UDPATE: March 9, 2016,
9:30 a.m. EST — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders pulled off a
surprise upset in the Michigan Democratic presidential primary Tuesday night,
extending the viability of his campaign to win the Party's nomination.
But former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who beat Sanders overwhelmingly
in Mississippi Tuesday, is still the favorite to win the nomination and leads Sanders with 1,134
delegates (including superdelegates) to Sanders' 499.
Original story — With his
victory in the Maine caucuses, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has now won in
eight of the 19 states that have voted in the Democratic presidential
race. He is trailing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in
delegates and the number of contests won, but he and his campaign have
repeatedly asserted that they are still in good shape to bring together a
winning coalition before the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia
in July. But is that true?
The simple answer to that
question is, yes, Sanders could still, at least in theory, win the Democratic
nomination. The more complicated answer to that question — and one that is a
bit more common to hear from 2016 presidential pundits — is that the path ahead
doesn’t look great for the senator.
With his big win in the Maine
caucuses Sunday, Sanders brings his total number of delegates (including
superdelegates) up to 499. That’s far behind Clinton’s count of 1,130,
which also includes superdelegates.
Candidates need 2,383 delegates to win
the nomination, and 3,136 are yet to be chosen.
“We are having a very, very
good weekend,” Sanders said Saturday after winning in the Kansas and Nebraska
contests. “We think we have a lot of momentum behind us as we continue
forward.”
That there are 31 states left
to vote certainly shows the race is far from over. Unlike the Republicans, the
Democrats award their delegates on a proportional basis throughout the nominating season. It’s not at all clear
that Sanders will be able to make up for some of his campaign’s perceived
weaknesses at this point — including a notable lack of enthusiasm for
his candidacy among black and Hispanic voters — but he theoretically still has time and is said to be expecting strong
showings in big states down the line like New York and
California, as well as Washington and Oregon.
Superdelegates could be the
wild card. Unlike pledged delegates awarded by votes in primaries and caucuses,
the superdelegates are party leaders and elected officials and can change their
support at will. If Sanders does pick up enough momentum to make the race
tight, the two candidates could find themselves headed into the July convention
with those decisive delegate votes out of their control.
By Tim Marcin
The Democratic candidates
clashed repeatedly Sunday over Wall Street and how to grow the U.S. economy.
The former secretary of state
and U.S. senator from Vermont were jockeying to show which of them would be a
better leader in times of crisis.
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