Hillary Clinton on Wednesday all but brushed aside her stunning loss to Sen. Bernard Sanders in the Michigan primary, pushing the narrative that the Democratic presidential contest will effectively end over the next several weeks.
In a conference call with reporters, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said their strategy always has focused on the delegate race, and that the result in Michigan Tuesday night was, in essence, meaningless.
“From the beginning, we have approached this nominating contest as a battle for delegates, so while Sen. Sanders has placed big bets on pulling out wins in individual states, we have sought to compete everywhere, in every state, with the goal of amassing the most delegates possible,” he said, pointing out that Mrs. Clinton trounced Mr. Sanders in the Mississippi primary and won more delegates overall in the two Tuesday contests.
The latest delegate count puts Mrs. Clinton ahead 1,221 to 571 for Mr. Sanders. The figures include so-called party “superdelegates” who are free to support either candidate.
In terms of pledged delegates — those awarded based on actual vote totals in primaries and caucuses — Mrs. Clinton leads Mr. Sanders by about 217, Mr. Mook said.
Moving forward, voters in Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Florida and North Carolina will go to the polls March 15.
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Despite Mr. Sanders’ strong showing in the Midwestern state of Michigan, the Clinton campaign insists it will widen its lead next week.
“We are nearing the point where the delegate lead effectively will become insurmountable,” Mr. Mook said. “Even in a scenario where Sen. Sanders were to win all three of the states he is targeting in the Midwest … we would still expect to win significantly more delegates on the 15th based not only on our strong showings in those same three states, but our performance in the very delegate-rich states of Florida and North Carolina.”
For his part, Mr. Sanders is arguing that he now has the momentum in the race and is poised to make major gains in the delegate count.
“Next Tuesday is the most important night for our campaign to date,” he said in an email to supporters. “Five large states vote, and we have all the momentum. And what we’ve shown is that when we come together, we have what it takes to overcome what was once thought to be an inevitable campaign.”
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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