This rally was for the birds.
A Bernie Sanders campaign stop in Portland became a viral sensation on Friday when the Democratic candidate’s stump speech was interrupted by a small bird that landed on his lectern.
Sanders, a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist from Vermont who’s running to the left of Hillary Clinton, seized on the cute critter’s unprompted arrival, to the delight of his supporters.
“I think, I think there may be some symbolism here,” Sanders told the bemused crowd. “I know it doesn’t look like it, but that bird is really a dove asking us for world peace. No more wars!”
A frequent critic of American military interventions abroad, Sanders voted against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and has often drawn that contrast between himself and Clinton on the campaign trail.
The Twitter set dubbed the bird scene #BerdieSanders.
Sanders capped the day with a rally at Safeco Field in Seattle, home of the Mariners, which drew a crowd of 15,000 people.
The rallies were held in advance of three Democratic caucuses on Saturday — Washington, Hawaii and Alaska.