Thousands Of Austinites Feel The Bern [UPDATE]

AUSTIN, TX -- Thousands of Austin residents started lining up early Saturday to hear presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speak at the Circuit of the Americas.

The Democratic presidential candidate was in town to kick off his “Future to Believe in Austin” rally, during which he addressed the crowd at noon.

Sanders noted the state is rich in delegates -- the most up for grabs than anywhere else in the country. There are 222 pledged delegates in Texas toward the 4,051 required to secure the nomination.

Media descended the event to cover Sander’s speech as well, and the abundance of young people waiting in line served as a testament to his popularity among the youth. His rival, Hillary Clinton, has had trouble connecting to a more youthful segment, even while having a virtual lock on the Hispanic and women’s vote.

Sanders touched on familiar themes of his platform during the local event, including calling for a $15-an-hour minimum wage, ending homelessness among war veterans, equal pay and expanding retiree benefits.

KXAN-TV was among the media outlets there, recording the moment Sanders asked those in the crowd directly how many of them had student debt. Lot of hands shot up in the air.

“Unbelievable!” Sanders said. “This is an epidemic of debt.”

He also spoke of racial inequality. And he took a swipe at Republican front-runner Donald Trump.

“We are not going to allow the Trumps of the world to divide us up,” he said to cheering from the audience, as KXAN-TV reported. “And that we are going to bring major reforms to a broken, very broken, criminal justice system.”

Sanders also touched on immigration, saying he’d create a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented if elected.

“I would hope that every American would stand up against the xenophobia and against the racism that we are hearing,” Sanders said. “It is not acceptable to refer to Mexicans who come into this country as criminals, as rapists, as drug dealers,” he added, in a not-so-thinly veiled reference to Trump.

The Vermont senator next will travel to Dallas to drum up support.

While Sanders was basking in the adoration of his supporters, a political pundit at the local newspaper of record was busy noting his chosen venue is a symbol of the corporate welfare of which Sanders often rails while campaigning.

“Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign may not have time to research the political history of every venue where he speaks,” the local scribe began. “But if the Vermont senator knew more about the facility for his rally near Austin on Saturday, he might have something to say about it.”

The Circuit of the Americas race track that hosts the U.S. Grand Prix Formula 1 race, the political writer noted, has become a symbol of corporate welfare in the Austin area, a ”...playground for the wealthy.”

The Formula 1 race the venue hosts was getting $25 million in subsidies every year from state economic development coffers until the governor cut that amount by some $5 million. That reduction in economic development inducements prompted the sport’s top executive to threaten to leave Austin a mere four years after the facility opened.

Notwithstanding that apparent lack of vetting by campaign staff, it’s crucial for Sanders to win more support in Texas, where Clinton holds a 10-point lead according to a Texas Tribune poll.

While Sanders spoke to the crowd, his rival was in South Carolina on the stump, where she ended up trouncing the self-described democratic socialist candidate. There, she drew mostly an African American crowd -- a crucial voting bloc -- at various town halls and rallies across the state.

And ABC exit polling showed Clinton winning 84 percent of the black vote there.

CNN attributed the win largely to themes upon which Clinton touched, including her time as a young attorney fighting against the wholesale jailing of juveniles. While touching on those themes, she hit hard on Sanders’ stance on gun control -- particularly his vote on shielding gun manufacturers from liability after mass shootings.

To deliver her message, Clinton made a point to campaign with African American mothers who’ve lost children to gun violence, CNN noted, either by police or other incidents of gun violence while pledging an end to “systemic racism” as a focal point of that part of her platform.

The South Carolina win was Clinton’s second decisive victory in one week as both candidates head to Super Tuesday.