Hillary Clinton won two more democratic primaries over the weekend. On Saturday, she claimed the Virgin Islands and late Sunday she also took Puerto Rico. These wins thrust Clinton even closer to becoming the Democratic nominee. In order to secure the party’s nomination candidates must secure 2,383 delegate votes.
So far Clinton is in the lead.
By contrast, Bernie Sanders now needs to win 98% of all remaining dels (pledged + super) to get to 2383, per NBC pic.twitter.com/sELb10VqaF
— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) June 6, 2016
With one of the largest primaries taking place Tuesday in California, Clinton is confident that she will declare victory. “I’m very proud of the campaign we’re running here, and I believe, on Tuesday, I will have decisively won the popular vote and I will have decisively won the pledged delegate majority,” she said.
Sanders on the contrast, warns the public not to buy into the hype. “It is extremely unlikely that Secretary Clinton will have the requisite number of pledged delegates to claim victory on Tuesday night,” Sanders said in a news conference on Saturday in Los Angeles Sanders told reporters. “Now, I have heard reports that Secretary Clinton has said it’s all going to be over on Tuesday night. I have reports that the media, after the New Jersey results come in, are going to declare that it is all over. That simply is not accurate.”
Sanders, well aware of the math, vowed again on Sunday night that he would not give up and would continue to campaign all the way to the convention floor in Philadelphia. When asked by reporters if he would contest the convention, he said “absolutely”. Contesting the convention’s decision would be a bold move by Sanders. A move that not many would be willing to do and would find unnecessary if they were in Sanders position. Yet Sanders has insisted that he is still lobbying super delegates (party officials and state leaders who cast their final votes at the convention), and will be able to get them to switch teams, hopefully securing him the nomination.
If you are wondering when candidates normally let go and Let God, take for example the 2008 election. In 2008 Clinton conceded to President Obama at the final primary, BEFORE the convention. Despite his tenacity, the numbers don’t lie and Tuesday may be dooms day for the Bern, a miracle the size of Kobe Bryant’s career is needed.
