DEMOCRATIC FIELD TO TEST SANDERS
LOS ANGELES >> Four years after a bitter loss in California’s presidential primary, Bernie Sanders is banking on a comeback that could be a capstone moment for the state’s progressive wing.
Sanders declared that “the struggle continues” on the night of his 2016 loss in California to eventual nominee Hillary Clinton. He returns in 2020 as the leading Democratic candidate, with a string of recent polls showing him having a wide advantage over rivals in the state that delivers the primary season’s biggest payload of delegates.
His volunteer army is unmatched in the state, and he tallied 46 percent of the vote here in his losing 2016 run. But Sanders’ is also facing unpredictable factors, not least of which is who actually votes. Some of Sanders’ strongest supporters, including young people and Hispanics, tend to be among the least reliable voters and they are trailing other groups in mail-in ballots returned so far.
At the same time, moderate Democrats are clearing the field for South Carolina primary winner Joe Biden in an urgent attempt to stop the ascent of Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who centrists fear could doom the party in November.
Amy Klobuchar and Pete But
tigieg are backing Biden after ending their campaigns. California billionaire Tom Steyer exited the race Saturday.
State election rules intended to increase participation make it likely that ballot- count ing could continue for weeks in close contests. Another unknown: untested former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who has spent tens of millions of dollars in advertising in the most populous state, is on the ballot for the first time on Super Tuesday, when California is among 14 states with presidential contests.
Four years ago, many Sanders supporters were dejected after his defeat and suspicious of an election process they believe tilted unfairly to Clinton. But his sprawling volunteer corps regrouped, and a candidate once considered on the political fringe has this year accumulated more delegates than any other Democrat so far.
“We were so mistreated at the (2016 Democratic) convention, for him to win California,
it would basically thrill us,” said Michael Thaller, a former chair of the California Democratic Party’s Progressive Caucus and longtime Sanders supporter.
The swift reordering of the Democratic contest could provide an opening for Biden, who has been lagging in state polls. And he might have another hidden advantage: California prides itself on being the birthplace of the next great thing, but in politics, its voters sometimes look backward and favor the familiar.
For example, in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, California delivered a comfortable victory for Clinton, who eventually lost the nomination to Barack Obama.
Sanders has long considered California among the critical early states, and he capped the California primary campaign with a pair of large rallies Sunday in San Jose and Los Angeles. But his rivals are looking for delegates, too. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is expected to speak Monday in a heavily Hispanic neighborhood near Los Angeles, and Biden planned to be back Tuesday.