サンダース氏のそっくりさん、民主党員にくら替えし本人を応援

【ロサンゼルスＡＦＰ＝時事】米カリフォルニア州ロサンゼルス在住のジェフ・ジョーンズさん（77）は数年前まで、自らのビジネスに専念し、好きな音楽に情熱を傾けて人生を過ごしてきた。だが、急進左派のバーニー・サンダース上院議員（78、バーモント州選出）が全国的な政治の舞台に躍り出ると、多くの人から二度見されるようになった。民主党の大統領候補であるサンダース氏によく似ているからだ。（写真は米カリフォルニア州サンタアナで開かれたバーニー・サンダース上院議員の支持者集会で、他の支持者らとの記念撮影に応じるジェフ・ジョーンズさん）
　先日、カリフォルニア州で行われたサンダース氏の集会でＡＦＰの取材に応じたジョーンズさんは、「２０１５年ごろ、バーニー・サンダースにちょっと似ていると言われることはあるかと尋ねられるようになった」と話した。
　「あまりにもそうしたことがあるので、一番下の娘のロビンに、『Ｉ　ａｍ　ｎｏｔ　Ｂｅｒｎｉｅ（私はバーニーじゃない）』という文字を入れたＴシャツをジョークで作ったら？ と言われたくらいだ」
　サンダース氏が米大統領選の民主党候補指名争いで高い支持率を維持している中、ジョーンズさんは「私はバーニーじゃない」という文字入りのトレーナーを大いに活用してサンダース氏の集会に参加し、目を丸くする参加者らと喜んで記念撮影に応じている。
　ジョーンズさんは、ドナルド・トランプ氏が勝利した２０１６年の大統領選までは共和党員として登録していた。３月３日に行われるカリフォルニア州の予備選ではサンダース氏に投票し、願わくば１１月の本選でもそうしたいと話した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/03/02-12:52）

Up until a few years ago, Jeff Jones was going about his life, minding his own business and enjoying his passion for music.
Then Bernie Sanders burst onto the national political stage, prompting many to do double takes on seeing Jones, who bears a striking resemblance to the Democratic presidential candidate.
Around 2015, people started asking if anyone told me I looked 'sorta like' Bernie Sanders, Jones, who wears glasses and sports a tuft of white hair like Sanders, told AFP at a recent rally in California for the Vermont senator.
This happened so often that my youngest daughter Robin suggested I make an 'I am not Bernie' shirt as a gag.
With Sanders riding high in the polls for the presidential nomination, Jones, who lives in Los Angeles, has been making much use of his I am not Bernie shirt as he attends rallies for the candidate, gladly posing for pictures with wide-eyed voters.
When asked, Jones, who at 77 is a year younger than his doppelg?nger, even manages to imitate Sanders' demeanor, hunching his shoulders, tousling his hair and lifting his arms as he scowls.
I'm a Bernie fan, says Jones, who was a registered Republican until the 2016 elections that saw Donald Trump win the presidency.
He said he considers the resemblance to Sanders an accident of nature and is good-humored about it.
It's just a gag... and I've turned down requests to play Bernie characters and for shoots and this sort of thing, he said. It has to serve Bernie's purpose, otherwise I don't want to be involved.
Jones said he has never personally met Sanders but knows what he'll do if that were to happen.
In some public forum, such as a leftward leaning TV show, I would apologize to Bernie for all the people telling him he looks like ME, then present to him a sweatshirt to resolve the confusion, he said. It says 'I AM NOT JEFF.'
The pair, he added, would then pose for a picture in their respective uniforms.
After which the bit could be retired, he said.
Jones said he would be voting for Sanders in the upcoming March 3 primaries in California and, hopefully, during the presidential elections in November as well.