Clinton focuses on Trump, not Sanders, in San Jose rally

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a rally in San Jose, California on May 26, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / JOSH EDELSONJOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a rally in San Jose, California on May 26, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / JOSH EDELSONJOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images Photo: JOSH EDELSON, AFP/Getty Images Photo: JOSH EDELSON, AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close Clinton focuses on Trump, not Sanders, in San Jose rally 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

Despite her rapidly tightening presidential primary battle in California, Hillary Clinton came out swinging Thursday against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump rather than Democratic rival Bernie Sanders at rallies in San Jose and San Francisco.

“What Trump is saying is dangerous and divisive,” Clinton told a crowd of about 1,000 at her first stop, Parkside Hall in downtown San Jose, repeating President Obama’s comment Thursday from the Group of Seven summit in Japan, saying that foreign leaders are “rattled” by what the New York businessman has said on the campaign trail.

The former secretary of state barely mentioned her battle with Sanders, who recent polls show has a solid chance of winning the June 7 California primary.

Later, during a 29-minute speech in San Francisco, Clinton ran through a litany of Trump’s proposals, including withdrawing from NATO and banning Muslims from entering the United States, and said, “Based on what we have already heard, Donald Trump is an unqualified loose cannon who cannot get near the most powerful job in the world.”

Instead, Clinton said she was proud of what she called the forward-looking, issues-oriented campaigns that she and the Vermont senator have run.

‘All on the same page’

“We are all on the same page,” Clinton said in San Jose. “We are going to come together as a unified Democratic Party to make the case against Donald Trump.”

There was more than a bit of wishful thinking in that part of Clinton’s half-hour address in San Jose. Win or lose in California, Sanders has promised to take his campaign all the way to the Democratic National Convention in July, where he would both fight for his progressive agenda and try to pull unpledged “superdelegates” away from Clinton.

Clinton’s delegate count virtually guarantees she will exit California’s primary with the support she needs for a first-ballot nomination. Still, a loss here would send her limping into the national convention in Philadelphia. It also would give Sanders and his backers more fuel for the argument that he would be the stronger candidate in November.

A Public Policy Institute of California poll released Wednesday showed Clinton with a 46 percent to 44 percent edge over Sanders, down from her seven-point lead in March. And with Sanders barnstorming through the state in such out-of-the-way spots as Riverside County’s Cathedral City, population 51,200, Clinton is being forced into an all-out California campaign she never really wanted.

While she has rejected a one-on-one debate with Sanders in California, Clinton was forced to schedule a $1 million-plus TV ad campaign when the senator made his own $1.5 million buy. And she’s traveling across California, trying to get an early start on her fall campaign against Trump, but unable to ignore Sanders and the millions of people who have flocked to his cause.

In San Francisco, she was introduced by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and, before him, Mayor Ed Lee, who was booed as he walked onstage by many in the audience of 1,000. Their catcalls echoed off the marble walls inside the recently remodeled Hibernia Bank building in the gritty Tenderloin. Just a few hundred feet from the event, many homeless people lay sprawled on the sidewalk, and Clinton supporters walked past them to get to the event.

‘Where’s Our Debate?’

Before Clinton’s San Jose speech, a half dozen Sanders supporters stood across the street from the hall, holding signs asking, “Where’s Our Debate?” and “Say No to Unfair Trade Deals.”

But even Sanders and his backers couldn’t complain about her verbal assault on Trump, saying the estimated $25 billion it could cost to build his proposed wall on the Mexican border could pay for “1,500 new elementary schools” or the college costs for 300,000 military veterans.

‘Heartbreak and despair’

Clinton also brought up Trump’s comments in 2007 about how he was almost rooting for a housing downturn because of the money he could make as a real estate developer.

“Five million homes lost. Think of the heartbreak and despair,” Clinton said. “We know a lot about Donald Trump. He roots for himself ... and that’s the type of person who should not be president of the United States.”

In San Francisco, she railed on Trump because he has refused to release his tax returns, a perfunctory disclosure for years for candidates from both parties. She wondered whether it was because he hasn’t given many charitable donations or hadn’t paid his fair share of taxes.

“If you have paid federal income tax, show us,” she said.

She closed with a call for help in the June primary, urging the audience to vote and bring their friends to the polls.

“If you will vote for me, California, I will work my heart out to give you the future you deserve,” Clinton said.

John Wildermuth and Joe Garofoli are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com, jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: jfwildermuth @joegarofoli