Sanders calls for income equality in Marion

MARION - Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders constantly is asked how he managed to become a serious contender for the nation's highest office, the U.S. Senator from Vermont told a crowd of volunteers and supporters Sunday morning.

He's seen as too radical to gain the attention and support of the public, Sanders said, but he was the front-runner as of Sunday to win the Iowa caucuses in February, according an informal straw poll conducted by the Iowa Secretary of State. He said he leads former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with 52 percent of Democratic voters choosing him compared with 42 percent for Clinton.

'Often, the media will ask me, ‘Well, what's going on? You weren't supposed to be a serious candidate. You're too radical. You've taken on the big money interests, and that's not going to go anywhere,' ” Sanders told a crowd of about 200 at the opening of his Linn County campaign office in downtown Marion. 'The answer is, I think, American people are simply saying enough is enough. This country and our government belong to all of us and not a handful of billionaires.”

Attendees at the outdoor event had a lot of love for Sanders, 73, giving him thunderous applause when he mentioned addressing key issues such as income inequality, the cost of higher education, the federal minimum wage and rights for women and gay people.

He spent a portion of his speech slamming Citizens United, a political action committee that gives money to conservative candidates. As president, he said he would ask the Supreme Court to overturn its Citizens United ruling, which essentially removed election spending limits for corporations.

Sanders also called for tuition-free public colleges and universities, a $70 billion-a-year initiative he said would be paid for by implementing a tax on Wall Street speculations. In addition, he said people with student loans should be given the opportunity to refinance for lower interest rates.

'We're going to get the United States government out of the business of profiteering on high interest rates on working-class families,” Sanders said.

Sanders, an independent who self-identifies as a Democratic socialist, also called for an increase in the federal minimum wage, from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour.

'It is not a radical idea to say that if somebody works 40 hours a week, that that person should not be living in poverty,” he said.