Bernie Sanders formally launches run for president with attack on 'grotesque' level of inequality

Vermont senator Bernie Sanders formally launched his long-shot bid to unseat Hillary Clinton from the left on Tuesday in a Burlington, Vermont, park.

Sanders, a self-described “Democratic socialist”, will mount a populist campaign focused on income inequality, campaign finance reform and fighting climate change.

He told the crowd of flag waving attendees on the sunny shore of Lake Champlain, “Today, with your support and the support of millions of people throughout this country, we begin a political revolution to transform our country economically, politically, socially and environmentally.”

Sanders went on to say “There is something profoundly wrong when the top one-tenth of 1% owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90% and when 99% of all new income goes to the top 1%,” he said.

“This grotesque level of inequality is immoral. It is bad economics. It is unsustainable. This type of rigged economy is not what America is supposed to be about. … The issue of wealth and income inequality is the great moral issue of our time, it is the great economic issue of our time and it is the great political issue of our time. And we will address it.”

The Vermont senator urged attendees to “join me in this campaign to build a future that works for all of us, and not just the few on top.”

Although the acerbic left-winger is a political veteran, this will be his first Democratic primary. Sanders has been elected to two terms in the Senate and eight in the House of Representatives as an Independent, although he has long caucused with the Democrats

A Brooklyn native, Sanders has lived in Burlington for most of his adult life and got his start in politics in the lakeside city by pulling off an upset victory when he ran for mayor in 1981 and beat the longtime Democratic incumbent by 10 votes.

Sanders officially announced his candidacy in a press conference on the grounds of the Capitol in Washington DC last month, but Tuesday’s event serves as the formal kickoff for his presidential campaign. In addition to the Democratic hopeful, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the founders of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, were scheduled to appear, as well as Mango Jam, a Zydeco, Cajun and Caribbean band from Burlington.

In April, a top Sanders advisor told the Guardian that the Vermont senator would put together “a real campaign that will raise significant resources” which relied on low-dollar donors online and would provide enough to fully fund a significant effort in the early primary states. Already, Sanders has tapped Pete D’Alessandro, a well-regarded Iowa operative, to assemble a campaign team in that crucial caucus state.

However, regardless of how much he raises, Sanders faces an uphill battle for the Democratic nomination. While a recent national poll had Sanders in second place behind former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, he still lagged behind the favorite by a margin of 63% to 13%.