Sanders: My crowds can translate to votes

Bernie Sanders is drawing big crowds across the country and says they can translate to Democratic primary votes when the time comes next year.

"Look, what exists in the real world -- whether it's Denver, or Minneapolis or New Hampshire, or Iowa, or Vermont -- is very different than the kind of discussions that take place here in Washington where so much of what Congress does is dominated by big money," Sanders said Wednesday on MSNBC's Morning Joe.

Sanders, who is running something of an insurgent campaign against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, cited another issue in his column: middle-class anxiety.

"Look, the average American understands the middle class is disappearing, that 99% of all new income is going to the top 1% and that we need fundamental changes in economics and politics so the government begins working for all of us and not just the billionaire class," the independent Vermont senator told the Morning Joe crew.

Polls show Sanders creeping up on Clinton in New Hampshire, which holds the first presidential primary in 2016 and is the senator's neighboring state.

While he is challenging Clinton, Sanders told MSNBC he will do so on the issues: "We're going to run an issue-oriented campaign. I've never run a negative ad in my life; don't intend to do that."