Bernie Sanders declares 'virtual tie' with Clinton, moral victory in Iowa caucuses

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) took to the stage in Iowa on Monday night and declared the Iowa caucuses "a virtual tie" with Hillary Clinton. "While the results are not complete, it looks like we will have about half of the Iowa delegates," he said. He congratulated Clinton "for waging a very vigorous campaign." But "the people of Iowa have sent a very profound message to the political establishment, to the economic establishment, and, by the way, to the media establishment," Sanders said: "It is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics" and America's "corrupt campaign finance system."

Then Sanders declared a moral victory, touting the 3.5 million small donations that have financed his campaign, allowing him to pursue his crusade against politics tailored to the "billionaire class." The rest of his speech hewed pretty closely to his stump speech, promising a $15 minimum wage, free tuition to state colleges and universities (paid for by a tax on "Wall Street speculation"), prison reform, and single-payer health care. "Yes, I believe health care is a right, not a privilege," he told his detractors, name-checking The Wall Street Journal. "What Iowa has begun tonight is a political revolution," Sanders said, and disenchanted voters are finally standing up and saying "enough is enough." Watch below. Peter Weber

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