Sanders plans first volunteer organizing push in SC

South Carolina is the one major early-primary state where U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders has not posed a serious challenge to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Democratic presidential polls.

Sanders is trying to change that by holding his campaign’s first major volunteer organizing effort in South Carolina on Saturday.

Grassroots supporters are being asked to promote the Vermont senator, the campaign announced Thursday. Efforts are being organized in major cities – Columbia, Charleston, Greenville and Florence.

"We know that our success lies in making connections with voters one-on-one," state director Christopher Covert wrote in an email to supporters.

Sanders’ upstart campaign is looking for traction beyond the first primary states in February.

He leads Clinton in New Hampshire and trails the former First Lady by 5 percentage points in Iowa, according to recent data from Real Clear Politics. Sanders led in Iowa a few weeks ago.

But Clinton remains the party’s entrenched 2016 front-runner over Sanders in South Carolina and nationally.

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 6:56 PM with the headline "Sanders plans first volunteer organizing push in SC."