Advertisement Sanders campaign calls four Super Tuesday wins 'fantastic night' While trailing in delegates, advisers see long path to victory Share Shares Copy Link Copy

After falling further behind chief rival Hillary Clinton Tuesday night, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders assured supporters he's not giving up the fight.Not a chance.Watch this storyWhile he said as much to a huge hometown crowd in Essex Junction, after trouncing Clinton in the Vermont primary, his senior advisers repeated the message in a meeting with reporters at Sanders headquarters in Burlington Wednesday morning."It's fair to say last night we had a fantastic night," said Jeff Weaver, Sanders' campaign manager. "I know some people are ready to write this campaign off as a message campaign, but this is a campaign to win. And the people of this country are standing behind us."Weaver said Sanders had campaigned in five of the 11 Super Tuesday states "and we won 4.9 of them," alluding to his razor thin loss to Clinton in Massachusetts, 50-49 percent. But Sanders won in Oklahoma, Minnesota and Colorado, states he had trailed by double digits in the closing days, and strategists said that shows they have momentum.They added the primary calendar ahead will be less favorable to Clinton than Super Tuesday, whhich featured several Southern states with large African-American populations, where Sanders still struggles.On Wednesday morning, NBC News political analyst Chuck Todd called Sanders' support among African-Americans "pathetic."Sanders' aides acknowledged he must do better with that demographic, but said as more voters get to know his story, and his civil rights record, things will change.DEMOCRATIC DELEGATES (through March 2)TOTALPledgedCLINTON1,034 577SANDERS 408 386Needed to win nomination: 2,383Sanders departed Burlington Wednesday morning for a rally in Portland, Maine, which caucuses Saturday, and then flew to Michigan, which holds its primary next week.Weaver called Michigan a critical showdown state."His message on trade in particular will be powerful out there," Weaver said. "He's been a consistent opponent of job-gutting trade deals which Secretary Clinton has supported for decades."In the morning briefing packed with national and local journalists, the campaign hoped to counter notions Clinton's early lead in pledged delegates, and her towering lead among party super-delegates, was insurmountable."So listen," said Tad Devine, the campaign's senior adviser, "We have a long way to go. We have a very good plan. Our plan is to win, and win consistently from now to June and if we do we believe Bernie Sanders will have more pledged delegates than Hillary Clinton." In either case, Weaver said, they will fight in every state, and campaign all the way to the Democratic National Convention in July.9233958