He does not seem to worry much about the drug industry's arguments that its prices in the United States are necessary to cover the cost of research. He said he met with some industry lobbyists last year and remembers that they were wearing ''fancy shoes.'' He spoke not with irony but -- to use his word -- with ''contempt.''

In an age of careful centrism, there is an archaic quality to Mr. Sanders' political speech, not to mention a razor's edge.

''I know what it's like to live in a family without any money,'' he said, ''the economic suffering that is totally unnecessary'' among the uninsured, the working poor and many of the elderly. His father, who emigrated from Poland at the age of 17, was a paint salesman. ''He worked very hard. He never made a lot of money,'' Mr. Sanders said in a quick staccato, his eyes focused on the floor. ''Lack of money was a constant stress on my parents' relationship and in our household.''

Mr. Sanders' only sibling, a brother, became a social worker. Mr. Sanders himself, after a year at Brooklyn College, went to the University of Chicago on a combination of loans, grants and part-time jobs. He was a lackluster student, he wrote in his autobiography, but ''learned a lot more from my out-of-class activities'' in groups like the Congress of Racial Equality and the Young People's Socialist League.

He moved to Vermont in the late 1960's, working at a mixture of state government, carpentry and writing jobs, and ultimately ended up in politics. Initially, he had little success, but he was elected mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989, and in 1990 won Vermont's only House seat, the first independent elected to Congress in 40 years. Mr. Sanders has four children, and his wife, Jane O'Meara Sanders, has been a key adviser in his political career.

While he tends to align with the Democrats, he said he never considered becoming one. Why?

''Both major political parties are heavily influenced by big money,'' he said. He noted that in nine years in Congress, he has spent one weekend in Washington. He talked scornfully of the journalists and the politicians who spend their time talking to one another, with ''no sense of what's going on in the real world.''

Mr. Sanders clearly feels he has the drug industry on the defensive. ''What I try to do here is not to be an ideologue, but to talk issues,'' he said. ''And when you talk issues, people respond positively.'' Still, he acknowledges, ''I sometimes scratch my head that somebody like me ever made it to the U.S. Congress.''