Sanders Looks To Press On To The Convention
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HARTFORD, Conn. (CBSMiami/AP) — Democratic Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is vowing to stay in the race until the summer convention.
All this as Hillary Clinton looks to lock down her commanding position for the party's nomination with a strong performance in a five-state round of contests Tuesday.
Clinton has the chance of a clean sweep or at least multiple victories Tuesday that would probably foreclose Sanders' already narrow path to the nomination. But the Vermont senator's campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, said the millions of dollars flowing to Sanders and the boisterous rallies show that his "supporters will stand with us all the way to the end."
Asked whether he expects a contested national Democratic convention, Weaver told reporters in Connecticut, "Absolutely, 100 percent." Weaver said: "This is a powerful movement he's built and we're going to take it to the convention."
Both Democrats spent the day before the Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island contests campaigning on the East Coast.
Clinton looked beyond her rivalry with Sanders and went after Republican front-runner Donald Trump as a man out of touch on wages, climate change, national security and the lives of everyday people.
"Come out of those towers named after yourself and actually talk and listen to people," Clinton told a Delaware crowd, as if talking to him. "Don't just fly that big jet in and land it and go make a big speech and insult everybody you can think of and then go back in on that big jet and go back to your country club house in Florida or your penthouse in New York." She was addressing more than 900 people in a Wilmington theater.
At a Hartford rally with more than 1,800 people, Sanders drew distinctions with Clinton on the minimum wage, his call for a carbon tax to address climate change, fracking and more.
"We cannot afford to poison our water," he said. "Secretary Clinton does not agree. As secretary of state she pushed fracking all across the world." Sanders said he would phase out fracking as president.
Tuesday's contests offer 384 delegates, who will be divided proportionally based on the outcome. After her New York victory, Clinton has a lead of more than 200 delegates won in primaries and caucuses. Including superdelegates, Clinton's lead stands at 1,944 to 1,192 for Sanders, according to an Associated Press count. That means she has 82 percent of the 2,383 delegates needed to win the nomination.
Clinton planned a primary-night rally Tuesday in Philadelphia, the city where the party's nominee will accept the nomination in July.
(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
