There was a moment during Bernie Sanders’ speech to a sold-out, low-dollar fundraiser (1,200 people paid the minimum contribution of $50 to see the senator from Vermont deliver his populist message) where it seemed the candidate had finally reached the resonance he had been waiting for.

“If a bank is too big to fail, it is”—he paused, and a chorus of voices echoed in unison—“too big to exist!” Sanders cracked a smile. “You know my speeches better than I do,” he said.

Hot on the heels of his triumphant Liberty University address, the Vermont senator is barnstorming across the South