mind of Bernie Sanders: unbowed, unchanged, and unafraid of a good fight

He is the rising star of the battle to be the Democratic nominee for president. But who is the real Bernie Sanders? His close friends and family shed new light on what is motivating the 73-year-old senator, while never-before-seen documents from his first foray into politics - as a Vermont mayor - reveal activist roots that were 30 years ahead of their time

The diplomatic overture was dispatched to Hu Yaobang, chairman of the Chinese Communist party, on 29 October 1981. A near-identical letter was sent to the Kremlin, for the attention of Leonid Brezhnev, general secretary of the Communist party of the Soviet Union.

"Like an unconscious and uncontrollable force, our planet appears to be drifting toward self-destruction," the newly installed socialist leader of somewhere called Burlington wrote. He urged them "in the strongest possible way" to disarm militarily and begin immediate negotiations with other world leaders.

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Billionaires are able to buy elections and candidates, and it's very difficult not just for [me] but for any candidate

Things have worked for him in the past. He should depend on his own good sense

I don't want to develop policy off the top of my head

If he was badly beaten and humiliated " it would be a setback to [his] ideas, and the people who need those ideas