Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Sanders foresees a ‘messy’ season
LOS ANGELES — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia and his push to make the party more inclusive could get “messy.”
But, he asserted in an interview, “Democracy is not always nice and quiet and gentle.”
That was evident Tuesday after his campaign announced that it would seek a recanvass in last week’s Kentucky primary, where he trailed Clinton by less than one- half of 1 percentage point. The recanvass, which is not a recount, involves reviewing the election results but is unlikely to change the results or the awarding
of delegates. One delegate remains to be allocated because of the tight tally.
For Republicans, Donald Trump inched closer late Tuesday to securing the nomination, racking up another primary win in Washington state. Before the ballots were counted, Trump had 1,169 delegates, needing another 68 to secure the nomination. Washington has 44 delegates.
Clinton, the former secretary of state, won Washington’s Democratic primary, a nonbinding vote, despite Sanders winning the formal caucus in March.
The U.S. senator from Vermont, campaigning Monday ahead of California’s primary where he faces Clinton, said his supporters hope the party will adopt a platform at the summer convention that reflects the needs of working families, the poor and young people, not Wall Street and corporate America.
Sanders said he will “condemn any and all forms of violence” but his campaign was welcoming political newcomers and first-time attendees of party conventions. He said the Democratic Party faces a choice of becoming more inclusive or maintaining the status quo.
“Democracy is not always nice and quiet and gentle but that is where the Democratic Party should go,” he said.
Asked if the convention could be problematical, Sanders said: “So what? Democracy is messy. Every day my life is messy. But if you want everything to be quiet and orderly and allow, you know, just things to proceed without vigorous debate, that is not what democracy is about.”
Sanders is vying for support ahead of California’s June 7 primary, a day that also includes contests in Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota. Clinton has 271 more pledged delegates than Sanders and is just 90 delegates shy of clinching the nomination when the total includes superdelegates, the party leaders and elected officials who can support the candidate of their choice.
Some Democrats have grown weary about the length of the primaries, worried that it could give Republican businessman Donald Trump a head start on the general election and make it more difficult for Democrats to unite behind a nominee. The issue gained attention when a recent Nevada Democratic convention turned raucous.
Sanders said he was “bothered” by the portrayal of the Las Vegas convention, saying it did not turn violent as some media reports indicated. “There was rowdyism. There was booing, I think inappropriately by the way,” he said.
The senator spoke after the Democratic National Committee announced a 15-member platform-drafting committee, which will write the first draft of the party platform. The panel includes allies of both candidates.
Sanders said the platform process would be an “excellent time to educate the American people,” saying it would allow the party to have a vigorous debate over ways to address wealth inequality, the role of Wall Street in the economy, climate change and universal health care.
“A serious debate about serious issues is good for democracy, is good for the Democratic Party. It will increase voter turnout and that always works in our effort to defeat Republicans,” he said.
He declined to entertain the possibility of being considered as Clinton’s running mate, saying he was focused on winning the nomination. “If I don’t, we will see what happens later on.” But he reiterated that he would do “everything that I can” to ensure that Trump is not elected president.
Sanders said he had a “shot” at winning the California primary against Clinton and said, given his delegate deficit, it was “imperative” that he perform well. He estimated his rallies around the state would allow him to speak directly to 200,000 voters before the primary.
“What happens if I win a major victory in California? Will people say, ‘Oh, we’re really enthusiastic about Hillary Clinton despite the fact that Bernie Sanders has now won whatever it may be, 25 states, half the states?’” he said.
If that happens, he added, superdelegates “may rethink that. That is why you want the process to play out.”
Clinton’s campaign said Monday that she would not participate in a proposed California debate, choosing instead to campaign in the state. Sanders said at an evening rally in Santa Monica he was “disturbed but not surprised” that Clinton had “backed out” of the debate, which was part of an agreement the campaigns reached with the Democratic National Committee earlier this year.
Sanders also looked ahead to the future of his political movement, saying his goal was “the transformation of the Democratic Party. To be a party which is a grass-roots party where the main energy comes from working families, from trade unionists, from environmentalists, from people today who want real political and social and economic and environmental changes in our society.”
