Bernie Sanders drew yet another immense audience last night. Bangor Daily News reports that the crowd in Portland, Maine was between 8000 and 9000 strong.
It's clearly a combination of the policies he's campaigning on, and his authenticity, which is drawing such enthusiasm. Here's some of how it's being reported locally:
In an interview, [former state senator and current Democratic National Committee member Troy] Jackson said Sanders is the only politician to ever truly inspire. On the progressive issues around which he has built his career, Sanders is "real," Jackson said.
"You know it's honest. He's been talking about it for years," Jackson said. "That's what I want in a presidential candidate — somebody who's willing to speak up to issues that are important for common, everyday, working-class people and not deviate from it once he gets elected. With a track record like he's got, you know damn well this is not something he's just saying to get elected."
Nick Bray and Faith Norton are both 20-year-old students at the University of Maine at Farmington. They drove to Portland together and were among the first people on the floor at the Cross Arena. With "Bernie 2016" placards in hand, they pressed themselves against the stage — as close as they could get to where Sanders would stand.
The two stressed Sanders' goal of universal, free public college education as one of his chief selling points, but said they were most drawn to his authenticity. It was a sentiment echoed again and again in interviews with the senator’s supporters.
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"You can trust him," Norton said. "The pattern of politics, he totally breaks free from it."
It appears that Sanders may also be making good on his prediction that the economic issues he's stressing will attract folks who hadn't previously voted Democratic:
Michael Lecomte, a 30-year-old from Portland's West End, walked the line of supporters that snaked around the building an hour before Sanders took the stage. He gave out handmade pins, and said he never would have registered as a Democrat but for the opportunity to support Sanders in the caucus.
"It's the first time I've ever actually believed what a candidate was saying," he said.
"He is a lot about equality, and the promotion of working and middle-class. The middle class has been disappearing since I've been alive."