|
The Democrats deserve her as Their Leader :-) |
Hillary Clinton clinched the Democratic presidential nomination
Tuesday, becoming the first woman in American history to top the ticket
of a major political party and putting immediate pressure on primary
rival Bernie Sanders to step aside – though the Vermont senator vowed to
keep fighting for “every delegate.”
As Clinton now launches a general election battle
against presumptive rival Donald Trump, Sanders remained defiant at an
early Wednesday morning rally in Los Angeles. Far from bowing out, he
vowed to campaign through the final primary next Tuesday in Washington,
D.C., and then “take our fight for social, economic, racial and
environmental justice to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,” the site of the
convention.
The crowd erupted in cheers as Sanders announced he’d
keep going, a decision he kept close to the vest right up until his
remarks.
Sanders closed by declaring: “Thank you all, the struggle continues.”
The remarks were in some ways surprising considering
not only Clinton’s historic achievement but her strong performance
overall in Tuesday’s primaries. While winning at least three states, she
also is leading in early returns out of delegate-rich California,
though Sanders predicted that gap would close.
Clinton earlier claimed victory over Sanders – after
attaining the delegates needed to claim the nomination with a New Jersey
primary win – during a lofty speech to supporters in Brooklyn.
“Thanks to you, we’ve reached a milestone,” Clinton declared.
Marking the historic moment, Clinton said: “This campaign is about making sure there are no ceilings, no limits on any of us.”
She also congratulated Sanders, calling his campaign and the debate he
brought about income inequality good for the party – while also saying
this is a moment to “come together.”
In a potential move toward reconciliation, the White
House revealed that President Obama called both Clinton and Sanders
Tuesday night – and plans to meet with Sanders at the White House on
Thursday, to discuss "how to build on the extraordinary work he has done
to engage millions of Democratic voters."
Clinton tried to pivot to November at the close of the last major day of primary voting.
Eight years to the day after she conceded to rival
Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic primary, the former first lady and
secretary of state became the presumptive 2016 nominee with the help of
delegates in New Jersey. She won the state's primary, and with it enough
delegates to easily surpass the 2,383 needed to clinch the nomination.
She also is projected to win New Mexico and South Dakota.
Clinton's victory, however, is based in part on the
support of superdelegates, officials who are free to support any
candidate and who do not technically vote for a nominee until the
Democratic National Convention next month. Sanders has vowed to stay in
the race in hopes of convincing enough of them to abandon Clinton and
support him instead.
Speaking in Los Angeles, Sanders again vowed to fight
“for every vote and every delegate,” hammering his campaign themes of
campaign finance reform and economic justice and calling for
“transforming our country.”
It is still too early to call a winner in the
California race, whose outcome could also weigh on Sanders’ calculations
going forward.
However, Fox News can project that with the delegates
she is winning in California, Clinton will have now won a majority of
all pledged delegates at the Democratic convention -- making it more
difficult for Sanders to argue she’s winning only because of support
from superdelegates.
Sanders did notch projected wins Tuesday in North
Dakota’s Democratic caucuses and the Montana primary. A total of six
states were voting Tuesday.
On the GOP side, Trump -- the only major Republican
left in the race – was projected to win the primaries in California,
Montana, New Jersey, South Dakota and New Mexico. Trump also surpassed a
new milestone in the primary contest Tuesday night, winning enough
bound delegates alone to clinch the GOP nomination.
Marking his victories during remarks at Trump
National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., Trump said: “Tonight, we
close one chapter in history and we begin another.”
Previewing the general election battle, he slammed
the Clintons, alleging they “turned the politics of personal enrichment
into an art form for themselves.” He also appealed to Sanders
supporters, saying, “We welcome you with open arms.”
Clinton, in her victory speech, also took shots at Trump, claiming he would “take America backwards.”
“The stakes in this election are high, and the choice
is clear. Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be president,” she
said.
The contests Tuesday largely conclude one of the most
unpredictable and rowdy primary seasons in modern history – one that
saw a brash billionaire clear through a formidable field of 16 rivals to
defy the pundits and claim the GOP nomination, and the front-runner on
the Democratic side locked in a fight to the end against a
socialist-leaning senator from Vermont.
Voting formally ends next week when the District of Columbia holds its Democratic primary.
Even before Tuesday’s contests, both parties
effectively had their presumptive nominees. Trump clinched the
nomination last month as late support from unbound delegates put him
over the top, and his remaining rivals suspended their campaigns. The
Associated Press declared Monday night that Clinton had hit the
2,383-delegate mark, thanks to a burst of support from free-agent
superdelegates.
But unlike Trump, Clinton’s last remaining rival has not exited the race.
“There is nothing to concede,” Sanders said in a TV interview Monday night.
Sanders also had said he’d “assess” his plans after
Tuesday’s elections, as he heads home to Burlington, but gave no
indications of having second thoughts during his Los Angeles rally.
The Democratic Party pressure on him, however, is
sure to mount in a matter of days, if not hours. Obama reportedly is
planning to get behind Clinton and start campaigning for her, and senior
Democrats have been voicing mounting frustration with Sanders’
campaign.
At the same time, the senator has touted general
election polls suggesting he may be better positioned to go up against
Trump in the fall. Over the course of the campaign, he mounted an
unexpectedly strong challenge to Clinton, buoyed by the support of young
and energetic voters whose enthusiasm at times echoed the spirit behind
Barack Obama’s bid in 2008. Clinton was dogged all along by questions
about her private email use while secretary of state – and a
still-ongoing FBI investigation – though Sanders largely steered clear
of the issue in his campaign.
Trump, by contrast, will have no compunction about
hammering Clinton for what he describes as “criminal” activity with her
email use, as the general election race now moves into full swing. He
did so Tuesday night, ripping her use of a "totally illegal private
server."
Both presumptive nominees have been cranking up their attacks on each other in anticipation of their November brawl.
Yet even as Trump has seen all 16 of his rivals fade
away, he’s still struggling in a historic way to unite the GOP behind
him. The tensions flared again this week as leading Republicans
condemned his comments that a federal judge of Mexican heritage had a
conflict of interest in a Trump University case. On Tuesday, House
Speaker Paul Ryan called it the “textbook definition of a racist
comment.”