On the Road: New Orleans

Statement

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders capped a weekend in Louisiana with a Sunday night rally attended by some 4,500 people at the Pontchartrain Center near New Orleans.

"I don't know that we can squeeze any more people in here," Sanders said as he looked out on the cheering, sign-waving crowd packing the convention hall. "Some people told me Louisiana was a conservative state. I guess not."

"Which leads me to why I am here. I think my colleagues in the Democratic Party have made a serious mistake. They have written off half of America, including Louisiana. The time is now for us to fight in 50 states in the country," he said.

"When people have no work, when kids have no food, when people have no health insurance, that's where we should be," Sanders declared.

"Our campaign so far is surprising a lot of people," he added. "People are catching on that there is something fundamentally wrong with the way we do economics and politics in America today. They want new ideas and they want to make fundamental changes in the way we do business in our country."

In an hour-long speech, Sanders detailed a wide-ranging agenda to create jobs, help rebuild the middle-class and reform Wall Street by breaking up the biggest banks in America.

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