Clinton heads South, aims for delegate edge over Sanders

In the first election since the passing of Antonin Scalia, Clinton said in Saturday the importance of having a Democratic president nominating Scalia’s replacement to the Supreme Court. She did well among Latinos and also among African-American voters in North Las Vegas, a good sign for her heading into SC. But Sanders has emphasized his family’s immigrant roots here in ads and on the campaign trail, noting that his father was a Polish immigrant to America who originally spoke little English. Bringing more and more people into the political process. “His story is the immigrant story”.

The win was a comeback of sorts for the one-time dominating front-runner who just weeks ago had been expected to easily win the diverse state with help from the large Hispanic population and union workers.

Sanders, meanwhile, continued his dominance among young voters, with entrance polls showing him winning 72 percent of 17-to-44-year-olds.

Sanders downplayed Clinton’s weekend victory in Nevada, pointing out that the win only resulted in her picking up four additional delegates, out of the 2,383 needed to win the nomination.

Turnout for Saturday’s caucuses was significantly lower than in 2008, when almost 120,000 voters showed up to caucus. “And I’m going to demonstrate that I’ve always been the same person, I’ve always been fighting for the same values, fighting to make a difference in people’s lives, long before I was in elected office, even before my husband was in the presidency”, she said. If he could’ve won here tonight, he really would be knocking out all the props underneath her argument of inevitability. We know a lot of people have a lot on the line.

“Tens of thousands of men and women with kids to raise, bills to pay, and dreams that won’t die – this is your campaign”, she told a crowd at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. His campaign cited progress with Latinos in Nevada, but his advisers are clear-eyed about the challenges on Super Tuesday. He argued that Congress “must move towards a path for citizenship for undocumented immigrants”.

“We’re studying that issue very closely, obviously, as to where we allocate our resources and allocate my time”, Sanders said.

“Some may have doubted us, but we never doubted each other”, she said.

During the MSNBC/Telemundo forum, Sanders also defended his 2007 vote against legislation that would have revamped the immigration system, stating that he objected to guest-worker provisions that were described by one legal advocacy group as being “akin to slavery”.

In a sense, Sanders was a victim in Nevada of his own success. “And we probably will leave Nevada with a solid share of the delegates”.

Clinton is heavily organized in those rural counties this time. Sanders gained the support of 7 in 10 caucus attendees under 45 and Clinton of two-thirds of those age 45 and over.

At a town hall in Elko Friday morning, Sanders stressed the importance of turnout among rural voters to his campaign, calling on them to show the world the desire for a “political revolution that transforms this country”. “We don’t believe the so-called entry polls are particularly accurate”.

If the Vermont senator cannot quickly find a way to broaden his appeal to minorities and union members, last week’s 22-point rout of Clinton in New Hampshire could prove to be his campaign highlight.