
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez walk past each other during their “Come Together and Fight Back” tour at the James L. Knight Center on Wednesday in Miami, Fla.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Things were going well for the Democrats in Miami.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., hadn’t exactly sold out the downtown theater they were campaigning in, but the audience was solid and energetic.
The anti-DNC catcalls that had plagued early stops on the uneasy allies’ weeklong unity tour hadn’t surfaced. And both Perez and Sanders had delivered fiery speeches that had pumped up the crowd in a key city of a critical swing state.
Sanders was shaking hands with supporters as David Bowie’s “Starman” blared.
But when the music faded down, things took a turn.
A Sanders fan rushed the stage, grabbed the microphone, and shouted, “Bernie would have won!” The audience joined in the cheer, loudly repeating an alternate reality rallying cry that didn’t exactly scream, “Democratic Unity Tour.”
The DJ quickly drowned out the chant with a new song — Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere.”
It was fitting. Because while Perez and Sanders weren’t visiting Reno, Chicago, Fargo and Minnesota, their itinerary was kind of close: Maine, Kentucky, Florida, Texas, Nebraska, Utah, Arizona and Nevada.