Sanders Campaign Press Release - Minnesota Feels the Bern

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Bernie Sanders told nearly 15,000 backers here in Minnesota's Twin Cities on Tuesday night that a grassroots movement has rallied behind his campaign "because people are sick and tired of establishment politics and establishment economics."

He told a crowd of 10,000 supporters in a cavernous hall in the St. Paul River Centre that his campaign has "the energy and the momentum." Another 4,539 spilled into an overflow amphitheater to hear him declare that corporate America's greed is destroying our economy and that the Koch brothers and other billionaires are using their fortunes to rig the economy by exploiting a corrupt campaign finance system.

"These people have so much power that the only way we beat them is when we come together and demand that the United States government represent all of us and not just a handful of billionaires," Sanders said.

The charged-up supporters waved blue and white placards – some saying "Bernie" and others "A Future to Believe In" – as Sanders called for a plan to create millions of good-paying jobs, raise the minimum wage, provide pay equity for women and paid family and medical leave. They cheered his proposal to offer free tuition for qualified students at public colleges and universities. They applauded when he called for breaking up the big banks and taking on Wall Street and when he called for comprehensive immigration reform to put 11 million undocumented immigrants on a path to citizenship.

"People are sick and tired of working longer hours for lower wages and they're tired of having to work two or three jobs to have enough income and they are very tired of seeing almost all new income and wealth going to the top 1 percent," Sanders said. "The American people are saying loudly and clearly that we have got to create an economy that works for all of us and not just the top 1 percent."

Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, introduced Sanders at the rally in the Twin Cities and earlier at a mid-day rally in Duluth, Minnesota, where a crowd of 6,000 filled a hockey rink.

In Duluth, Sanders said the success of Democratic candidates at the ballot box will depend on their ability to turn enthusiasm at rallies into turnout at the polls. "When our people vote, we win and we win big."

Minnesota is one of 11 states that will hold caucuses or primary elections on March 1, Super Tuesday. Sanders came here after spending the morning in Des Moines, Iowa, speaking at a United Steelworkers of America union hall. He will return to Iowa on Wednesday after meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington, D.C.