Madison, Wisconsin
CNN
—
Bernie Sanders has been running for president for two months, but Wednesday night in Madison, Wisconsin, his long-shot campaign got real.
When Sanders walked on stage at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, he was greeted by a raucous, howling crowd of 9,600 people, according to Sanders’ campaign aides and arena staff.
A clearly energized Sanders, who late last year was speaking to crowds of 50 people in Iowa classrooms, appeared taken aback by the reception he received.
“Whoa,” he said. “In case you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of people here.”
Sanders’ campaign has been organizing the event for weeks, but just recently started telling reporters that 9,000 people signed up to attend.
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“Tonight we have made a little bit of history,” he said. “You may know that some 25 candidates are running for president of the United States, but tonight we have more people at a meeting for a candidate for president of the United States than any other candidate has.”
Sanders delivered what amounted to his standard stump speech – a liberal message that pledges to fight for universal health care, break up the biggest banks in the United States and redistribute wealth from the richest Americans to the middle class and poor.
“What I would like to ask of you: Please think big, not small,” Sanders said, referring to the audience as his “brothers and sisters.”
Calling for a “political revolution,” Sanders added, “there is nothing that we cannot accomplish.”
Sanders, who is rising in the primary polls and trails only Hillary Clinton, only mentioned the former secretary of state once in his speech.
“This campaign is not about Bernie Sanders, it is not about Hillary Clinton, it is not about anyone else, it is about you,” Sanders said to sustained applause.
Sanders worked the rope line after the event – something the Vermont senator rarely does.
“The message is resonating, not just in Wisconsin, but all over America,” Sanders told CNN. “The people are sick and tired of establishment politics, establishment economics. They want real change.”
Photos: Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders
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US Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally in Chicago in March 2019. Sanders, an independent from Vermont, is the longest-serving independent in the history of Congress.
Photos: Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders
Danny Lyon/Magnum Photos
Sanders, right, leads a sit-in organized by the Congress of Racial Equality in 1962. The demonstration was staged to oppose housing segregation at the University of Chicago. It was Chicago's first civil rights sit-in.
Photos: Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders
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Sanders takes the oath of office to become the mayor of Burlington, Vermont, in 1981. He ran as an independent and won the race by 10 votes.
Photos: Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders
Toby Talbot/AP
Sanders, right, tosses a baseball before a minor-league game in Vermont in 1984. US Sen. Patrick Leahy, center, was also on hand.
Photos: Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders
Toby Talbot/AP
In 1987, Sanders and a group of Vermont musicians recorded a spoken-word folk album. "We Shall Overcome" was first released as a cassette that sold about 600 copies. When Sanders entered the US presidential race in 2015,
the album surged in online sales. But at a CNN town hall, Sanders said, "It's the worst album ever recorded."
Photos: Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders
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Sanders reads mail at his campaign office in Burlington in 1990. He was running for the US House of Representatives after an unsuccessful bid in 1988.
Photos: Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders
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In 1990, Sanders defeated US Rep. Peter Smith in the race for Vermont's lone House seat. He won by 16 percentage points.
Photos: Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders
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Sanders sits next to President Bill Clinton in 1993 before the Congressional Progressive Caucus held a meeting at the White House. Sanders co-founded the caucus in 1991 and served as its first chairman.
Photos: Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders
TOBY TALBOT/AP
Barack Obama, then a US senator, endorses Sanders' Senate bid at a rally in Burlington in 2006.
Photos: Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders
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Sanders takes part in a swearing-in ceremony at the US Capitol in January 2007. He won his Senate seat with 65% of the vote.
Photos: Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders
Toby Talbot/AP
Sanders chats with Dr. John Matthew, director of The Health Center in Plainfield, Vermont, in May 2007. Sanders was in Plainfield to celebrate a new source of federal funding for The Health Center.
Photos: Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders
Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images
Sanders speaks to reporters in 2010 about the Obama administration's push to extend Bush-era tax cuts. Three days later, Sanders held a filibuster against the reinstatement of the tax cuts. His speech, which lasted more than eight hours, was published in book form in 2011. It is called "The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class."
Photos: Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Sanders and US Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, walk to a news conference on Capitol Hill in 2014. Sande
