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Bernie Sanders Wins Washington, Alaska Democratic Caucuses
| Wall Street Journal | - |
Bernie
Sanders won the Democratic caucuses in Washington and Alaska on
Saturday, cutting into front-runner Hillary Clinton's formidable lead in
delegates.
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Bernie Sanders Wins Washington, Alaska Democratic Caucuses
Vermont senator’s pair of victories cuts into front-runner Hillary Clinton’s delegate lead
ENLARGE
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks to supporters during a rally at Safeco Field in Seattle on Friday.
Photo:
European Pressphoto Agency
The Associated Press called the race in Washington for Mr. Sanders. With 31% of the vote in, the Vermont senator was leading Mrs. Clinton by 76% to 23.7%.
Washington was by far the biggest prize of the day, which also features a contest in Hawaii. A total of 101 pledged delegates were up for grabs, more than twice that of the other two states combined.
Mr. Sanders spoke to tens of thousands of supporters in Washington heading into the caucuses.
Both Mrs. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, also campaigned in the state in the run-up to the caucuses. Clinton campaign officials seemed to recognize that it was facing long odds. Mrs. Clinton lost Washington to then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008. The campaign’s goal was to keep Mr. Sanders’s victory margin and delegate pickup as low as possible.
In the run-up to the contest, the former secretary of state called into a radio station and talked about a time after graduating from college when she briefly worked at a fish cannery in Alaska.
“And think about this,” she reportedly told the station, “I’m the only candidate who’s ever actually worked in Alaska. So, hooray!”
Mr. Sanders, meanwhile, opened a handful of offices in the state, hoping to string together enough victories that might give superdelegates a reason to rethink their allegiance to Mrs. Clinton.
Mr. Sanders has a steep uphill battle to gain enough delegates to become the nominee. As he lost ground to Mrs. Clinton in earlier contests, the Sanders campaign asked voters for patience. His advisers have argued that the second half of the primary season, which started this week, would take the race to more favorable terrain—namely, Western states that are more amenable to Mr. Sanders’s candidacy and message, his advisers have said.
ENLARGE
Democratic
presidential candidate Hillary Clinton listens during a round table
discussion at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on
Thursday.
Photo:
Bloomberg News
Hawaii’s population is more than one-third Asian-American, along with sizable white and native Hawaiian populations. Alaska is almost 15% Native American. And in Washington state, Yakima and Grant counties have large Hispanic populations of 40% or more.
Under Democratic rules, delegates are awarded proportionally based on results, not winner take all, so Mr. Sanders not only needs to win the states, but win by large margins, to close the delegate gap with Mrs. Clinton.
Meanwhile, a new skirmish over the Democratic debate schedule was brewing, with the two camps unable to reach agreement on dates and locations for the final matchups. Both campaigns consented to face off two more times—once in April and again in May. But several weeks after that pledge was made, the Democratic National Committee still describes all the details of the ninth and 10th debates as “to be determined.”
Party officials say they are waiting for the Clinton and Sanders teams to decide timing and locations. Clinton campaign officials say they are waiting to hear from the DNC. And Sanders aides say they just want to make sure the debates happen.
Team Sanders wants to hold the next debate in New York, a delegate-rich state that will hold its primary on April 19. The Clinton camp has declined, Mr. Weaver said, and has advocated for a debate in Pennsylvania, where primary voters will go to the polls on April 26.