Bernie Sanders brought his Democratic presidential campaign to Chicago on Thursday night, making a populist pitch to the young, working-class and minority voters to join him in a “political revolution” against wealthy backers of the status quo.

The Vermont senator, vying for the nomination against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, spoke to several thousand people at Chicago State University, questioning the priorities of a gridlocked state government that has left the college in financial trouble. Sanders used the rally, as well as an earlier televised appearance at the University of Chicago, to restate his call for free public college and university tuition and to ease the loan debt of graduates — issues that have helped earn him the edge over Clinton among younger voters.

At the same time, Sanders has been looking to increase support among African-American voters, a group that has heavily favored Clinton. Sanders promoted the need for fixing a “broken” criminal justice system, saying he had heard a community questioning how “unarmed African-Americans are being shot and killed by police departments.”

Despite its upstart nature, Sanders said his campaign has continued to grow because “instead of listening to billionaire campaign donors, we are listening to the American people” on issues of raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, increasing Social Security benefits, providing equal pay to women and calling for comprehensive immigration changes and a path toward citizenship.

“The real momentum that we have is people are sick and tired of establishment politics, establishment economics, and they’re tired of the same-old, same-old. And our campaign has been doing something really radical. You know what that is? We’re telling people the truth,” he said.

Sanders and his supporters recognize that Illinois, which holds its Democratic primary March 15, has been viewed as Clinton territory, given that she was born in Chicago and grew up in Park Ridge. But Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, who was backed by Sanders in his failed mayoral challenge to Rahm Emanuel last year, told the Chicago State audience that Illinois “is in play.”

“Now, I suspect that after tonight, they’ll be saying that well, ‘Illinois was supposed to be Hillary’s house because she hails from here.’ But in fact, Illinois and the surrounding states are our homes and our houses, and we take care of our houses and our homes,” said Garcia, who has served as a Sanders campaign surrogate nationally.

At Chicago State, Sanders appeared at a school that canceled spring break and moved up the end of the semester because of the eight-month state stalemate that has prevented tax dollars from going to public colleges and universities.

“I find out that this great university is being threatened with cuts. What is going on in America? Where are our priorities?” Sanders asked. Later, he questioned, “Why is anybody in the world talking about shutting down colleges?”

In both campus appearances, Sanders spoke of motivating the masses in order to make the changes he seeks.

“What this campaign is about is trying to bring about a political revolution. Because I acknowledge every speech that I give is that no president — not Bernie Sanders, not anybody — can do it alone,” Sanders said in appearing on MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews” at the University of Chicago, which is Sanders’ alma mater. “We are not going to change America unless millions of people begin to stand up and fight back,” the senator said.

Sanders said as president he wants to represent the American people, including “people who are being shafted today … who have a right to a decent living.”

To do so, the independent, socialist senator turned Democratic White House contender vowed to “transform American society, to take on a corrupt campaign finance system, a rigged economy and a broken criminal justice system.”

Matthews repeatedly challenged how Sanders would win Republican support for his agenda, given the Senate and House Republican majorities’ hard-line stance against President Barack Obama.

“You make change not by sitting down with [Senate Republican leader] Mitch McConnell. You make change when millions of people in this country demand change,” Sanders said.

Asked how he knew his theory that a populist call to action would overcome Washington gridlock, Sanders responded: “I don’t know anything. We do the best that we can do. We can try.”

Sanders also criticized Clinton’s 1996 role in helping her husband, then-President Bill Clinton, support changes to move people from welfare to work, saying the Clintons had “really picked up on the Republican agenda.” Those changes in welfare “ended up increasing, very significantly, extreme poverty” in the nation and “caused extreme suffering” among the most vulnerable, Sanders said.

Rather than zeroing in on the controversy over Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state, Sanders said he was trying to stay focused on issues “impacting the American people.” But Sanders also said he has raised the issue of the “many millions of dollars” Clinton has received from Wall Street for her campaign, for allied super political action committees and for speaking fees.

He called on her to release transcripts of speeches she gave behind closed doors for pay.

As he has done in previous visits to Chicago, Sanders sought to explain his call for changes in the criminal justice system as the U.S. Department of Justice investigates the Chicago Police Department over controversial police-involved shootings. His proposed changes would include automatically triggering a Justice Department investigation when a death is caused in a police shooting or in police custody, spending more on jobs and education in poorer communities, demilitarizing police departments and reviewing harsh drug-crime penalties that he said disproportionately result in criminalizing minorities.

“People on Wall Street whose illegal behavior destroyed our economy, they don’t have a criminal record,” Sanders said. “Some kid in Chicago gets picked up with marijuana and gets a criminal record. That ain’t right.”

Sanders also said he was prepared for the role of commander in chief that comes with the presidency, though he viewed the position differently than Clinton.

“I’m a fairly tough guy. I’m prepared to take on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and everybody else. How do you let them know that? We have the strongest military in the world,” Sanders said.

But Sanders, who voted against the U.S. war in Iraq, said he believed himself “a little bit more cautious in terms of regime change” than Clinton.

“The trick is not just to understand we’ve got a lot of bad people around the world. The trick is to understand what happens the day after you get rid of those people,” he said.

Awaiting Sanders arrival from U. of C., supporters packed into Chicago State’s 7,000-seat arena and entertained themselves by performing the wave. Dylan Allingham, a 22-year-old college student from Ravenswood, is among Sanders’ most supportive demographic — college students excited by his message and turned off by what’s seen as an older style of politics played by Clinton.

“He really is getting at the root cause of issues,” said Allingham, who called Sanders “inspirational and captivating.”

But the arena also was filled with supporters of all ages and ethnic backgrounds.

“He’s an honest politician,” said Pedro Rueda, 48, of Roscoe Village. “I feel like he’s looking out for the best for everybody.”

Others weren’t quite convinced. Sheila Lambi, a 38-year-old nurse practitioner from Matteson, said she is leaning toward supporting Clinton, though she likes Sanders’ call for a single-payer health care system.

“I don’t see it being achievable,” Lambi said. “I am a realist.”

Sanders’ travel route, which takes him to Minnesota on Friday, indicates that the senator’s campaign is looking well beyond South Carolina, where Clinton is heavily favored in the Saturday primary.

While trailing far behind Clinton in the national delegate count — 502 to 70 because of her advantage in winning over elected official super delegates, with 2,383 needed to win the nomination — Sanders has a potent supply of campaign funds and, because of a large influx of low-dollar donors, can ask for more money. 

___ (c) 2016 the Chicago Tribune

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