Brian Lyman

Montgomery Advertiser

The Bernie Sanders presidential campaign plans to use social media and organize young people as it creates a presence in Alabama.

Staffers for the U.S. Senator from Vermont said on a conference call Wednesday they planned to open offices in Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma in advance of Alabama's March 1 Democratic primary, with the potential for others. The Sanders campaign also plans to be “active on every college campus in the state, especially the community college system,” according to Kelvin Datcher, Sanders' Alabama director.

The campaign also plans to use online outreach to reach supporters.

“The great thing for us is the online guys are already organized,” Datcher said on the conference call. “They’re meeting in 20 to 30 places across the state.”

Alabama will have 58 delegates up for election in the primary. Delegates in the primary are awarded proportionately to their share of the ballots cast. In the last competitive Democratic primary in Alabama in 2008, Barack Obama won 56 percent of the vote but ended up splitting the state’s available delegates with then-U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton.

Sanders has campaigned on plans to address growing income inequality in the country. He has called for new investments in infrastructure; free college tuition; an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour and efforts to fight climate change.

A self-described democratic socialist first elected to Congress in 1990, Sanders until recently served as an independent who caucused with the Democratic Party, though he has begun to identify himself as a Democrat.

Sanders officials acknowledged on the call that they have work to do in Alabama. Clinton has long-established relationships with leading African-American officials in Alabama, including Alabama Democratic Conference chairman Joe Reed. Her Alabama Leadership Council, announced last month, includes many of the state’s leading Democrats, including the state’s sole Democratic U.S. representative, Terri Sewell of Birmingham; five state senators, 19 state representatives and two mayors.

The Clinton campaign said in an email Wednesday it had held 23 grassroots events in the state through which it had signed up "thousands" of new supporters. Clinton spoke at Dexter Avenue Baptist King Memorial Church last week at an event honoring the 60th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In October, she addressed the Alabama Democratic Conference.

Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager, acknowledged the former Secretary of State’s ties to the state and said the campaign was reaching out to African-American leaders and voter. But he said that building a strong base of support could pull leaders their way.

“I think it’s clear the Secretary has a head start at the leadership level,” he said. “The Sanders campaign is characterized by an appeal to people on the grassroots level.”

Sanders’ campaign also hopes to organize college students, a key source of strength for the campaign.

“We expect to have a presence at the Birmingham Bowl (on Dec. 30),” Datcher said. “We’re expecting 60,000 people there (at the game). We’re going to take advantage of events across the state.”

Weaver said the campaign planned to purchase broadcast ads in Alabama in advance of the presidential primary.