Bernie Sanders’s top campaign aides are sending radically different signals.
As it became clear on Tuesday night that Sanders had lost New York badly, Sanders’s campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, told MSNBC that “it’s going to be an election determined by the superdelegates” – entailing that the campaign will push for a Sanders nomination irrespective of the popular vote total or delegate count.
Sanders invoked Clinton’s acceptance of the $200,000-plus in speaking fees from Wall Street companies, urging his opponent to release transcripts of the addresses. He also reiterated his differences with Clinton over fracking, the Iraq war, trade deals and the use of super PACs, which he opposed, as the two campaigns for the primaries Tuesday in Pennsylvania and four other states.
On the other hand, Clinton has been more subdued in her assessment of Sanders since she won a convincing victory in her home state of New York. She mentioned his handling of gun control at an event Friday in Pennsylvania, as she did a day earlier with family members of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut.
Her event in the Philadelphia suburbs was focused on ensuring equal pay for women. She was joined by Lilly Ledbetter, who inspired the namesake fair pay law signed by President Barack Obama that aimed to make it easier for women to sue over wage discrimination.
Pennsylvania offers the biggest prize in Tuesday’s primaries and has been the focus of Sanders and Clinton campaigns following her win in New York. Both the candidates are also competing for delegates who will be awarded Tuesday in primaries in Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Clinton leads Sanders 1,428-1,153 in delegates won in primaries and caucuses. Moreover, she has the support of over 500 superdelegates, and when those Democratic officials and elected leaders are included, Clinton’s lead grows to 1,930-1,191. It takes 2,383 to clinch the nomination.