AUGUSTA, Maine - Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has only been a candidate for president for less than 24 hours. But a coalition of progressive Maine Democrats and independents is already rallying around his campaign. Supporters predict that Sanders, an independent who will run as a Democrat, can shift the focus of the presidential primary as he rails against big money in politics and foreign trade deals.
State Democratic leaders say they welcome Sanders to the race, as does his primary opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton.
As he spoke to reporters outside the Capitol building Thursday in Washington, Sanders made it clear that he does not see himself as a fringe candidate. He says he will run hard to stand up for Americans who he says have had it with wealthy politicians carried into office on a tidal wave of special interest money.
"We're in this race to win," Sanders said. "If you try to put together a movement which says that we have got to stand together as a people and say that this Capitol, this beautiful Capitol, our country, belongs to all of us and not the billionaire class - that's not raising an issue; That is winning elections. That's where the American people are."
While Sanders has yet to establish an official campaign organization in Maine, there already is a statewide group working on his behalf. The Maine chapter of the Progressive Democrats of America has formed PDA Team Bernie - Maine and already includes Democrats and independents from Cumberland, Sagadahoc, Penobscot, York, Hancock and Washington counties.
Ed Democracy of South Portland is heading up the statewide effort, and he says Sanders supporters are energized. "The excitement is palpable, so we're seeing that and feeling that, and I certainly am excited," Democracy says.
Democracy says one of his immediate goals is to establish PDA Team Bernie organizations in all of Maine's 16 counties. David Bright, who with his wife, Jean Hay Bright, operates an organic farm in Dixmont, says progressives historically have faced significant obstacles in presidential contests.
"Anytime a progressive candidate gets into the presidential race, they are in there to win," Bright says. "It's always a long shot, you know: Dennis Kucinich, Howard Dean, a number of those, they're committed enough to their values and they have ideas and they know how government works. It's not like, 'If elected I will not serve.' I firmly believe that they have a vision that they can do better, and the best way they can do that is to be the president."
Other Saunders supporters say that, even if their candidate falls short in the 2016 Maine Democratic caucus and beyond, his presence could force Clinton to move further to the left on issues of concern to progressives. Sanders, for example, opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, the Keystone XL pipeline, and the Iraq War - a war that Clinton voted to support as she represented New York in the U.S. Senate.
Phil Bartlett, chairman of the Maine Democratic Party, says Sanders' decision to challenge Clinton is a good thing. "We're really enthusiastic about the primary, we have great candidates. And what's really important is that both of them are really championing middle-class economics."
Sanders hopes to raise $50 million to fund his presidential bid, a fraction of the $1 billion that President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney spent in 2012.