By Madina Toure
Speaking before supporters from the five boroughs at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, state Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) touted the progress his campaign has made since he first announced his candidacy for the presidency.
Sanders said the opposing camp of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is getting nervous because he has won seven out of the last eight Democratic primaries and was ahead in Wyoming. He has has since won the Wyoming caucus.
He said he has a “personal advantage” in that he was born and raised in Brooklyn and joked that Queens residents “see Brooklyn as a foreign nation.”
“What has been happening in this campaign is that we began, according to the media and the experts, as a fringe candidacy and it had a lot to do with the views we were bringing forth and a lot of experts said, ‘Who in America would agree with Bernie Sanders that we need a political revolution?’” he said. “Well, it turned out that many millions of people actually did agree with us.”
Supporters chanted “We love you Bernie!” as he left the venue following the rally, holding up signs with the candidate’s name.
Brooklyn resident Nick Farrow, 45, a graphic artist from England, designs Bernie Sanders T-shirts.
He said about 200 people who were not able to get into the auditorium were sent to an overspill room. But they were surprised when Sanders walked in and gave them a shortened version of his speech.
“So we’re standing in this really small room with about 200 people and who walks out? Bernie Sanders, to talk to us to say, ‘Listen, I apologize that we couldn’t get you all in,” Farrow said. “They put you in this room, but I’m going to speak to you guys first and do you a condensed speech, which is a really cool thing to do.”
Former President Bill Clinton spoke at the New York Hall of Science Sunday. He spent 15 minutes speaking with people and posing for photos, while Hillary Clinton was a surprise speaker at the Greater Allen AME Cathedral in Jamaica for Sunday morning services.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtour
