“No. 1, together we are going to defeat the most dangerous president in the history of this country,” the senator said to a group of dozens of supporters at the campaign’s Fort Dodge office in the Snell Building on Sunday afternoon.

“The people of Iowa, the people of Vermont, the people of America do not believe we should have a president who is a pathological liar, somebody who is running one of the most corrupt administrations in the history of our country,” Sanders continued.

The second job his campaign has is to resonate with the working families in America.

“People who in many cases are working longer hours for lower wages,” Sanders said. “We have an agenda which says if you work in America 40 hours a week, you’re not going to live in poverty.”

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was on the campaign trail for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, during a stop in Fort Dodge on Sunday.

About 110 people crowded into the fourth floor campaign field office in the Snell Building to meet Sanders, as well as Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, and filmmaker Michael Moore, who were both campaigning with the senator in Iowa this past weekend.

Before introducing Sanders to the group, Ocasio-Cortez warned supporters to be wary of some criticisms of Sanders’ campaign platform.

“There’s a lot of boogeyman-type arguments that get put out there as though everything will just fall apart,” she said. “Let me tell you, they said that when the labor movement fought to have a five-day work week and a 40-hour work week, they said our economy would fall apart. Last time we tried to raise the minimum wage, they said the economy would fall apart. Everything is always doom and gloom, but every march toward justice ends up making us better.”

Sanders talked about climate change, saying that his administration would “believe in science” and listen to scientists and lead the world in combating climate change, noting that President Donald Trump has rejected climate science and called climate change a “hoax.”

“When he does that, what he is doing is turning his back on the children of this country, on future generations and leading them to a very dangerous future.”

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
A Sen. Bernie Sanders fan livestreams film director Michael Moore speaking at a Sanders campaign event in Fort Dodge on Sunday afternoon. A Sen. Bernie Sanders fan livestreams film director Michael Moore speaking at a Sanders campaign event in Fort Dodge on Sunday.

Sanders said his campaign has introduced “by far the most comprehensive climate change proposal ever introduced by any candidate running for president,” which is based on the Green New Deal legislative proposal.

“We will take on the fossil fuel industry and tell them that their short-term profits are not more important than the future of this planet,” Sanders said.

Fort Dodge residents Don and Sharon Vogel are ardent supporters of Sanders and will be caucusing for the senator on Feb. 3.

“I’m primarily interested in health care,” Don Vogel said.

The Vogels own Choice Printing in town and Don Vogel said that the rising cost of health care has made it so he is unable to provide health care coverage to his employees.

“Something needs to happen with that or none of us are going to have health care,” he said.

Sharon Vogel said she likes that Sanders has a long resume serving in elected office and that through his campaigns, “his message has not changed.”

During his remarks, Sanders touted the “grassroots” campaign strategy his campaign and staff have taken on, relying on small donors and bolstered by volunteers canvassing door-to-door.

Misty Rebik, the Iowa state director for the Bernie Sanders campaign, shared the efforts those volunteers have made in these final days before the Iowa Caucuses.

“In the last 36 hours, you all have knocked on 102,000 doors here in Iowa,” she said. “Not only that, during the time yesterday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., we were knocking two doors every second. We are only able to do that because we have built the largest grassroots movement in the country and it started here in Iowa back in 2016, and we’re going to take it home on Feb. 3.”

How Iowa votes on caucus night will impact the rest of the 2020 election, Sanders said.

“We are in the most consequential election in the modern history of America,” he warned the crowd. “The message today is that if we stand together and if we don’t allow Donald Trump and his friends to divide us … we stand together as a nation, we will not only defeat this very dangerous president, but we will transform this country and create an economy and a government that works for all of us, not just wealthy campaign contributors.”