Heading into the home stretch of the 2016 presidential nominating contest, Bernie Sanders' campaign is painfully short of delegates. Among supporters, though, Sanders' campaign does not lack for passion.

"I feel like Bernie can actually make a change for this country," said James Oram, 19. He was among the first of several thousand who lined up Sunday to hear Sanders speak at a campaign rally in west Vancouver ahead of Saturday's Democratic Party caucuses.

"He understands the people and what we need and what we want. The people don't have the power anymore, and that's what he wants to bring back," said Oram, from east Vancouver. Oram arrived at 6:30 a.m., more than four hours before the doors opened to the rally, and stood steadfastly in the rain as his white, hand-decorated T-shirt soaked through.

Many others waited for hours to hear the Vermont senator speak at Hudson's Bay High School, packing 5,800 into the gym, Vancouver deputy fire marshal Chris Drone said late Sunday. The campaign said 2,500 more looked in remotely from an overflow room.

His talk was the first of three planned in Washington on Sunday - Sanders was scheduled to speak later in the afternoon in Seattle, followed by a 9 p.m. rally in Spokane.

When Sanders took the stage at 1:40 p.m., he spoke for 45 minutes on his themes - economic inequality, campaign finance reform and corporate greed, chief among them.

"The American people know that we have some very serious crises, and these crises are not going to be solved by establishment politics," Sanders declared. He describes himself as a democratic socialist and, like Donald Trump in the Republican campaign, has demonstrated that unconventional campaigns can thrive amid the current political upheaval.

Sunday's biggest applause line came in response to his call for free tuition at public colleges and universities, funded by a tax on Wall Street transactions. The Vancouver crowd skewed young, and Sanders remarked on his campaign's success with young voters - and lamented it hasn't gained more traction with older voters.

His talk focused on broad themes, taking little notice of the Republican race and making only a brief mention of primary opponent Hillary Clinton, whose support from Wall Street and political action committees he decried. Former President Bill Clinton will be in Vancouver on Monday to stump for his wife.

In many ways, Sanders finds himself where Hillary Clinton was eight years ago when she was facing Barack Obama. Sanders has dogged supporters and a demographic advantage in many of the states yet to vote in the Democrats' nominating contest, but having trailed in early voting he needs to win nearly 60 percent of the remaining votes to top her.

Supporters lined up Sunday acknowledged the difficult math working against their candidate but insisted they are undaunted.

"They want us to believe it's over so we're not out here doing what we're trying to do," said Amber Starnes, 31, a Eugene hairdresser who left home at 4:30 a.m. to grab an early place in line at the Vancouver rally. Oregon doesn't hold its primary until May 17, but Starnes said she has been working the phone banks to support Sanders ahead of Washington's caucuses.

Many of Sanders' supporters said his ideological consistency had won their backing, noted he made many of the same arguments in the 1990s he's making today.

"I feel like this is revolutionary," Starnes said. "Never in my lifetime has there been a candidate for president who is as true."

Update: This article has been updated with attendance figures from the fire marshal and the Sanders campaign.

-- Mike Rogoway

mrogoway@oregonian.com

503-294-7699

@rogoway