Bernie’s going to need a bigger boat.

Bernie had many thousands show up here in Denver tonight. This was despite the fact the local media barely covered his arrival. There was a crappy Denver Post piece that disparaged Sanders and very little else.

For example, local TV Channel 7 ABC News (contact), Channel 4 CBS news (contact) and Channel 31 FOX31(contact) completely ignored his upcoming arrival. NOTHING. And, local Denver TV Channel 9 NBC news (contact) disgracefully didn’t mention the event until literally only about 3 hours before the event started!

http://www.9news.com/story/news/politics/2015/06/20/presidential-hopeful-bernie-sanders-visits-denver/29045985/

Via link above from channel 9:

Channel 9: 3:54 p.m. MDT June 20, 2015 … Hundreds of people are expected to attend his town hall meeting …"

Um… yeah… try thousands, Channel 9.

The gym was packed to overcapacity to the brim. The door staff started to go into a panic and told people trying to get in they were worried the fire marshals were going to shut it down. It was chaotic at the doors, some people didn’t have stamps and couldn’t get back in and were separated from people they came with.

All this happened despite the fact we basically had a local TV news blackout of a top-tier presidential candidate coming to our state.

Here’s some pictures I took and screen grabs from video I shot:

This was just one side of the place. The middle, back and other side was packed like sardines just like this as well:

Left side video screen grab: (blurry because I had to climb up on a ledge to view over the people lined up along the top balcony)

Since far too many people showed up, they filled the halls outside the venue.

Despite the heat outside, many other supporters packed the overflow outdoor stadium just to watch Bernie live on the jumbotron TV across the field since they couldn’t fit into the venue.

I mean, look at this…

They were very loud and cheering (just as loud as everyone going wild inside the cramped venue):

There was also some people up on the grassy hill area I took that above picture from and even more milling around the walkways.

View of the mountains behind the jumbotron TV as the sun set on Crazy-Hair-McGee:

So many cars and people were walking towards the venue itself before 7:30 PM that I witnessed plenty of people turn away because they realized the venue was vastly overcapacity already with people spilling outside of the gym into the hallways.

Here’s some people that couldn’t get into the venue and were stuck outside in the various hallways:

Another area on the other side of the venue in the hallway:

People who couldn’t get in also crowded by windows just trying to get a glimpse of Bernie Sanders:

People who couldn’t fit into the venue in another area of the hallways crowded to watch Bernie live on the TV:

If you look towards the bottom you can see where people sat down in the hallway to watch Bernie on TV so others behind them could see. Why? Because polite Bernie Sanders supporters rock, that’s why:

Some balder people admired Bernie’s wild, white hair:

In case anyone doubts how packed it was, here’s the other side within the venue. We even had a fedora-wearing Redditor show up, apparently. People were literally packed against the walls (look around the right side of the photo):

Colorado loves Bernie!

Here’s Bernie after the speech. He strutted right outside from a side door like a rock star and greeted surprised supporters to loud cheers who were flowing out from the outdoor stadium. I think the woman in the hot shorts fainted – it was pandemonium. Sanders is the new Beatles. His security detail also fainted…

We should have used the Pepsi Center or something. I think if the venue had been a much larger capacity, more people would have shown up (and/or stayed instead of turning away) and we would have hit 8,000 to 10,000 people.

I talked with a cop down the street that was monitoring traffic (as well as people walking towards the event) and he estimated about 7,000 trying to get towards the area. I think many saw the snarled traffic and mass of people along the sidewalks, realized it was just too much for the venue and turned back.

There was the usual progressives there, but there was also some “converted” Republicans there who are ready to vote for Bernie. For example, after the speech, a guy who was a registered Republican and previously campaigned for Ron Paul denounced his past ideology, got up in front of some volunteers and begged everyone to caucus for Sanders and start actions in Colorado to support Bernie Sanders. I also met more than a few old-school Libertarians that are going to vote for Bernie as well.

Many had their story of how Sanders influenced them to change their voting preferences or even just start voting for the first time in their lives (or after a long hiatus). Many are now more motivated than ever to support this movement. Had some really neat experiences with the great people there.

I met a young couple that said they’d only expected about 50 people. They had showed up late and were shocked to find out they couldn’t get into the extremely packed venue. They hadn’t even really heard of Sanders before and just showed up out of curiosity. They listened to Sanders via the jumbotron TV outside. The experience rocked them. They were blown away by some of Sanders’ revolutionary ideas they hadn’t heard from a politician before. The young woman told me that she was now motivated to “knock on doors”.

All in all, it was way too small of a venue for such huge demand. By Denver standards, it was hot and muggy outside. I’m sure thousands chose to stay inside instead of sit outside and watch a jumbotron TV because the venue was too small. And, even if everyone tried to show up, there wasn’t much space left outside in that overflow stadium anyway.

As I said, Bernie’s going to need a bigger boat for future events. And, when he comes back to Colorado, get a HUGE boat next time.

My favorite part of his speech was probably where he mentioned how much Republican politicians hate his ass. He then said he must be doing something right if they hate him. The crowd went wild.

Feel The Bern

P.S. I forgot to mention that afterwards the campaign volunteers got together to celebrate. When someone got up and mentioned Hillary Clinton in passing – there was a little, tiny, good-natured “boo” from one person and everyone laughed. Bernie Sanders doesn’t want a dirty campaign and neither do his supporters. We want to talk about the issues. So much great, positive energy. The volunteers should be really, really proud of themselves. I’m just so proud of them and everyone else who showed up I can’t stop grinning.

Photo license: Anyone can use any of these photos for any reason and don’t need to give me credit.

I have pictures of Bernie during the speech from inside, but I’m sure plenty of people will post theirs. I wanted to show the grassroots supporters that are coming out for Sanders. I know Bernie would agree that the supporters are the vital element in this new kind of American election and movement that’s growing from the bottom-up instead of typical, top-down politics. Despite the corporate media, word-of-mouth prevailed and word got out that a new kind of American patriot was coming to town.

Thank you for coming to Colorado, Bernie Sanders.