Sanders touts Super Tuesday wins in Maine rally

Bernie Sanders touted his handful of victories on Super Tuesday and chalked up his performance to taking on the Democratic establishment, despite falling short to rival Hillary Clinton’s seven wins.

“Last night, we had an extraordinary night. It was really something,” Sanders said at a Wednesday rally in Portland, Maine. 

{mosads}“In Minnesota, we took on a Democratic governor and two U.S. senators and we won there by 24 points, and we’re going to continue to do well in the Midwest,” he continued, referring to high-level endorsements for Clinton in the state. “In Colorado, I took on the establishment there, and we won by 19 points.” 

Clinton racked up seven wins on Super Tuesday and continues to extend her massive delegate lead over Sanders as she inches toward the Democratic nomination. 

Sanders scored four victories: his home state of Vermont, Colorado, Minnesota and Oklahoma. But Clinton swept primary contests in the Southern states and continues to outperform with minority voters over the Vermont senator.

Sanders is rallying voters in Maine ahead of the state’s Democratic caucus on Sunday. The Pine Tree State neighbors Sanders’s home turf, where he won in a landslide. Sanders also took New Hampshire, but Clinton edged him out by less than 2 points in Massachusetts on Tuesday in her first New England victory. 

“Last night, Colorado and Minnesota had record-breaking turnouts; we did very well, so our job here in Maine with your help is please come out next Sunday for caucus,” Sanders said. 

“If we have a large turnout in Maine, we will win this state,” he added. “If we win Maine, we move another step forward toward a political revolution in this country.” 

Sanders continued to hammer Clinton on her ties to Wall Street and touted that his campaign doesn’t rely on a super-PAC to fund his presidential bid. In February, Sanders raised $42 million, outpacing Clinton’s $30 million fundraising haul.

“We thought about it for one-tenth of a second, and what we concluded is we don’t represent the billionaire class, we don’t represent Wall Street and that we will win this thing or lose it without their money,” Sanders said. “We don’t want it.”

He also repeated his call that the former secretary of State release the transcripts of her six-figure paid speeches to Goldman Sachs.

“Tell us what you said behind closed doors to Goldman Sachs,” he said.

Sanders also sought to draw differences between him and the Republican presidential hopefuls. He highlighted recent polls that show him besting GOP front-runner Donald Trump in general election match-ups. 

“And it turns out when they do these match-ups, we almost always do better in those match-ups than Secretary Clinton,” Sanders said. “If people want a candidate who will defeat one or another of these right-wing Republicans, I think you’re looking at him this afternoon.”

But Clinton has already set her sights on the general election. She trained her fire on Republicans and barely mentioned Sanders in her Super Tuesday victory speech.