Along with Hawaii, Democrats in Alaska and Washington also caucus Saturday to pick their state’s nominee.
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On Saturday, he told more than 8,000 cheering supporters at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin, that his campaign now has momentum, citing Saturday’s wins that followed recent victories in Utah and Idaho. Right now, Clinton’s collection of pledged delegates tops Sanders’ by more than 300 as the fight for the nomination heads into the home stretch.
Clinton has 1,234 delegates at the moment as against Sanders’s 956 (excepting the superdelegates, including whom gives the former an even bigger lead).
With 100 percent of precincts reporting in the Alaska caucuses, Sanders received 80.7 percent of the vote to Clinton’s 19.3 percent.
Does Bernie Sanders stand a chance with Clinton?
He aimed for a third victory in Hawaii where he has been bolstered by the endorsement of Tulsi Gabbard, the first-ever Hindu elected to the US Congress, who resigned from a high post within the Democratic party to support the Vermont Senator and has appeared in an ad on behalf of his campaign.
Meanwhile, the Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has told the New York Times he would consider stopping USA oil purchases from Saudi Arabia unless the Saudi government provide troops to fight Islamic State. Bernie Sanders I-Vt., speaks at a campaign rally in Spokane, Wash., Thursday, March 24, 2016.
“I know it doesn’t look like it, but that bird is really a dove asking us world peace”. Even the Clinton camp acknowledges in private that this Saturday would favour Sanders more than her.
Still, Mrs. Clinton remains far ahead in the delegate race and the heavy favorite to win the party’s nomination.
According to party rules, Washington will send 118 delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist and Clinton supporter, said the wins were a boost for the Sanders campaign, but added Clinton had “too big a lead” for it to make a real difference.
“I want to thank the people of Hawaii for their strong support and for turning out in huge numbers for Saturday’s caucuses”. Hawaii Democrats started their nominating process later in the day. “Bernie Sanders’ big win in Hawaii is to his credit, but also to the credit of all the incredible grassroots volunteers who have worked so hard to turn out the vote today”. Sanders had the attention of mainstream media, as CNN recapped his steady climb towards establishing himself as a true contender in the race for the Democratic nomination.
Sanders says he expects to close the delegate gap with Clinton as the contest moves to liberal north-eastern states.
And, John Ryan from member station KUOW in Seattle notes, Sanders has been beating Hillary Clinton in terms of fundraising in all three states.
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Based on that count, Mr. Sanders still needs to win 58 percent of the remaining delegates from primaries and caucuses to have a majority of those delegates before the party convention in July in Philadelphia.
