For Sanders, Iowa town hall meeting is lasting memory

CEDAR RAPIDS - Sen. Bernie Sanders came within a whisker of defeating Hillary Clinton in Iowa's caucuses, but there's another image from the first-in-the-nation state that will stick with him.

It was at a town hall meeting 'and I was talking about Social Security and this women gets up and says ‘Let me tell you what it's like to live in Iowa on $11,000 a year,' ” Sanders recalled Wednesday. 'The courage of her to speak up. We saw that a lot. People having the courage to say ‘I'm hurting, I'm in pain and I want you to know about it.'”

Although he says it is unlikely he'll be the Democratic presidential nominee, the fight for progressive ideals and to transform the Democratic Party continues, he said.

He and his campaign organization are negotiating with the presumptive nominee on a near daily basis to encourage Clinton to stake out the most progressive positions possible, Sanders said.

'There are areas where we have strong disagreement,” the Vermont independent said about Clinton, who he called 'more or less an establishment candidate.”

He also repeated his pledge to do everything possible to defeat presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, who he called 'unfit” to hold the position. Sanders also said he doubts 'many who voted for me will vote for him.”

Sanders expressed enormous pride in his campaign that won 22 states - and came close in others, including Iowa where he lost to Clinton 49.9 percent to 49.6 percent - and more than 1,900 delegates.

That may be enough to earn him a speaking role at the Democratic National Convention next month. However, in an hourlong interview with C-SPAN, Sanders said he's more concerned with moving Clinton and the party toward embracing his progressive positions.

The strength of the response to his campaign already have moved Clinton in that direction, Sanders said. For example, her positions on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Keystone pipeline changed during the campaign, Sanders said. She also moved in the direction of embracing his call for a $15-an-hour minimum wage.

In addition to the Iowa town meeting that he will remember, Sanders said among his most vivid memories are being 'overwhelmed by the size of the crowds and the enthusiasm of the crowds.”

There are regrets, too.

'Look, we made mistakes,” he said. 'We should have been smarter. On the other hand, we were right about so many things.”

The interview can be seen at http://www.c-span.org/video/?411569-1/bernie-sanders-discusses-presidential-campaign.