Sen. Bernie Sanders was projected to win the Alaska, Washington and
Hawaii Democratic presidential caucuses -- victories he hopes will spark
a Western states comeback and help him cut into frontrunner Hillary
Clinton’s substantial lead.
The Associated Press projected Sanders the winner of
the Alaska and Washington contests Saturday, while the results of
Hawaii's presidential contest weren't announced until early Sunday
morning.
"We knew things were going to improve as we headed
west," Sanders said at a rally in Madison, Wis. "We are making
significant inroads in ... Clinton's lead ... We have a path toward
victory."
Clinton leads by roughly 300 pledged delegates, with
142 up for grabs Saturday. Washington had the biggest prize, 101
delegates, followed by Hawaii with 25 and Alaska with 16.
Sanders, a democratic socialist, on Saturday
acknowledged his struggles in recent contests across the South, with its
strong conservative voting bloc. But he remained optimistic about
upcoming contests in the more liberal West including those in Oregon and
California, which alone offers 546 delegates.
The next Democratic and Republican primaries are April 5 in Wisconsin.
Sanders is popular among younger and more progressive
Americans but continues to struggle to connect with Hispanic and
African-American voters.
He will win at least nine delegates in Alaska. And
all of them are elected to the state Democratic convention, not the
party's national nominating convention in July in Philadelphia.
Going into Saturday, Clinton had a 1,223-to-920 lead
on Sanders in so-called pledged delegates, who are bound to candidates
by their states' elections.
It takes 2,383 delegates to clinch the nomination.
Sanders was expected to do well in Washington,
considering residents of Seattle, the biggest city in the Pacific
Northwest, are among the most liberal in the country and major campaign
contributors.
He drew more than 10,000 supporters to a rally Friday
evening at Safeco Field in Seattle. And by Saturday afternoon, the
state appeared to be having a record voter turnout, which has helped
keep alive Sanders’ insurgent campaign.
In Spokane, a huge line of caucus attendees had already snaked around a high school parking by Saturday morning.
"I think one of the biggest things is free tuition
for students and getting big money out of politics," said Savannah
Dills, 24, a college student who supports Sanders. "He's not paid for by
billionaires."
Top Sanders adviser Ted Devine recently told
FoxNews.com that he was optimistic about the campaign cutting Clinton’s
lead this weekend to under 300 delegates “with a couple of thousands
more delegates to go.”
Most of the Washington’s Democratic leadership had
endorsed Clinton, including Gov. Jay Inslee, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and
Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell.
Still, Sanders entered Saturday’s contests optimistic
after winning more delegate than Clinton in three contests earlier this
week -- nearly 20 in the Idaho and Utah caucuses, despite losing the
marquee Arizona primary to the former secretary of state.
Sanders has done significantly better in caucus contests, now winning nine of the last 11.
Most of his 14 primary-season wins have been in
states with largely white populations and in the caucus contests, which
tend to attract the most active liberal Democrats.
Yet Sanders still needs a dramatic surge to catch
Clinton or even hold her under the number needed to clinch the
nomination, despite the optimism and fundraising numbers, which also
include collecting more than $140 million from 2 million donors.
Clinton did not hold a public event after the Alaska and Washington results were announced.
While Sanders faces a steep climb to the nomination, a
string of losses for Clinton would highlight her persistent
vulnerabilities, including concerns about her trustworthiness and weak
support among younger voters.
Clinton’s delegate advantage, before Saturday,
increases to 1,692-to-949 once the superdelegates, or party officials
who can back either candidate, are included.
Based on that count, Sanders still needs to win 58
percent of the remaining delegates from primaries and caucuses to have a
majority of those delegates by June's end.
His bar is even higher when the party officials are
considered. He needs to win more than 67 percent of the remaining
delegates overall -- from primaries, caucuses and the ranks of
uncommitted superdelegates -- to prevail.
Because Democrats allocate their delegates on a
proportional basis, meaning that the popular vote loser can still pick
up a share, his Saturday victories netted Sanders a gain of at least 27
delegates to at least five for Clinton.
Clinton has been looking past the primary contests
and aiming at potential Republican challengers. In interviews, rallies
and speeches this week, she largely focused on Tuesday's deadly attacks
in Brussels, casting GOP front-runner Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted
Cruz as unqualified to deal with complicated international threats.
Her campaign sees the April 19 contest in New York as
an important one, not just because of the rich delegate prize but
because losing to Sanders in a state she represented in the Senate would
be a psychological blow. She hopes to lock up an even larger share of
delegates in five Northeastern contests a week later.
