Bernie Sanders seemed awestruck by the size of his crowd Tuesday night in Minnesota, making a dramatic entrance with his wife, Jane, down a catwalk at the RiverCentre in downtown St. Paul.
Not only were about 10,000 people standing on the floor of the convention center, officials said, but an overflow room holding nearly 5,000 also had filled. The turnout for Tuesday’s appearance nearly tripled an event that he held in neighboring Minneapolis in May, shortly after he announced his candidacy.
“My God, what a turnout!” Sanders said, surveying the sprawling room that stretched more than half the length of a football field. “Our campaign has the energy, we can see it here tonight.”
Even the overflow room held several thousand supporters who were equally as pleased to be watching the senator on two Jumbotrons. Sanders even spoke to the overflow room briefly before taking the main stage.
The crowd was filled with young supporters toting signs, stickers and buttons. At the end of the rally, two young woman marched triumphantly out of the hall waving a sign, “Suffering from severe heartbern.”
“Our campaign has the momentum because people are sick and tired of establishment politics and establishment economics,” Sanders said.
One of the biggest applause lines of the night came when Sanders delivered this standard line: “We are going to win this election without a SuperPAC!”
In the home state of the late Paul Wellstone, Sanders ticked through a litany of progressive issues and causes. He didn’t mention Hillary Clinton, but asked for their support in the Democratic primary.
He made no mention of his Oval Office meeting with President Barack Obama on Wednesday morning, either.
But with the Iowa caucuses on February 1, followed by the New Hampshire primary the next week, what’s he doing in Minnesota? Thinking long-term. It’s one of the March 1st Super Tuesday states that has caucuses, not a primary, which traditionally draws a very liberal turnout.