YET ANOTHER SOCIALIST ENTERS THE FRAY: Bernie Sanders: ‘I am running for president.’

Hillary Clinton got her first official challenger for the Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday night, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announcing he intends to seek the White House in 2016.

“I am running for president,” Sanders said in an interview with the Associated Press.

Sanders will likely make an official public announcement Thursday. The Hill previously reported the senator will hit the launch button through a low-key event or statement, followed by a kick-off event in his home state in early May, and likely trips to the early-voting states to follow.

Sanders has set a noon press conference Thursday on Capitol Hill to discuss his agenda, which will likely include a huge boost in infrastructure and entitlement spending, free college tuition, higher taxes on the wealthy and initiatives meant to keep money out of politics.

The Vermont independent, who has previously embraced the “socialist” label, believes he is well-positioned to be the liberal alternative to Clinton, who is far and away the frontrunner to be the party’s standard-bearer in 2016.

“People should not underestimate me,” Sanders told the AP. “I’ve run outside of the two-party system, defeating Democrats and Republicans, taking on big-money candidates and, you know, I think the message that has resonated in Vermont is a message that can resonate all over this country.”

And he’s helping to broaden the Democrats’ diversity by making sure that they have the old white man demographic covered as well as the old white woman demographic! I mean, is this not the face of diversity?

Hey, he’s got the Montgomery Burns demographic locked down!

UPDATE: From the comments: “He’s just a prop to make people not notice Clinton’s age.” Well, she does look younger by comparison.