Galindez writes: "'We are on a path toward victory,' Bernie Sanders told 8,100 cheering supporters who filled an arena at the University of Wisconsin Saturday. 'It is hard for anybody to deny that our campaign has the momentum.'"



Senator Bernie Sanders. (photo: Getty Images)

Bernie Sanders: "We Are On a Path Toward Victory"

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

e are on a path toward victory,” Bernie Sanders told 8,100 cheering supporters who filled an arena at the University of Wisconsin Saturday.

“It is hard for anybody to deny that our campaign has the momentum.”

“Momentum” was the theme of Sanders’ speech as the results came in from Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii. It was a great day for Bernie Sanders, who swept the three caucuses with over 70% of the vote in each. The large margins are exactly what he needed to cut into Hillary Clinton’s lead in pledged delegates.

Sanders defeated Clinton in Washington by 72% to 27%, Hawaii by 71% to 29%, and Alaska by 82% to 18%.

It is still an uphill battle for the senator from Vermont. “We knew from day one we were going to have a hard time politically in the Deep South – that is a conservative part of the country,” Sanders told supporters in Madison, Wisconsin. “But we knew things were going to improve as we head west.”

“We are making significant inroads in Secretary Clinton’s lead,” he said. “We have a path toward victory.”

Clinton’s campaign had acknowledged that Saturday would be a good one for Sanders, and her efforts in Washington were aimed mostly at trying to keep the race relatively close, as delegates are distributed proportionally.

Results from Hawaii didn’t come in until after 3 a.m. on the East Coast. When they did, the Sanders campaign released the following statement from Bernie: “I want to thank the people of Hawaii for their strong support and for turning out in huge numbers for Saturday’s caucuses. Nobody should have any doubt that this campaign has extraordinary momentum and that we have a path toward victory. In state after state, our grassroots effort has taken on the entire political establishment. We have taken on the senators and the governors and the mayors and the members of Congress. Our political revolution is the best chance we have to keep Donald Trump or any other Republican out of the White House.”

Sanders delivered his standard stump speech, but this time he highlighted his campaign’s momentum, making a case for how he plans to win the Democratic Party nomination. Sanders said that momentum was winning several states this week by large margins. Momentum was passing Clinton in two recent national polls. Momentum is consistently polling better against the Republicans than Clinton. All arguments that have to be having some effect on the superdelegates currently supporting Hillary Clinton.

As the results poured in from Washington State, MoveOn was circulating a petition calling for the superdelegates from that state to honor the vote. The establishment media continues to report the super delegate count with the earned pledged delegates. A CNN reporter even falsely claimed that Sanders would need to win 75% of the remaining delegates to win the nomination. The claim would only be true if the 469 superdelegates currently supporting Clinton couldn’t change their mind at any time. The way the media is currently reporting the delegate race is misleading and helps Hillary Clinton sell the narrative that Sanders can’t catch her.

Wisconsin and Beyond

Next up for the Democrats is Wisconsin. Many people have their own theories on the state, but John Nichols, who writes for both The Nation and The Capital Times in Madison predicts a knock-down drag-out battle in the state that he said both Clinton and Sanders have strong ties to. Nichols told MSNBC that both candidates have been to the state often and will be there even more over the next week and a half, fighting for every delegate.

Sanders chose Madison for his victory speech last night and has already held large events in the state. Madison is a hotbed for progressives but Nichols warns that there are a lot of different types of Democrats throughout the state and nobody should try to paint the state with one brush.

Recent polling is a mixed bag: A Marquette University Poll in February had Sanders up by 1 point. A more recent Emerson College poll has Clinton leading Sanders by 6 points, 50% to 44%, with 5% undecided.

Wisconsin’s demographics bode well for Sanders, who has enjoyed his strongest wins in states with a low percentage of minorities and lopsided support for him among young voters. He leads Clinton 67% to 29% in the 18-34 age group and ties her at 48% among voters 35-54. As in other primaries Emerson College has polled, he trails her by large margins with older voters: 63% to 31% (ages 55- 74) and 73% to 19% (ages 75 and up). Less than 10% of the state’s Democratic voters are African American or Latino, groups that have supported Clinton very heavily in other states.

After Wisconsin, Sanders has a lot of work to do. Current polling in key states like New York and Pennsylvania show 20+ point leads for Clinton. There is plenty of time to close the gap in those states, but Sanders needs to do more than catch up – he needs to win handily to make up the current delegate lead that Clinton built up in the South.

It was not a coincidence that “momentum” was the theme of Sanders’ speech in Madison on Saturday. He needs that momentum to continue east after big wins in the West. He needs to win big in Wisconsin, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. If he does, he is correct: there is a path to victory.