Jonathan Anderson

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

WAUSAU - Economic inequality, political corruption and unfair laws are hampering the middle class, but there is a singular way to resolve those ills, Bernie Sanders said Sunday in Wausau: Vote for him. 

Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president, made his case to 1,800 people during a rally Sunday afternoon at The Grand theater in the city’s downtown, just days before the Wisconsin presidential primary on Tuesday, when he faces off with challenger Hillary Clinton. 

"What we need in this country is a political revolution,” Sanders told the audience. 

Sanders was introduced by Tony Schultz, co-owner of Stoney Acres Farm in Athens.  Schultz said the farm, which grows organic fruits and vegetables, has succeed because of ideals that Sanders had made part of his campaign: quality public infrastructure and public education. 

Sanders’ candidacy, Schultz said, “is so historic.” 

For an hour and 10 minutes, Sanders addressed a litany of social, economic and political issues that have been common themes in his policy proposals.  Sanders called on raising the national minimum wage to $15 per hour and bringing back jobs that have been lost to foreign competition through international trade agreements.  He blasted Republican lawmakers’ efforts to pare down campaign finance regulations — calling out Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker specifically — and said the Supreme Court’s controversial Citizens United decision should be overturned. 

"This is a campaign of the people, by the people and for the people,” Sanders said, which prompted a standing ovation — something that occurred with regularity at the rally. 

If elected, Sanders said he also would seek to expand access to health care and make tuition free at public colleges in the United States.  Those were the two big issues on the mind of Sarah Prather, a Wausau mother who said she was attending the rally to show her support for Sanders.  Prather said she liked Sanders' proposal to make tuition at public colleges more affordable, and believed the country's health care system needs further reform — beyond the Affordable Care Act — toward a publicly funded model such as Canada's. 

Prather said those changes would not happen should Clinton, the former secretary of state, become president. 

"I am very liberal and believe that we need a lot of changes, and I don't think anyone else is going to be making any of the changes that I want to see," Prather said. “ Hillary Clinton is pretty much just a Republican saying she's a Democrat.  I don't see her as very liberal at all." 

Sanders ended the rally with a clear call to action, telling attendees that if enough people vote for him, he can become the Democratic nominee for president: "If voter turnout is high, we will win,” Sanders said. 

Sanders vague on free college tuition plan

Rally draws large turnout

Doors opened shortly before 11 a.m., and Sanders took the stage just after 2 p.m. The event drew 1,800 people, according to Sean Wright, who manages The Grand.  The theater's 1,200 seats were filled to capacity, while a separate overflow area was prepared to hold hundreds more, Wright said. 

Many attendees stood outside for hours in the cold.  One was Lori Hepp, 52, of Wisconsin Rapids, who was first in line to see Sanders Sunday morning.  She left Wisconsin Rapids at 4 a.m. and was standing outside the theater by 5:20 a.m., when the temperature was hovering around 30 degrees. 

"I wanted to be here," Hepp said. " I wanted to be up close.” 

The crowd in front of the theater grew quickly throughout the morning, winding through the 400 Block toward the Jefferson Street Inn and along Jefferson Street. 

Given the chilly weather, Malarkey's Pub, across the square from The Grand, opened early to accommodate rally attendees.  The pub was offering a $6 breakfast burrito, coffee and Bloody Marys, according to co-owner Tyler Vogt. 

"People can warm up their hands and get something to eat," Vogt said. 

Clinton leading nationally

While polls — and delegate counts — show Sanders is unlikely to beat Clinton nationally, recent polling suggests he could prevail in Wisconsin’s presidential primary on Tuesday and has support in northern Wisconsin.  A Marquette University Law School poll released within the last week found 49 percent of likely Democratic voters in the state support Sanders, while 45 percent support Clinton. 

The margin of error in that poll was at 5.8 percent — larger than Sanders’ lead statewide — but other polls also put Sanders ahead of Clinton in Wisconsin. 

Sanders also is especially favored among Democrats in northern and western Wisconsin, where the Marquette poll found he has support from 54 percent support of likely voters versus 42 percent for Clinton — the widest margin in the state. 

Still, Clinton has secured substantially more delegates than Sanders to clinch the Democratic nomination, which requires obtaining 2,383 delegates.  Clinton to date has 1,712 delegates compared to Sanders’ 1,011.  Wisconsin offers Democrats 96 delegates. 

RELATED STORY:Sanders: It's a 'political revolution'

Sanders and Clinton have been crisscrossing the state ahead of Tuesday’s primary.  Both were in Eau Claire Saturday for separate events.  Sanders planned to be in Madison later Sunday for another rally, and in Janesville, Green Bay and Milwaukee on Monday.  Clinton will make a campaign stop Monday in Milwaukee with her husband, former President Bill Clinton. 

Republicans also are campaigning hard in the state, including in central Wisconsin.  Donald Trump was in Rothschild Saturday for a town hall that drew at least 1,200 people to the Central Wisconsin Expo and Convention Center.  His main challenger, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, held a rally in Rothschild earlier in the week and made a campaign stop Sunday evening in Wausau with Walker. 

Jonathan Anderson: 715-898-7010 or jonathan.anderson@gannettwisconsin.com; on Twitter @jonathanderson.