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Article snippet: Democratic presidential hopefuls embraced their party’s left flank during a presidential cattle call in the nation’s capital on Wednesday. More than a thousand energetic attendees gathered at the We the People Summit to hear from some top potential 2020 contenders: Sens. MORE (D-Calif.). But it was Sanders who won the most applause from the crowd of progressive and labor activists. All of the possible 2020 candidates struck a liberal message, touting the need for universal health care as well as protecting and expanding Social Security and Medicare. But the lawmakers also made calculated decisions about what issues to emphasize as they look to build up their support among the party’s activist base. Sanders, 76, spent much of address telling attendees about how his 2016 presidential campaign changed the conversation within the Democratic Party. Sanders, who lost in the primary to MORE, secured a number of his initiatives in the Democratic Party’s convention platform. “Many of the ideas that we talked about were thought to be fringe ideas, radical ideas, extremist ideas,” he said of his campaign planks like infrastructure reform, tuition-free public colleges and “Medicare for all,” which has been embraced by many Democratic House candidates in midterm campaigns this year. “Because of your efforts, those ideas are now mainstream American ideas.” Yet, Sanders didn’t embrace every liberal policy tossed his way on Wednesday. Asked what he would do to rein in Immigrati... Link to the full article to read more