Mr. Sanders, who has not withdrawn from the presidential race, has not really left the Democratic primary battlefield. Apparently defeated but decidedly unbowed, he has brought his campaign to Capitol Hill, most visibly in the large security detail that surrounds him as he moves about (He is very secure, noted Senator Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina) but also in his comportment with his colleagues.
Eager to expand the left-leaning coalition he has built during his campaign, Mr. Sanders has been pushing his colleagues to take on policy fights that helped propel his bases passion and gave him new gravitas among Democrats.
In addition to opposing the measure to aid Puerto Rico, he is working hard to kill trade agreements. He is threatening a bill that would govern the labeling of genetically modified food.
Everyone knows the fervency of his opinions on different things, said Senator Harry Reid, the minority leader, who, like most senators, was eager to get on with business and out of town for the Fourth of July.
The Democrats with whom the independent Mr. Sanders caucuses have been tolerant of his not-quite-campaign, in no small part because they do not wish to emulate Republicans, whose wounds have been oozing openly. But
many Democratic colleagues, especially the women, are growing weary of his progressive lectures that seem more fit for a dais than a lunchroom encounter, and his unwillingness to energetically back Mrs. Clinton.
He feels he has a duty to his followers to raise the flag on the issues they care about, said Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri. We are all being patient, and were all hopeful hell be on the campaign for Mrs. Clinton.
For now, Mr. Sanders seems to be adjusting if slightly mournfully at the fork in the road between kind-of former candidate and definitely current senator. He walks through the halls at times emulating Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, whose shoulder he gave a squeeze as he bounded through the basement of the Capitol on Wednesday, brushing off reporters with a wave.
At other times he becomes chatty again, talking about legislation he despises. Im sure its really hard on him, said Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California. Losing is awful.
