Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has attacked the role of superdelegates in the Democratic nomination process but now he explicitly needs their support in order to win the Democratic nomination.
After Sanders’ disappointing loss Tuesday night in New York, it has become increasingly unlikely that he will pass Hillary Clinton in pledged delegates. Not only does she have a lead of 277 pledged delegates, but upcoming states such as California, New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania are favorable to Clinton. Despite these odds, both Bernie and his campaign manager are intending to stay in the campaign until the July Philadelphia convention.
Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver laid out his strategy Tuesday night on MSNBC. Weaver has stated for a while his belief that neither campaign will be able get the 2,383 necessary delegates to win the nomination solely of pledged delegates. Sanders, however, now seems unable to pass Clinton in both pledged delegates and the number of popular votes.
“They are going to want to win in November,” Weaver said regarding superdelegates. The 719 superdelegates remain unbound going into the convention and the Sanders campaign will make the argument he is more electable than she.
Weaver said, “[Bernie] brings a lot of young people into the process, who might not otherwise participate, he is extremely popular with independent voters.”
General election polling is dubious this far out from November, but according to the RealClearPolitics polling average, Sanders is a more formidable general election candidate. He leads Trump by 15.2 percent, while Clinton leads him by 9.3 percent. Sanders is ahead of Texas Sen. [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore] by 11.2 percent, and Clinton leads Cruz by 2.3 percent.
During the earlier stages of the race, Sanders derided the role of superdelegates. He said, “I think what people should be saying to superdelegates, ‘Look, if Bernie Sanders wins this state with a big vote, why don’t you vote with the people of your state.'”
Now it seems his campaign would tell the superdelegates “look at what the polls say.”
Clinton leads Sanders in the popular vote count by 2.5 million, but the Sanders campaign brushes this off by saying caucus results aren’t including in these figures.
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