The Vermont senator's victories were no surprise, but his huge margins were — he was winning by 42 percent in Hawaii with nearly all the votes counted, and final totals gave him wins by 45 percent in Washington and 64 percent in Alaska.

Sen. Bernie Sanders won Washington, Alaska and Hawaii by landslide margins over Hillary Clinton, completing a sweep of Saturday's Democratic presidential caucuses and injecting fresh momentum into what remains a long-shot campaign.

Sanders: 71

Clinton: 29

_______________________________________

Despite his show of strength, Sanders put only a dent in Clinton's delegate lead, which she piled up by trouncing him in Super Tuesday states across the Deep South and, two weeks later, she five-five, winning the important states of Ohio, Illinois, Florida and North Carolina. imTo win the 2,383 delegates need to clinch the nomination, Sanders would have to win nearly two-thirds of the remaining delegates.

Still, Sanders argued Saturday that his sweep combined with polls showing he would win against Donald Trump or Ted Cruz in the general election

Speaking to supporters in Madison, Wisconsin, Sanders said the campaign is going as expected — far better than most anybody thought before the nation's voting began.

"We knew from day one that we were going to have have a politically hard time in the deep South, which is the conservative part of our party," he said. "We also knew things were going to improve as we headed west.

"Well, we are making major inroads into Secretary Clinton's lead, and we have, with your support — coming to Wisconsin – we have a path toward victory."

Mathematically, that path to the nomination includes two musts for Sanders: winning remaining states by by margins similar to Saturday's and upsetting Clinton in several states that include minority populations similar in size to those have backed her most reliably.

To clinch the nomination, a candidate needs 2,383 delegates. Saturday's caucuses gave Clinton a total of 1,712 delegates to 1,004 for Sanders.

The gap includes 469 superdelegates, mostly elected officials and party leaders, who, under party rules, are declared Clinton supporters. Sanders got 28.

,Washington 2016 Democratic Caucus Results

Wisconsin voters are next on the primary schedule for Democrats and Republicans,on April 5, where the most recent poll, taken March 20-22, shows Clinton's lead narrowing to only 6 points, just inside the margin of error.

All three Saturday contests were caucuses, which can be a lengthy voting process and which Sanders has consistently done far better in than in primaries, where votes are private and, except for lines, quick.