Nick Coltrain

nickcoltrain@coloradoan.com

At the end of an hour-plus speech Sunday — one that covered oligarchy, health care, over-imprisonment, economic equality and Donald Trump -- three friends in Moby Arena had one word to yell.

“BER-NIE! BER-NIE! BER-NIE!”

Sen. Bernie Sanders packed Moby Arena at Colorado State University on Sunday night in a last-minute rally before Colorado joins 10 other states hosting their Democratic nominating processes on Super Tuesday.

And with many of those states having a decisive Hillary Clinton lean, according to polls, Colorado has suddenly become a “must-win” state for the independent-turned-Democrat from Vermont, according to CSU political science Professor Kyle Saunders.

“Clinton’s going to win a lot of states on Tuesday, and for (Sanders) to continue and be viable, just looking at the scoreboard, he has to come away with a couple of surprises,” Saunders said.

That scoreboard wasn’t apparent Sunday night, where a near-capacity crowd stomped their feet in support of things like women’s “right to control their own bodies,” and fighting institutional racism. Those same people also booed at Sander’s assertion that his Republican counterparts would cut Social Security.

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"I have been criticized for thinking too big,” Sanders told the crowd, his campaign at such a fervor that his promises of universal health care and free college tuition barely needed to be spoken. "I believe if you start your campaign calling for a full loaf, at worse, you're going to get a half loaf … People do not need crumbs! They need the whole loaf!"

At several points, even lines such as that one worked as a call-and-response for Sanders. When comparing the amount of money he has raised compared to former Secretary of State Clinton, the crowd answered his question of how much his average donation was.

“Twenty-seven dollars!” they shouted.

Perhaps fittingly, he hit the cost of higher education and the debt associated with it.

"What young people are saying is, ‘how it happens, that just because I sought and received a higher education, I am in $50,000 or $100,000 in debt, and will need to pay off that debt for decades?” Sanders said. "Getting a higher education in America should not be a punishment!"

Millennials and college-age voters have been a relied-upon demographic for Sanders this campaign, and thus a rally at one of Colorado’s public universities, and the one in a swing county in the state two days before caucusing begins was a strategic move, political scientist Saunders said. Many Sanders supporters are likely hoping for a Colorado bulwark against a Super Tuesday sweep for Clinton, but the CSU professor is hesitant to make that prediction.

Anecdotally, Saunders said he’s seen more student activism on campus this cycle versus 2012.

“That (activism), in turn, is reflective of millennials’ concerns in regard to employment, as well as inequality being so salient to them as an issue, a potential issue to them as they move on through adulthood,” Saunders said.

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While both campaigns have very active operations in Colorado, Clinton has the advantage in terms of funding and staffing, he said. But, that said, Sanders has also proved a more formidable opponent than most in the political realm likely envisioned, Saunders said.

"If you had told me that an avowed socialist was able to secure this much support in the Democratic primary electorate, it would be surprising,” Saunders said. “I think it's been surprising to very many people. Even though inequality has been very salient in this campaign, I don't think the Clinton camp or politicos would have expected this campaign to be this tough for Clinton."

Tuesday marks the Democratic primaries and caucuses for 11 states, including Colorado. Polls show Clinton with 20-point leads or more in six of them, including three of the four with more than 100 delegates up for grabs, according to Real Clear Politics.

And following Sanders’ almost 50-point loss in South Carolina on Saturday, Clinton now holds a 542-to-85 delegate advantage, albeit with the vast majority of those coming from superdelegates, or party officials whose nominating votes aren’t bound to state primary or caucus results, according to Bloomberg. The Democratic nominee ultimately needs the support of 2,383 delegates at the Democratic National Convention in July.

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But Colorado, with its lack of reliable polling — or at least publicly available polling — may be a bright spot for Sanders.

Ultimately at CSU, Sanders spoke to the audience in terms of progress, and the fight for equality, and how it’s never been a given. Unions started with a fight for workers rights, and so they wouldn’t be treated like “animals,” he said; and 100 years ago, women couldn’t vote, and their path to becoming a doctor or lawyer was limited.

Even gay marriage, a major liberal victory of 2015, would have been met in the recent past with people asking, “what are you smoking?” Sanders said.

And, proving that he wasn’t all fire and brimstone to a crowd shouting “I love you” and proclaiming him a “political savior,” Sanders added puckishly, "and here in Colorado, I know you know what they were smoking."

View a recap of the live chat from the event below. Mobile app users, if you can't see the chat, go to http://noconow.co/BernieLive in your browser.