Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
BERNIE SANDERS CEMENTS STATUS AS FRONT-RUNNER
Blitz strives to secure overwhelming margin
California is the largest prize in the calculations of any Democratic presidential candidate, and Bernie Sanders has been working the state for months, worrying his rivals.
Sanders has been organizing intensively among Latinos and young voters, producing campaign materials in seven languages and going, as one aide said, “where most candidates don’t go.”
Mike Bloomberg has tried to counter Sanders with saturation advertising, including buying time at television stations in Nevada, Arizona and Oregon that also reach California.
Pete Buttigieg held three public events in the past week to capitalize on his early state momentum. Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren remain competitive.
The attention reflects a growing concern among Sanders’ rivals that if he performs well enough in the state, with its 415 delegates at stake on Super Tuesday, March 3, that he could build a delegate lead that is difficult to catch. Early voting is already underway in the state.
“California’s one of those unique places because these presidential elections don’t play out here very often,” said political strategist Ace Smith.
Sanders’ campaign has long counted California as important, deploying more than 80 staffers there last year and sending Sanders regularly. He’s running television ads in every market. Campaign staffers were out just days after ballots dropped Feb. 3, knocking on doors offering to collect them.
Buttigieg has regularly held fundraisers in Hollywood and has raised nearly $10 million from California donors, more than from any other state.
Biden has held public only events twice in the state since November and has no television advertising, though he has a digital buy.
Warren has spent no time in the state this year, though her campaign hosted multiple events targeting Latino voters this week and has more than four dozen staff members there. A spokesman declined to say whether she plans to run TV ads. Elsewhere on the campaign trail: ■ Buttigieg is trying to fundraise off the recent revelation that Russia may be trying to help the Sanders campaign.
News broke Friday that intelligence officials briefed Sanders a month ago about the apparent Russian meddling effort. Sanders called on the Russians to stop but also used the occasion to take a shot at The Washington Post, which was first to report it.
Buttigieg’s campaign said in a fundraising email Saturday that Sanders’ response was “deeply troubling” but also “telling of the kind of politics we’re in for in Bernie’s vision of the future.”
■ Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a national co-chair of Warren’s presidential campaign, said the Massachusetts senator’s finishes in some of the first voting contests are not reasons to count her out.
Pressley, who is campaigning for Warren in South Carolina, said that Warren’s strengths have long been underestimated and that she’s unconcerned about prior finishes or poll numbers.
■ Warren said her presidential campaign has raised $14 million in the past 10 days.
In a tweet, the Democratic hopeful said the haul is double what the campaign had hoped to raise between the New Hampshire primary and the Nevada caucuses. It’s unclear how much came in since Wednesday night, when Warren savaged New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg during the Democratic debate in Las Vegas.
■ A busload of volunteers for Buttigieg is on its way to South Carolina from Indiana to knock on doors for him.
His campaign said 18 volunteers from South Bend and Gary will spread the word on the former South Bend mayor ahead of the South Carolina primary Saturday.