WATERLOO, Iowa— One day before the Iowa caucus, Bernie Sanders made his final pitch to eastern Iowans, thanking them for welcoming him to the state and helping catapult his “political revolution” to success beyond his “wildest imagination.”
“Now why is our campaign so well?” Sanders asked. “A very radical concept, we are telling the American people the truth. Now I know that’s a pretty radical idea but what the heck, you only go around once you may as well tell the truth. ”
He added, “Now what is the truth? You don’t make progress unless you look reality in the eye, to sweep problems under the rug it ain’t going to get better.”
The democratic socialist went on to run through his main policy proposals: the culture of money in politics, Wall Street corruption, climate change, healthcare reform and the rising cost of higher education. While energizing the crowd, he urged them to help continue the political revolution by bringing their enthusiasm to the caucus on Monday night.
“This campaign is a unique campaign because it understands that the only way we make real change in this country is when we come together and demand it,” he told the enthusiastic crowd.
The Vermont senator then reminded the crowd that while the Des Moines Registers poll yesterday showed him in a tight race with Hillary Clinton (45-42), just eight months ago he was down 41 points in the same poll.
“I think it’s fair to say any objective assessment of Secretary Clinton’s campaign and my campaign, and she has some really good people so I’m not trying to knock her, but I think the excitement and the energy is with our campaign,” Sanders said.
Earlier in the day the Sanders campaign announced that it had received 3.25 million individual donations over the course of the primary campaign, a record for any presidential candidate at this point in the process. During the rally Sanders said he is “most proud of” the fact that the average contribution to his campaign has been just $27, when the maximum contribution is $2,700.
“So in other words, to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, this is a campaign of the people, by the people and for the people,” Sanders said.
