Bernie Sanders was beamed from a living room in southwest D.C. to as many as 3,500 other parties in places including Allentown, Pennsylvania; New Orleans; Lakewood, Ohio; Arlington, Massachussetts and Los Angeles.

CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes reports the Sanders campaign is billing it as the largest event of this presidential race so far. Nearly 105,000 people RSVPed to host or attend house parties across the country, and got their marching orders.

"Talk to your brothers and your sisters, your coworkers, your family members, bring 'em into the movement," Sanders said over live stream Wednesday.

The Vermont senator has big crowds, but a small budget.

The crusader for income equality and a $15 minimum wage raised $15 million last quarter, compared to Hillary Clinton's $45 million.

His skeleton staff was struggling to convert the energy at his events into an army of nationwide volunteers, so Wednesday night they deputized the volunteers to organize themselves.

At a beer hall in Brooklyn, 150 supporters watched on a projection screen.

"I'm planning on doing whatever I can to get him elected, however possible that is," engineer Axel Jensen said.

Sanders spoke from a packed two-bedroom apartment, where the kitchen sink served as a cooler, and the host made drinks in the hallway; an atypical campaign event fit for an atypical candidate.

Sanders thinks this narrows the gap between the more well-funded opponents and himself.

"I mean at the end of the day, they will have more money to put more TV ads than we will, that's true. But if we can assemble and get a hundred, hundreds of thousands of people out on the street, you know what? We will win," Sanders said.

Sanders has been gaining ground in early states, trailing Clinton by just 10 points in New Hampshire, according to a poll out this week, and that's without significant staff or money. But to get his supporters to the polls, he'll need a fleet of operatives on the ground, whether they get paid or not.