Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign said it plans to lay off hundreds of field staffers and other aides, even as the Democratic candidate promises to keep running against Hillary Clinton through the June primaries and into the Philadelphia convention.
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Bernie Sanders’ campaign is downsizing its field staff, as well as some advance and other workers, an adviser told CNN Wednesday afternoon. “This is a process that we’ve done before of right-sizing the campaign as we move through the calendar”, said Sanders’ campaign communications director Michael Briggs. He says he’s more focused on uniting the party behind the eventual nominee.
Sanders will hold a rally at the IU Auditorium on Indiana University’s Bloomington campus tonight.
Trump rolled up big victories in all five states that had Republican primaries Tuesday – Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
Mr. Cruz has reached a pact with John Kasich, the distant third candidate in the race, who has agreed to stay away from campaigning in IN in order to allow Mr. Cruz a head to head contest with Mr. Trump.
Many in the Republican establishment have fought hard to stop Trump, anxious his nomination will help elect another Democrat to the White House, and perhaps even help Democrats win back control of the Senate.
Polls indicate that Trump has 39% support in Indiana’s Republican race, followed by Cruz at 33% and Kasich with 19%, American political website RealClearPolitics said. “And frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man I don’t think she’d get 5% of the vote”.
Jeff Weaver, his campaign manager, said: “The calendar is coming closer to the end and there are not that many states going forward”.
Democratic voters expect that one candidate will sew up the nomination before the party convention in July, although as many Sanders supporters say they think there will be an open convention as think there will be a victor beforehand.
Despite notching up more delegates and dominating the media agenda, Trump’s ultimate claim on the nomination remains far from certain.
█ I call her “crooked Hillary” because she’s crooked, and the only thing she’s got is the woman card. “We announce what we are doing and they prepare for it”, Trump said. “And that was a perfectly reasonable decision”, Cruz said.
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Despite winning at least 1,401 delegates, Sanders’ campaign has struggled in closed primaries where independents are unable to vote.
