CLINTON ON WAY TO WINNING BIG
Hillary Clinton all but secured the Democratic nomination Tuesday after a long and bruising primary fight against rival Sen. Bernie Sanders, scoring decisive victories in four of five East Coast states to cast ballots.
In the last big day of multiple contests before Democrats conclude their primary voting in June, Clinton won Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut and Delaware, and Sanders won in tiny Rhode Island, the only state where independents could vote in the Democratic contest.
Overall, Sanders picked up a fraction of the delegates awarded to Clinton.
While not mathematically eliminated, the liberal senator from Vermont, whose outsider campaign captured a current of Democratic discontent, remains far behind and now faces nearly impossible odds as the nominating contest draws to a close.
Clinton all but declared victory over Sanders on Tuesday, turning her sights to the Democratic National Convention,
to be held here in July, and a possible general election race against Republican Donald Trump.
Speaking to a boisterous crowd of 1,300 in Philadelphia, Clinton asked Democrats to imagine a more hopeful, compassionate country “where love trumps hate.”
Speaking to Sanders supporters, Clinton said she intends to unify the party. She appealed to their shared values, including reducing income inequality, college affordability and universal health coverage.
“Our campaign is about restoring people’s confidence in our ability to solve problems together,” Clinton said. “That’s why we’re setting bold, progressive goals backed up by real plans.
“After all, that is how progress is made,” she said. “We have to be both dreamers and doers.”
Tuesday’s performance allows Clinton to reposition her campaign for the general election fight against Republicans in ways that have been difficult to do while fending off Sanders’s persistent, wellfunded and remarkably successful challenge.
Her speech Tuesday included an appeal to moderate independent voters, who Democrats believe may be looking for a home in a general election if the Republican nominee is Trump.
“If you are a Democrat, an independent or a thoughtful Republican, you know their approach is not going to build an America where we increase opportunity or decrease inequality,” Clinton said. “So instead of us letting them take us backwards, we want America to be in the future business.”
Trump, declaring victory Tuesday, repeated his new epithet for Clinton: “Crooked Hillary.”
“She will not be a good president,” he said. “She doesn’t have the strength. She doesn’t have the stamina.”
He added: “If Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she’d get 5 percent of the vote.”
Sanders has pledged to remain in the race, but a strategist said his team will assess his strategy based on Tuesday’s results.
In a statement Tuesday night, Sanders congratulated Clinton on her victories and said he looks forward to “issue-oriented campaigns in the 14 contests to come.”
“The people in every state in this country should have the right to determine who they want as president and what the agenda of the Democratic Party should be,” Sanders said. “That’s why we are in this race until the last vote is cast.”
He listed several issues he would like to see in the Democratic platform, including a $15 minimum wage and a singlepayer health care system.