Sanders focused on Super Tuesday after South Carolina loss

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- After losing to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the South Carolina primary, Sen. Bernie Sanders focused on the 11 Democratic primaries scheduled for March 1 during a speech at a rally in Minnesota.

Sanders spent the day in Texas while South Carolina voters chose Clinton nearly four-to-one in the state's primary before delivering a speech in Rochester, Minn., looking toward Super Tuesday.

Although he'd closed a large deficit in polls in the state, Sanders still got just 26 percent of the vote in the primary, getting shellacked among among African-American voters by Clinton by a five-to-one margin.

In a statement to the press while on his way from Texas to Minnesota, Sanders said it was still early and that Clinton's big win matched his blowout in New Hampshire, telling reporters after he landed that he expected to get "lots of delegates on Tuesday."

Sanders bypassed South Carolina, opting instead for rallies in Austin and Dallas he told the Rochester crowd were attended by 10,000 and 8,000 people. Although Sanders said before the primary that he had not given up on South Carolina, he was never close to challenging Clinton in the state -- which voters noticed, the L.A. Times reported.

"We are listening to the pain and needs of ordinary people, and not to the needs of billionaire campaign contributors," Sanders said in the speech, simultaneously seeking to draw differences between both Clinton and the Republican nominees.

Sanders accused Republican governors of attempting to suppress the vote. "It has never occurred to me to find a way to get fewer people to vote... If you are afraid of participating in a free and fair election get out of politics. Get another job," he said.

Reiterating his message of a "political revolution" and it's requirement for participation, Sanders said "we have one of the lowest voter turnout rates. I want to see us revitalize American democracy."