Sanders vaults from fringe to the heart of the fray

By Annie Linskey GLOBE STAFF JULY 19, 2015

SOMEWHERE OVER THE AMERICAN WEST — It’s 7:20 a.m. and Bernie Sanders looks irritated. He’s already buckled into his economy seat on Delta Flight 4516 and an attendant just announced that the flight would sit on the runway for 30 minutes before taking off.

“Planes,” grumbled the Vermont senator. “Don’t get me started about airplanes.” Then he added, in a tone that sounded only half-joking, “This is when you want a private jet.”

Sanders’ insurgent campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination doesn’t spring for charters like his top competitor — at least not yet. On this day he isn’t even flying nonstop, as he heads from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Phoenix via Minneapolis. If all goes well, he’ll just be a few minutes late to a forum at Netroots Nation, an annual gathering of liberals.

The weekend events — another rally is planned in Houston Sunday — is capping off Sanders’ best week so far in his increasingly credible quest for the nomination. Federal reports made public last week show he has raised more than $15 million for his campaign, beating every other presidential candidate from either party save Hillary Rodham Clinton (she hauled in about $46 million). He has gathered the money from an army of small donors that is larger than that of any other presidential candidate.

And, as he pulled his roller bag out of the air-conditioned terminal into the blast of Phoenix heat Saturday morning, he was preparing to speak that evening before his largest crowd yet.

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