The New York speech kicked off at least 24 hours of rallies on the theme of where Sanders's movement goes next. On Friday, the Vermont senator will give a similar speech in Albany, at a venue that holds less than 500 people -- a step down from the rollicking New York primary campaign. After that, he'll rally for a supporter in Syracuse who's waging a dark horse bid for Congress.

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Sanders hinted at more rallies for candidates to come, mentioning (but not naming) a state senate candidate in California whom he'd stump for soon. He also relitigated the argument over New York's uniquely onerous voter registration laws, which require voters to pick a party six months before an election.

"Right here in New York state, three million New Yorkers were denied the right to vote in the Democratic and Republican primaries," said Sanders. "I mean, it doesn't take a sophisticated person to point out that the whole effort by the Democratic and Republican leadership of the state was about making it harder for people to participate in the political process."

In one of his longest speeches as a candidate for the presidency, Sanders did not mention presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. That lack of an immediate political cause added some potency to his remarks. Instead of criticizing Clinton's refusal to support a ban on hydraulic fracturing, Sanders said "Yesterday, we should have banned fracking -- and we damn well should do it tomorrow." Instead of saying she did not go far enough on college affordability, Sanders said that 'what we have brought to the fore, and what will never go away, is that in the year 2016, we've got to make public college tuition free."

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