How Sanders and Nevada went crazy for each other

Got it. Who would have predicted that a group like this would have anointed as their champion a 78-year-old with a history of neglecting Latino concerns while serving in both the House and the Senate? Someone who also opposed -- in voting against a 2007 immigration compromise bill -- what immigration restrictionists deride as "amnesty" for undocumented immigrants.

In fact, over the last couple decades, whenever Sanders opened his mouth to make a comment about immigration, you could be assured that a whole lot of nonsense was about to fly out. In a 2007 interview with CNN's Lou Dobbs, Sanders bragged about opposing the comprehensive immigration reform bill proposed by Sens. John McCain and Edward Kennedy, and insisted that immigrants took jobs from Americans. In a 2015 interview with Vox, Sanders claimed that "open borders" was a plot hatched by right-wing billionaires.

He has constantly defended U.S. workers who don't want to compete with foreign labor and made excuses for blue-collar workers who think they're entitled to be paid white-collar wages. Always, in the narratives he spins, immigrants are the bad guys. Their sin? Doing crummy jobs that American workers won't do.

Sanders has also consistently defended white males who feel marginalized and victimized by so-called "identity politics" and suddenly find themselves losing opportunities to women, Hispanics and other people of color.

Now Sanders is singing a different tune, and it's a mariachi song. "Tio Bernie" -- as he was nicknamed by one of his most vocal Hispanic supporters, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. -- is kinder and gentler.

In Las Vegas, the Sanders campaign started organizing supporters in Hispanic neighborhoods as early as last summer. His campaign hired staff, set up offices, sent volunteers to visit homes, advertised in Spanish, and created an enviable grassroots operation to build support in the Hispanic community.

Sanders guessed that Latinos in Nevada would have short memories about his past negative views and respond favorably to some positive attention.

It was a gamble. And it paid off.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.