Bernie Sanders scrambles to build Iowa team to meet popular demand

Campaign aides for liberal warrior Bernie Sanders are scrambling to hire more staff in Iowa and open an Iowa office to keep up with momentum as each of his events attracts a crush of hundreds.

"People are out ahead and we're trying to play catch-up organizationally to give these people a vehicle to participate in the campaign," Sanders' campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, told The Des Moines Register on Thursday morning.

Sanders is the no-party Vermont U.S. senator who's running for president as a Democrat. His rebel yell calling for a revolution — he wants to fight economic inequality and wrest control of the government from millionaires — has brought Iowans running.

Sanders's crowd-attracting abilities are reminiscent of another revolution-rallying, white-haired grandfather-like figure who was also famous for stemwinders on big change for the federal government: Ron Paul, the Republican who finished in third place just 3 points behind the leaders in the 2012 Iowa caucuses.

While Paul was a libertarian-leaning conservative who blasted U.S. intervention in the Middle East and the war on drugs, Sanders is liberal independent who supports the decriminalization of marijuana possession and says Muslim countries should be the ones who lead the fight against Islamic terrorists.

After Sanders' April 30 formal presidential campaign announcement speech yielded an estimated 5,000 in Vermont, he packed in roughly 700 for a Davenport town hall, 300 in the tiny town of Kensett and several hundred at a recreation center in Iowa City. When all the seats were full, Iowans grabbed exercise balls to sit upon.

Sanders is the rival-in-chief to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. He has seen his support triple with Iowa likely caucusgoers in the last four months, according to the new Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll. But he's the first choice of only 16 percent of Democratic likely caucusgoers, 41 points down from Clinton, who is currently the first choice for 57 percent.

During his speeches in Iowa, Sanders calls for guaranteed sick leave and vacation for workers, more cushion from Social Security for retirees, a reduction in unemployment, a minimum wage increase, free public college, free preschool to help reduce the need for expensive child care, government-run health care that covers the entire population, and other changes.

Weaver, Sanders' campaign manager, is in Iowa this week to sign a lease for a Des Moines campaign office and bring on more staff to help Sanders' Iowa director, Pete D'Alessandro, who has been almost single-handedly dealing with swarms of Iowans who want to connect with the campaign.

This is the first early state where Sanders has opened a headquarters; New Hampshire is next, Weaver told the Register.

"Iowa's a very important state to us. We're going to be competing here very aggressively. We won't have what she has," Weaver said, referring to the big staff and nine offices Clinton already has in Iowa, "but we'll be competing very aggressively."

On the same day Sanders drew 700 in Davenport, Ron Paul's son Rand Paul, who is running for president in the 2016 race, drew about 100 in Davenport. Politics watchers on Twitter argued that Sanders was offering "free money" while Paul was promoting hard work.

"This is not about handouts — people pay taxes in this country," Weaver responded Thursday. "We're talking about leveling the playing field so every person has the opportunity to succeed to their maximum potential."

Sanders is focused on the day-to-day lives of Americans who don't have enough money to pay the mortgage or send their child to college or to afford quality child care, Weaver said.

"The Republicans give lip service to this idea of everyone succeeding, but the deck starts so lopsided there's no way for people in many cases, especially for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, to succeed," he said.

Sanders intends to return to Iowa soon, he said.