Bernie Sanders may be heading into this weekend's Democratic debate as an underdog, but MSNBC points out that the man who hopes to unseat Hillary Clinton as the Dem favorite had a good day on Thursday:

In a string of victories Thursday morning for the insurgent Democratic presidential candidate, Sanders announced that his campaign had hit its goal of receiving 2 million individual campaign contributions, picked up the endorsement of the 700,000-member strong Communications Worker of America and earned a nod from the liberal group Democracy for America.

It’s a much needed boost for a candidate whose campaign’s momentum seemed to stall a bit lately, and it comes just two days before the party’s next presidential debate in the crucial state of New Hampshire.  

CWA boss Chris Shelton said that the executive of the union stayed out of the endorsement process and let members decide in an online poll. While Clinton is a favorite of the Democratic establishment, she lacks the popular and populist appeal of Sanders who has been drawing big crowds, and more donors, despite his lack of DNC and media support.