Nicole Gaudiano

USA TODAY

Beware of the “half-loaf” approach to politics.

That’s Bernie Sanders' new response to detractors who say he’s “thinking too big” and his plans are unrealistic. Sanders went on the offensive against incrementalism Sunday night at a Fort Collins, Colo., rally, saying that when you run on a platform calling for a full loaf, “at worst you’re going to get a half loaf.”

But if you ask for a half loaf, “you’re gonna get crumbs.”

Sanders said Americans don’t need crumbs. “They need the whole loaf.”

Sanders has stepped up efforts to distinguish himself from rival Hillary Clinton, who has positioned herself as the realist in the race and has said she doesn’t want to make promises she can’t keep.

Some of Sanders big ideas include free tuition for public colleges and universities along with a Medicare-for-all system of health care.

“I believe that health care is a right of all people, not a privilege,” Sanders said to a cheering crowd in Minneapolis Monday.

Bernie Sanders campaigns in Minneapolis, Massachusetts ahead of Super Tuesday