October 11, 2015 11:21 AM UTC

Bernie Rocks Boulder, Because Of Course

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• by: Colorado Pols

FOX 31 reported from yesterday’s big, big rally for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in the People’s Republic of Boulder:

Nestled under the picturesque Rocky Mountains, where the political landscape is much less diverse than the ever changing fall leaves, a stampede of more than nine thousand people converge on Boulder’s University of Colorado campus.

“I think Boulder is a spark plug of a town,” said Lee Nemerowicz, a small business owner who lives in Boulder.

“This is like, amazing to see,” said Molly Cooper, who drove eight hours from southwest Colorado for Saturday’s rally.

A pretty sizable (and sunny) Bernie Sanders event here in Boulder, CO. pic.twitter.com/G1ttxYBGkg — Dan Merica (@danmericaCNN) October 10, 2015

The Boulder Daily Camera’s Alex Burness described what has been broadly reported via attendees, both avowed supporters of Sanders and ideological fellow travelers who nonetheless back the Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, as an electric scene:

Before an estimated crowd of 9,000, standing on a stage on an outdoor running track that was backdropped by the sun-soaked Flatirons, the longtime Independent senator from Vermont-turned-Democratic presidential hopeful delivered his wildly popular manifesto to an audience that loved every word of it.

He said like to pass comprehensive immigration reform with policies that are “humane, sensible and keep families together.” He spoke of the country’s “grotesque” income inequality. He reminded his fans that his campaign is fueled not by a Super PAC or his private wealth, but rather by hundreds of thousands of individual donations that average about $30.

When he said that a bank “too big to fail” is also “too big to exist,” some in the crowd seemed to mouth the punchline along with him, like concertgoers giddy at the chance to hear a favorite song in person, at last.

The die-hard support Sanders has inspired across the country is a reflection of the sort of race the 74-year-old wants to run.

As the nation’s foremost proponent of an unapologetically progressive agenda today, Sanders has undeniably sparked a countermovement to the “Tea Party”-based rightward pressure that has dominated American politics for Barack Obama’s entire presidency. And for all the visual spectacle on a perfect afternoon in Boulder yesterday, yesterday’s rally wasn’t even that big compared to other recent Sanders events held in major sports arenas and convention center spaces across the nation.

He’s a very big deal, and no one should underestimate this campaign’s significance.

As the kitchen-sink attacks on Clinton continue to blow back on congressional Republicans, the latest being a high-level member of the congressional investigation into the Benghazi consulate attack denouncing the effort as a partisan political exercise, she appears increasingly likely to weather the storm and remain the Democratic frontrunner going into the early primary states–pending variables like Tuesday’s upcoming debate of course. But the huge groundswell of support for Sanders from the Democratic base and non-aligned left-leaners is both space created for Democrats to be Democrats, meaning not be afraid to stand up for their agenda, and a warning: that to not do so risks squandering important new momentum taking shape in American politics.

Hopefully, the footage of Bernie’s big crowds will help this important point sink in where it needs to.