WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Hillary Clinton sought separation against Democratic rival Bernie Sanders in Tuesday’s primary contests, seeking victories in Florida and Ohio that would lay the groundwork for the general election against the Republican nominee.
Clinton and Sanders were competing in primaries in Florida and Ohio, the nation’s two leading general election battleground states, along with Missouri, North Carolina and Illinois. Clinton entered the primaries with a lead of more than 200 pledged delegates and could end the day with about two-thirds of the delegates needed to claim the nomination.
“The numbers are adding up in my favor,” Clinton told reporters in Raleigh, North Carolina on Tuesday.
Campaigning in Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina on Monday, Clinton urged Democrats to unite behind her campaign so it could focus on Republican front-runner Donald Trump. In telling campaign optics, Clinton staged Tuesday’s primary night rally in West Palm Beach, a few miles from Mar-a-Lago, where Trump was holding a news conference at his Palm Beach estate.
“I think it is important that we really do focus on the dangerous path that Donald Trump has laid out here,” she said Tuesday.
Sanders aimed for victory in Missouri and was within striking distance in Illinois and Ohio, two states where he hoped his trade-focused message would resonate. It helped him pull off an upset in Michigan last week, prompting him to continue to question Clinton’s past support for trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“Secretary Clinton has supported virtually every one of these disastrous trade agreements,” Sanders said Monday in Charlotte, North Carolina. “When decision time came, as to whether you were on the side of working people, or corporate America, she made the wrong decision.”
Clinton maintained a lead in Florida, Tuesday’s biggest delegate prize, putting Sanders at risk of losing more ground among delegates even if he narrowly wins the Midwest states. Even so, Clinton’s team tried to tamp down expectations, saying the races remain close in Ohio, Illinois and Missouri.
Entering Tuesday, Clinton has 768 pledged delegates compared to 554 for Sanders, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. Overall, Clinton holds 1,235 of total delegates, more than half the amount needed to clinch the nomination when the count includes superdelegates, who are elected officials and party leaders free to support the candidate of their choice. Sanders has 580 delegates when the count includes superdelegates.
Nearly 700 delegates are at stake in Tuesday’s primaries and the delegates will be awarded proportionally, making it difficult for Sanders to make a large dent in Clinton’s lead. Based on the current total count including superdelegates, Sanders would need to win 61 percent of the remaining pledged delegates and uncommitted superdelegates to win the nomination.
Sanders’ team says the calendar will be more favorable to the senator in the weeks ahead. After Tuesday’s contests, the campaign shifts westward, with contests in Arizona, Idaho and Utah on March 22 and Alaska, Hawaii and Washington state on March 26. April includes contests in Wisconsin, Wyoming and New York, which Clinton represented in the Senate but is becoming a major target for Sanders.
“We have a long-term game plan here,” said Sanders senior adviser Tad Devine.
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