Sen. Bernie Sanders will lay off hundreds of staffers across the country the same day he declared he is “in this campaign to win”.
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“Sanders said at a rally at Purdue University in IN on Wednesday that he was “in this campaign to win and become the Democratic nominee”, adding, “If we do not win, we intend to win every delegate that we can so that when we go to Philadelphia in July we’re going to have the votes to put together the strongest progressive agenda that any political party has ever seen”.
Sanders’ coolness comes as Clinton has increasingly called on Sanders supporters to unify behind her. “So I’m hoping that the same thing will happen this time”, she said. I didn’t say, ‘You know what, if Senator Obama does x, y and z, maybe I’ll support him.’ I said, ‘I am supporting Senator Obama, because no matter what our differences might be, they pale in comparison to the differences between us and the Republicans.’ That’s what I did.
A Sanders adviser says the events, which Sanders insists on calling “meetings”, play to the candidate’s strengths and energize the campaign in cities where the rallies take place.
But Sanders was declared the victor in Rhode Island and it is clear that he has no plan to get out of the race. That state votes June 7.
“I’m not going to hold my breath”, he said, “but I’ll be canvassing this Saturday with my daughter here in Lafayette”.
The visit would come just six days before Indiana’s May 3 primary election – a race which could be tight on the Democratic side between Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
At times the Sanders-Clinton divide in Hollywood has grown heated.
“If we can significantly increase voter turnout so that low-income people and working people and young people participated in the political process, if we got a voter turnout of 75 percent, this country would be radically transformed”, he reasoned said. Fifty-four percent of Clinton supporters said they were “extremely” or “very enthusiastic” about their candidate, compared to 44 percent of Sanders’ supporters.
Clinton leads Sanders in the pledged delegate count by about 250, and will likely expand on that lead after Tuesday’s primaries in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
Her only competition is a recruited socialist who never had to do much heavy lifting in Vermont, and until just recently, was largely unknown in most Democratic circles.
In a statement released by his campaign following Tuesday’s results, Sanders hinted at losing the nomination. Clinton officials worry Sanders is handing Republicans fodder for their campaign against her in the fall.
Sanders’ chances at winning the nomination are increasingly slim, and he has done little prepare his staff or organizing operations for a general election against a Republican.
“There’s not a question whether if we are going to continue – we are going to continue”, he said.
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But interviews with some Sanders supporters suggest that their loyalties may not long remain with the party.
