Sanders wins Indiana primary

Sanders wins Indiana, but victory means little in march toward Dem nomination

Bernie Sanders was declared the winner of the Indiana primary Tuesday, but Hillary Clinton was already looking ahead to the general election, and Sanders’ victory was not enough to change her trajectory toward the Democratic nomination.

Sanders, a Vermont senator, insists his goal remains to win the party’s presidential nomination, even if it appears to be mathematically out of reach. Democrats distribute delegates proportionately in all states, so the only way for Sanders to close Clinton’s delegate lead is to win all future contests by huge margins and persuade many superdelegates — party leaders and elected officials free to support either candidate — to switch their votes to him, even in states Clinton won.

Speaking in Louisville on Tuesday night, Sanders said, “In primary after primary, caucus after caucus, we end up winning the vote of people 45 years of age and younger,” proving that “the ideas that we are fighting for are the ideas of the future of America and the future of the Democratic Party.” His campaign, he said, “is a political revolution.”

But Clinton was looking past him. “I’m really focused on moving into the general election. ... We’re going to have a tough campaign,” Clinton said during an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday.

In a swing through West Virginia and eastern Ohio on Tuesday, Clinton campaigned as the presumptive nominee. During a stop at a diner in Athens, Ohio, with Sen. Sherrod Brown, she said the Indiana race had been “a great campaign, and we’ll see how it goes.”

Clinton’s aim in the two- day Appalachian trip is to begin outreach to underserved communities that may be ground zero for Donald Trump’s attempts to build a bigger Republican coalition.

West Virginia, which votes May 10, is a solid Republican state, and is trending more so in recent cycles.

“She knows the politics of West Virginia,” said Sen. Joe Manchin, D- W. Va., who joined her at a substance abuse forum. “But it didn’t stop her from caring” and traveling to the state, he said.

Clinton had a lead of more than 300 pledged delegates entering Tuesday’s contest.

JOE RAEDLE, GETTY IMAGES Hillary Clinton’s aim in Appalachia was to reach out to underserved communities.