David versus Goliath: Bernie Sanders may be the one to slay Hillary Clinton

Left-leaning Sanders may be able to hurt Clinton's presidential aspirations

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton now has competition for the Democratic nomination following news that Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has become a Democrat in order to run for president.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The former Independent and self-avowed "democratic socialist" announced his official candidacy on Thursday and is now the first challenger to Clinton, who is still expected to sweep the Democrat nomination for 2016.

Sanders intends to focus his campaign on three issues which are income inequality, climate change and campaign finance reforms. This will force Clinton, who counts on staying moderate to pick up key Independent voters, to be more left in order to win her party's nomination.

Sanders shares many of his views with the Democrat party's far left wing, and perhaps could leverage enough support from other far-left parties to be a serious contender. Many on the left are wary of Clinton because of her close ties with Wall Street, especially because of the controversy caused by massive donations into the Clinton foundation by foreign governments, and other large donations made to her campaign by incredibly wealthy donors.

While moderate Democrats may not have made an issue of this before, Sanders certainly has this information available to use as a major weapon against Clinton.

And Sanders does have a following already, especially after his eight hour rant on the Senate floor about tax cuts and failures to fund social and educational programs.

Sanders is likely to have a larger rally in Vermont following his announcement, though details at this time are scarce.