Facing elimination, Bernie Sanders declined Monday to look past primary contests in California and five other states as Hillary Clinton inches closer to securing enough delegates to become the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
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The New York Times also reports the Obama is particularly excited to campaign against presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump. Sanders never came up.
Earlier in the day in Oakland, speaking in a small sanctuary across from an auto body shop, Clinton called on Americans to “come together” on issues ranging from the economy and education to health care and affordable housing. Reprising the theme of her widely praised speech on foreign policy last Thursday, she reminded voters that he has “insulted our closest allies”, “praised dictators”, and acted in “very cavalier ways” that would make the country unsafe if he were to be elected.
“We’ll be taking a plane back to Burlington and certainly will be campaigning in D.C.”, he said.
Sanders still stands in Clinton’s way – at least regarding party unity – by repeatedly stating he will take his fight to the convention in Philadelphia, regardless of Tuesday’s outcome.
The shift in tone began with her speech Thursday in San Diego. He said it would be “not quite accurate” for Clinton to claim victory by counting super-delegates before the convention.
Clinton has always been the front-runner to be the Democratic nominee in the November 8 election but has faced an unexpectedly tough fight against Sanders, a US senator from Vermont who has attacked her from the left.
Clinton has 1,809 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses; Sanders has 1,519. As the race was called, Clinton was on stage on Sacramento, rallying voters in California.
Sanders capped his long-running California swing with stops Monday in liberal bastions around San Francisco, including a get-out-the-vote rally with rocker Dave Matthews. Sanders said on the show. “She was supposed to be campaigning in New Jersey, but suddenly, she and Bill got on a plane, and here they are in California”.
Clinton – who, like Sanders, has stumped relentlessly in the Golden State in recent weeks – signalled the race had run its course and she would prevail as Democratic standard bearer. But few of the hundreds of superdelegates who back Clinton have shown any indication of flipping to Sanders.
Clinton is now locked in a close race with Vermont Sen.
Sanders’ campaign strategy has revolved around painting Clinton as the ultimate political insider who has gamed the system and cooperated with Wall Street for her personal gain, but now he has added the scandals and her hypocritical record to his arsenal of attacks.
“After the primary here in California, where we hope to win, let’s assess where we are after tomorrow before we make statements based on speculation”, Sanders said during a press conference in Emeryville, California.
Campaigning in California, where she’s still struggling to hold off Sanders, Clinton said the timing of an official endorsement was “up to the president”. “If I were them, I’d be screaming too because they know they will be toast by Election Day”, he said.
“He’s been very respectful of both of them and careful not to put his thumb on the scale, but at some point, the verdict is the verdict, and that point is nearly certainly Tuesday, which is what he was saying”, David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Obama’s presidential campaign, told the Times. But she made an appeal to voters here as they prepare to vote Tuesday.
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“She would be coming from a laboratory of experience”, Jones said.
