And just in case anyone thought he would tone it down in the name of Democratic unity, his nine-car motorcade even made a detour back into Indiana — where he inflicted a fresh wound on Clinton with his surprise win in that state’s primary Tuesday — to buy a new bullhorn.

While crisscrossing Kentucky on a rainy spring day, he took a verbal shot at Hillary Clinton as he visited a new campaign office in Bowling Green, then greeted voters at a stop in Elizabethtown and held a rally in Lexington.

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Bernie Sanders made one thing very clear Wednesday: He’s staying in the Democratic presidential race, even if it bloodies the party’s front-runner.


Sanders stands virtually no chance of capturing the nomination because Clinton’s lead in delegates is too great. But the Vermont senator continues to hammer Clinton, and over the next two weeks he stands a good chance of winning three more states, West Virginia, Oregon, and Kentucky, which will put him in position to drag out the primary contest until the last states vote June 7.

That stubbornness wins him love from supporters, but it’s also a gift to the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, who sewed up the nomination with a knockout win in Indiana and can count on a month-long head start for the general election.

“Walking-dead zombie candidates can’t win the nomination, but they can still damage the prohibitive front-runner for the general election and hurt the party,” said Democratic strategist David Wade, who worked for John Kerry’s 2004 presidential bid and recalled the frustration of fending off friendly fire from Democratic challengers who had no chance of winning.

“The general election electorate is just tuning in now to watch Secretary Clinton as the presumptive nominee. It’s not helpful to have her taking shrapnel not just from the Republicans, but from Bernie Sanders.”


Sanders was asked by reporters Tuesday whether drawing out the primary will hurt the Democratic party’s chances in November.

“Not at all,” he said at a hastily organized evening news conference. “What we are doing in this campaign, and I am extremely proud of it, we are literally bringing millions of people into the political process.”

He said his campaign is energizing millions of new voters who will vote Democratic in November regardless of who is the nominee. “People come out and they hear the points of view of Secretary Clinton, they hear my points of view, they get involved and you know what, those people then vote in the general election,” Sanders said.

Clinton is now 93 percent of the way to clinching the nomination, according to an Associated Press tally of Democratic delegates. That count includes her overwhelming support from the party’s leaders who get to vote in the process. She’s also so far ahead in the pledged delegates awarded proportionally on a state-by-state basis, that she can lose all of the remaining races and still win the nomination.

Despite her loss in the Indiana primary, she turned her attention to Trump on Wednesday, as she continues to focus on the general election campaign.

“I’ve seen the presidency up close from two different perspectives, and I think I know what it takes, and I don’t think we can take a risk on a loose cannon like Donald Trump running our country,” Clinton said Wednesday while speaking to CNN’s Anderson Cooper.


Clinton and her allies insist that they won’t pressure Sanders to leave the contest. After all, she stayed in to the bitter end in her 2008 battle against Barack Obama.

In a memo to supporters issued Wednesday morning, the Clinton team made that crystal clear: “Our campaign and our surrogates will not be calling on him to drop out of the race.”

The “Daily Messaging Guidance” from the Clinton camp, which was obtained by the Globe, reiterated the campaign’s view that there is “no doubt” that Clinton will be the Democratic nominee.

It referred to the five percentage point defeat in the Indiana primary on Tuesday as a “close loss.”

The Clinton campaign also seemed to recognize that the next few weeks hold the promise of more losses that will generate negative news but will not count for much under the Democrats’ proportional system for awarding delegates.

“While she may not win every state from here on out, ultimately she is so much closer to the nomination. Senator Sanders will not be able to catch up, and each contest in which he doesn’t net huge victories are ultimately losses for his effort,” according to the memo.

Also looking good for Sanders are several of the six states voting June 7: Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

The real showdown that day, because of the state’s large size, will be in California. Sanders is planning a series of large rallies there.


Clinton announced that she’s hold organizing events in Los Angeles and Oakland on Friday.

Clinton’s aides pointed out favorable historical context for her current predicament.

In 2008, they said, Obama lost the final 12 primary contests and “was still a strong nominee who won a decisive victory.”

But the situation is frustrating some Democrats who want a clean shift to the general election contest and taking on Trump.

“There are going to be Democrats who are going to increasingly ask: ‘Why is he doing this? What is the point? Is his ambition more important than uniting the party so we can win November?’ ” said Steve McMahon, a Democratic strategist.

Democrats are particularly concerned with Sanders’ attacks on Clinton’s ties to Wall Street and the Washington establishment that tend to bolster Trump’s nickname for his likely opponent, “Crooked Hillary.”

On Tuesday night, as election results from the Indiana primary were coming in, Sanders included some of those barbs in his stump speech to an enthusiastic crowd of 7,000 in Louisville at a park near the water.

“We have shown the world that we can run a winning national campaign without being dependent on powerful special interests,” Sanders boomed. “Secretary Clinton has chosen to raise her funds in a different way!” The crowd booed.

Sanders pressed on. “Secretary Clinton has given a number of speeches to Wall Street institutions for $225,000 a speech!” he yelled. Again, the crowd shouted its disapproval.

Clinton received some indirect help in the general election fight to come from Senator Elizabeth Warren — the national figure with a profile that rivals Sanders’ who has conspicuously refused to endorse anyone in the Democratic primary.


Warren unleashed a nine-part tweetstorm against Trump on Tuesday. It culminated in a pledge to focus on the general election: “I’m going to fight my heart out to make sure @realDonaldTrump’s toxic stew of hatred & insecurity never reaches the White House,” she wrote.

Clinton was asked about one part of Warren’s digital torrent Wednesday in a CNN interview and replied: “I think Elizabeth Warren is very smart.”

Warren is frequently mentioned as a potential Clinton running mate. Such an alliance would be tricky for Warren, who is beloved by the progressive wing of the party that Sanders is fighting to lead.

Should she endorse Clinton too soon — while Sanders is seen by his millions of followers as viable — she risks angering liberals and losing some of the very power she could bring to a Clinton ticket.