Feeling the Bern @Philly: Thousands hear Sanders rip Clinton

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders rode the momentum of a string of recent primary and caucus victories into an arena packed with thousands of young supporters in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

"We have a loud, large, raucous crowd tonight!" Sanders said. "This sounds to me like the sound of a political revolution."

His audience roared.

The 10,200-seat arena hit capacity, sending an overflow of a few thousand people into the McGonigle Hall practice facility, a group Sanders addressed before the main event.

The Liacouras Center seemed to shake with shouts and stomps at the first glimpse of the Vermont senator's white hair.

Sanders promptly went after his rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - who was also campaigning in Philadelphia on Wednesday - by suggesting she, not he, was not "qualified" for the presidency.

Clinton this week had questioned Sanders' qualifications and his grasp of his own platforms, after a meeting with the New York Daily News editorial board in which he seemed to stumble when asked how he would keep his promise of breaking up powerful banks.

"Secretary Clinton appears to be getting a little bit nervous," Sanders said Wednesday, to loud boos at the mention of her name. "We have won, we have won, seven out of eight recent primaries, and she has been saying lately that she thinks I am, quote-un-quote, 'not qualified to be president.'

"Let me just say in response to Secretary Clinton, I don't believe that she is qualified if she is, through her Super PAC, taking tens of millions of dollars in special-interest money. I don't think that you are qualified if you get $15 million from Wall Street through your super PAC. I don't think you are qualified if you have voted for the disastrous war in Iraq. I don't think you are qualified if you supported virtually every disastrous trade agreement which has cost us millions."

His comments hit a nerve. By late Wednesday, a Clinton spokesman on Twitter said that Sanders' words had hit a "new low" and that Clinton had never called Sanders "unqualified" when MSNBC's Joe Scarborough asked her about this. A transcript of her MSNBC interview supports that - though when pressed about whether she considered Sanders qualified, she said his remarks to the New York Daily News "raise a lot of questions."

Even former Mayor Michael Nutter got into the fray, tweeting late Wednesday, "Tonight @BernieSanders said .@HillaryClinton wasn't qualified to be President. THIS is LOW and crosses the line. Take it back, Senator."

At the Liacouras Center, Sanders went on to what has become his refrain - denouncing what he called a corrupt campaign-finance system, a rigged economy, a broken and biased criminal justice system. He called for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, health care for every American, women's rights, gay rights, and immigrant rights.

As doors opened, the racially mixed but mostly white and under-30 crowd still wound around the four-square-block arena. Cars honked, people shouted "Join the revolution!" and a guy hocking T-shirts, yelled: "Feel the Bern, guys!"

Liz Maratea, a stay-at-home mom, drove from Clementon to line up at 6:30 a.m. in the 30-degree darkness, for her first chance at seeing Sanders in person.

"He is one of us. He was a poor kid in Brooklyn and his net worth is only twice mine instead of 10 times mine or 20 times mine like the other candidates," she said. "So he is going to speak to our issues and work for our needs. I thought I was excited about Obama; I had no idea."

Before the Temple rally, Sanders addressed a smaller, supportive crowd of about 250 people at Tindley Temple United Methodist Church at Broad and Fitzwater Streets in South Philadelphia.

There he cast the nation's priorities as misplaced, saying tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations should be replaced with strong investment in schools and health care, that billions spent on wars and prisons could be better spent restoring the country's infrastructure of roads, bridges, and affordable housing, which would create jobs and help ease unemployment.

"These are not utopian ideas," Sanders said to a crowd that frequently whooped with encouragement. "These are ideas that require us to simply change our national priorities."

The Sanders event was billed as a #BlackVoters Matter community conversation - though about two-thirds of the crowd appeared to be white.

Sanders, fielding questions, said that if elected president he would issue a formal apology for America's history of slavery.

He closed with a thinly veiled shot at his Democratic opponent.

"Unlike unnamed individuals, I don't take money from Wall Street," Sanders said, drawing prolonged cheers. "In fact, our average contribution is $27."

At a quieter meeting earlier in the day, Sanders took questions from the editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News. He reminded the group that when his campaign started, he was down 60 points in the polls. Now, he said, some national polls give him a lead.

"I honestly believe we have the possibility of pulling off one of the greatest political upsets in history," Sanders said.

He defended his largely white support base by noting his strength among young voters of all backgrounds.

Asked how his left-liberal agenda would get anywhere in a Republican-controlled Congress, Sanders said his momentum would help Democrats up and down the ballot.

"Here is a guarantee, write it down: [If] Bernie Sanders is elected - take any bet - the Democrats win control of the Senate."

Editor's Note: This story was revised to correct the amount of money Sanders said Clinton received from Wall Street PACs. It was $15 million, not $15 billion.

jterruso@phillynews.com

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@juliaterruso