Bernie Sanders pushes for a 'moral economy' at San Pedro campaign stop

The Beie Sanders presidential campaign blitz through Southe Califoia stopped at the docks in San Pedro Friday - a part of the Vermont senator’s ambitious plan to reach 200,000 voters before the state’s June 7 primary.

• VIDEO: Beie Sanders puppet cheers on his candidate in San Pedro

The 30-minute speech before a crowd of about 1,000 mostly union dock workers - members of the Inteational Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 13 - rarely mentioned his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton, but he did take repeated shots at corporate America, Wall Street and the Republican’s prsumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

He said he was inspired by Pope Francis and the ideas of a “moral economy.”

“A moral economy is not an economy where CEOs make tens of millions of dollars a year, ship our jobs abroad and take away health care from their workers,” Sanders said. “That is the type of corporate culture that has got to be fundamentally changed. There is more to life than billionaires making more money.”

•RELATED STORY: One-on-one with Beie Sanders: His plan to win Califoia, take back Kentucky

Sanders has been buoyed by a recent Califoia field poll that showed him trailing Democratic frontruer Clinton by two points and recent overtures by Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump’s suggestion the two have a debate.

Sanders didn’t address the debate proposal during the rally.

With the Vincent Thomas Bridge and the USS Iowa in the backdrop - the same battleship Trump spoke on in September at the begiing of his campaign - Sanders got a warm welcome from the ILWU workers and the crowd on the edge of Memorial Day Weekend.

The ILWU is made up of 60 local unions with about 42,000 members in Califoia, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Hawaii. It’s executive board endorsed Sanders earlier this month, but Sanders was dealt a blow earlier this week when the United Auto Workers union backed Clinton over Trump - saying she “has shown under pressure her ability to lead and get elected in November.”

But a prevailing theme of the Sanders’ bid for the Democratic nomination has been electability. He has made his case to crowds in Carson, Santa Monica, East Los Angeles, Pomona and San Beardino that he fares better than Clinton in head-to-head polls against Trump.

•RELATED STORY: Election 2016: Beie Sanders campaigns in Pomona

In the Real Clear Politics polling average, Sanders beats Trump by almost 11 points while Clinton leads the real estate mogul by just one point.

He continued to promote the viability of his candidacy.

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“Our ideas are the future of this country,” he said. “Let’s stand up. Let’s fight for them. Let’s win this election.”

Sanders remains a long-shot to be the Democratic nominee

Clinton, counting superdelegates, is fewer than 100 delegates from securing the nomination when the party holds its convention in Philadelphia in July. Sanders would need a huge win in Califoia, New Jersey and have a sizable chunk of those superdelegates flip their support from Clinton to Sanders.

Sanders will be in Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and Bakersfield Saturday before hitting Visalia and Fresno Sunday.