CLINTON’S CALIFORNIA PUSH
In the final push for delegates in California, Sanders has poured a mountain of time and resources into California in an effort to claim as many of the state’s 475 pledged delegates as possible.
While Clinton is on track to have clinched a majority of delegates, and the Democratic nomination, before polls close in California, losing one of the most diverse and Democratic states in the union to Sanders would be damaging.
Clinton has deployed a huge effort to keep a once-loyal state from slipping from her grasp. She has opened eight offices and filled them with dozens of volunteers and paid operatives. She is running phone banks in seven languages.
“I can’t do any of this without your help,” Clinton told a crowd of supporters in Los Angeles. “California, I need your help.”
Clinton also has called in some of her most famous and effective surrogates — beginning with former President Bill Clinton, who has been barnstorming the state since Saturday and will remain through Tuesday for at least seven events. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., has worked in the black community. Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, have focused on gun control. Labor leader Dolores Huerta has campaigned on Clinton’s behalf in the Hispanic community.
Sanders, meanwhile, unveiled new advertising that will appear in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento, underscoring his intense focus on the state. The ad urged voters to choose a “new direction” for the Democratic Party.
“If we win big in California, we’re going to go marching into the Democratic convention with a lot of momentum,” Sanders said to cheers at a rally on the outskirts of Disneyland. “And if we go marching into the Democratic convention with a lot of momentum, we’re going to march out with the Democratic nomination.”
Clinton and Sanders say they have run aggressive ground games focused on registration, voting by mail and increasing voter turnout. The Sanders campaign has experienced upheaval in recent weeks. Four top campaign officials — including Sanders’ California director, Michael Ceraso — left the campaign. Ceraso cited differences over the campaign’s organizing strategy.
Clinton intends to focus heavily in California on minority-group communities, which have been loyal to her in other states. The campaign has focused intently on the state’s large Asian-American population; five of the seven languages spoken at Clinton’s phone banks target Asian voters.
“She’s got a long-standing relationship with a lot of these communities,” said Buffy Wicks, who was President Barack Obama’s California director in 2008 and is reprising the role for Clinton. “They view her as someone ultimately who gets up and fights every day.”
Sanders thinks that he can appeal to the state’s progressive roots.
“It’s a heavily Democratic state, it’s a progressive state that likes him on a lot of issues like minimum wage and campaign- finance reform or breaking up banks,” said Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs. “He’s got the boldest proposals on all of those areas.”
TRUMP FUNDRAISERS
As the Democratic nomination remains, at the moment, up for grabs, the presumptive Republican nominee has jump- started fundraising for the general election.
Trump will host his first presidential fundraisers this week, with the events directly benefiting his campaign. But he doesn’t see it that way.
Trump insists that his about-face from self-funded candidate to one who relies on donors is happening only at the request of the Republican National Committee.
“The RNC really wanted to do it, and I want to show good spirit,” Trump said in a phone interview. “’Cause I was very happy to continue to go along the way I was.”
With this week’s fundraisers — a small $10,000-perhead gathering Tuesday in Albuquerque, N.M., and a larger $25,000-per-head dinner today in Los Angeles — Trump gains hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars but loses his ability to say he is free from outside donors.
The deal itself shows Trump comes first.
For every check he solicits — and donors can give almost $450,000 apiece — the first $5,400 goes to Trump’s primary and general-election campaign accounts. The rest is spread among the Republican National Committee and 11 state parties.
Asked if he sees a contradiction in asking for money after repeatedly saying he stood above the other candidates because he didn’t, Trump said, “No, because I’m raising money for the party.”
Whatever deals have been made to create unity within the GOP, his campaign events continue to attract protests. Ahead of the Albuquerque rally Tuesday night, protests took a violent turn as demonstrators threw burning T-shirts, plastic bottles and other items at officers, overturned trash cans and knocked down barricades.
Police in riot gear responded by firing pepper spray and smoke grenades into the crowd outside the Albuquerque Convention Center.
During the rally, Trump was interrupted by protesters, who shouted, held up banners and resisted removal by security officers.
Trump responded by telling them to “Go home to mommy.” He pointed to one demonstrator, asking, “How old is this kid? Still wearing diapers.”