At noon on Friday, Dennis Miller leaves his Waikiki massage and yoga business to stand on a street corner at King and Bishop with a “Bernie Sanders for President” sign.

In tiny Hawi, Pablo Beimler is setting up a table to hand out Sanders leaflets.

This is presidential politics practicing democracy with a little “d,” working on a micro level across the state.

“The Sanders people are often young, passionate and enthusiastic; most have not been involved in a political campaign,” said local Democrat Bart Dame, who as a high school student campaigned for George McGovern, and is now supporting the Vermont Democrat.

The Internet makes it possible for anyone to be a political organizer, and the Sanders campaign is taking advantage of this home-grown, grassroots networking. The bottom-up campaign style lends itself to groups self-identifying and mobilizing via their own social media networks.

“I saw his webinar two months ago and I wanted to do something. Nobody was giving marching orders, so I made “Honolulu for Bernie Sanders” on Facebook and began spending money for Facebook ads, printed up brochures and made some signs,” said Miller, a political neophyte.

Miller’s only other political activity was giving $50 to Howard Dean’s presidential campaign.

Standing with Miller downtown last Friday were Ashley Russo, a student at Leeward Community College who served in the Navy, and Dan Taylor, who is in the Navy.

“What got me interested was how he (Sanders) wanted to get all his supporters involved. It is a grassroots thing. You can’t really buy him. He is supported solely by voters,” Russo said.

The issue-oriented nature of Sanders campaign, stressing tax reform, expanded health care and reduced military spending, struck a chord.

“I like that he is focusing on class equality. I think there is a huge income gap in the country and I think he is making a push to tackle that issue,” said Taylor.

In Hawi, Beimler, who works for a Hawaii island nonprofit, reported that his low-key organizing is attracting “people who have never set foot in a campaign.”

“These are people who are taking political action for the first time,” said Beimler, who will be hosting a watch party for the Saturday Democratic debate in Las Vegas.

Neither Sanders nor Hillary Clinton have any formal organization in Hawaii, although both Hawaii U.S. senators, Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz, have already endorsed Clinton.

Dame figured that Sanders will do well in Hawaii university areas because of his calls for tuition-free public universities and colleges and lowering student loan interest rates.

“In the broader community, there is organizing at farmers markets,” Dame added.

This is not your father’s Democratic political party, but at a time when political participation is not popular, the Sanders campaign is on the street and working.

———

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.