It's a story as old as time, one where the little guy overcomes insurmountable odds.
It's David slingshotting Goliath; Rocky Balboa leveling Apollo Creed; Harry S. Truman plucking the 33rd U.S. presidency from Thomas E. Dewey while at least one newspaper preemptively ran "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN" below their masthead.
Presidential underdogs seldom call 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue home, especially when the opponent's surname ends Clinton or Bush. Most are outspent, overlooked, or simply out-polled before they even become write-in options.
Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders is all of the above, yet he brings an ideological flare potential voters can relate with, more so now with candidates continually sidestep politics in favor of personal attacks. Not that the 74-year-old Brooklynite is immune from taking a few swings, like he did during the Sept. 16 Republican primary debate.
"Waiting, waiting, waiting. Will we hear anything about racial justice, income inequality or making college affordable?" Sanders tweeted when defunding Planned Parenthood became the consensus, adding "Does anyone on that stage believe the women of this country have the right to control their own bodies? Anyone?"
Sanders' posts were retweeted thousands of times by the time CNN cameras panned to participants' congratulatory handshakes, exceeding nearly every other mention regarding the debate outside of Jeb Bush admitting he smoked marijuana.
Social media has that power. Just like it had the power to draw 200,000 volunteers to the self-described Democratic socialist's once-fledgling campaign.
There weren't - and still aren't - TV ads. Senators and congressmen wouldn't - and still don't - FedEx blank checks to his Burlington, Vermont headquarters. While the Hillary Clintons' and Jeb Bushs' of the 2016 presidential election use Super PACs as financial crutches, Sanders takes a grassroots approach, relying on his wallet and piggy bank donations from small donors.
According to Federal Election Commission filings released in July, which the New York Times broke down, Sanders raised about $13.7 million on contributions of $200 or less in the second quarter of 2015. These small sums came from for 81 percent of his donors, compared to second-leading recipient Ben Carson.
Part of what drive Sanders' campaign are far-left ideas high-profile candidates can't get behind. The junior senator from Vermont wants to raise taxes on the wealthy in order to create jobs and tuition-free college and university systems. He would take President Obama's universal health care fight a step further, increasing Medicaid instead of cutting it because "it is a vital lifeline for some 72 million Americans."
The astronomical $18 trillion proposal would be the largest peacetime expansion in modern American history, according to the Wall Street Journal. Estimates have $15 trillion in taxes reaped over ten years, some of which could trickle down from one-percenters to middle-class families.
Sanders, representing one of the most gun-friendly states in the Union, carries more realistic goals in aspiring to ban assault weapons.
"We have to ban assault weapons," Sanders told Latinos Post. "We need to move toward a strongly enforced background checks so that people who have mental problems, people who are criminals, people who should not have guns do not have guns."
Gun control legislation, he says, should fall on individual states because beliefs differ between rural and urban cities.
Extensive background checks would include closing loopholes that allow retailers from inadvertently aiding the next James Holmes, Bryce Williams, or Dylann Roof; each arguably suffered from a mental illness.
"When people are hurting, when they're go to do terrible things, we need to make sure that they can get some treatment immediately, not in two years," Sanders said.
When Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy challenged his record on gun control, including his opposition to the 1993 Brady Bill which mandated federal background checks and five-day waiting periods on purchases, Sanders said he's strong on gun control, arguing he is the only candidate capable of passing real legislation.
As for immigration, Sanders - son to a Polish immigrant - believes anyone stepping foot on U.S. soil deserves a shot at their American dream.
Creating a pathway to citizenship is a must to Sanders. In a seven-point plan outlined on his campaign website, Sanders said comprehensive immigration reform would become law, legalizing all of about 11 million people living in fear of deportation.
"Undocumented workers are doing the extremely difficult work of harvesting our crops, building our homes, cooking our meals, and caring for our children," he said during a speech at the National Council of La Raza. "They are part of the fabric of America."
Sanders supports strengthening border security, but not with blueprints used to build the Great Wall of China. The plan is to give citizenship to unauthorized immigrants currently living in the U.S. while leaving temporary foreign worker programs as they are. He believes employers take advantage of their legal status by offering fractions of what the average American citizen earns.
At the same time, he doesn't support an open border, or letting additional migrants come into the country unless they can contribute.
"I frankly do not believe that we should be bringing in significant numbers of unskilled to workers to compete with [unemployed] kids," Sanders said during a forum for presidential candidates in July. "I want to see these kids get jobs."
Sanders walks a tight line on immigration, albeit to rising favorability ratings among registered Democrats.
A Monmouth University poll released Sept. 16 found Sanders trails former Secretary of State Clinton by just four percent. He received 49 percent of support from Independent voters. Quinnipiac University's survey, taken between Aug. 27 - Sept. 8, gave Sanders the edge in Iowa, 41 percent to Clinton's 40 percent; a 21-point jump from a similar study taken two months earlier.
After being outspent by his Democratic counterpart - who raked in $45 million in second-quarter fundraising efforts - and overlooked for gaudy headlines inspired by GOP front-runner Donald Trump, Sanders if finally starting to outpoll his opponents.
It may be the difference come Nov. 8, 2016.