After weekend wins, Clinton on cusp of Democratic nomination

After blowout weekend wins the two USA territories, Clinton is now 26 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win the nomination, according to an Associated Press count.

He had remained uncommitted, but said he will now support Mrs Clinton, meaning all seven of Puerto Rico’s superdelegates have pledged to support the former US Secretary of State. While most delegates are awarded by popular votes in state-by-state elections, superdelegates largely consist of party leaders and elected senators, members of Congress and governors, and can change their mind at any time. But that has not deterred the news media.

Clinton celebrated her victory in the nominating race over rival Sanders at a raucous event with supporters in Brooklyn, New York, where she placed her achievement in the context of the long history of the women’s rights movement. Her less lofty promises focus on improving the policies of her fellow Democrat and former boss, President Barack Obama.

NBC News reported that Obama and Sanders spoke over the weekend.

An Associated Press count of pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses and a survey of party insiders known as superdelegates shows Clinton with the overall support of the required 2,383 delegates.

As it stands, Mrs Clinton has 1,809 pledged delegates, compared to Mr Sanders’ 1,519.

In her speech, Clinton appealed to Sanders supporters to join her and said the Democratic Party had been bolstered by his campaign for eradicating income inequality, which has commanded huge crowds and galvanized younger voters.

At a restaurant in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Inglewood, where Bill Clinton was campaigning for his wife, patron Martin Jones said he was “100%” behind Hillary. He said it would be “not quite accurate” for Clinton to claim victory by counting super-delegates before the convention.

During a question-and-answer session with reporters at a community center in Compton, Clinton acknowledged the historic nature of her candidacy and likely nomination after being asked if she feels the “weight of what this means for people”. Earlier on Monday, Clinton called for party unity, suggesting it was time for Sanders, who only joined the Democratic party last year after years as an independent, to abandon his hard-fought challenge. It comes ahead of Tuesday’s culminating round in the states of California, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota and Montana.

On Tuesday night he addressed a crowd of supporters in NY, welcoming Sanders supporters “with open arms” should they decide to support him and declaring a new phase of the campaign had begun.

The New York Times also reports the Obama is particularly excited to campaign against presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump. In a statement, his spokesman Michael Briggs said, “Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump”. In recent days, his comments about a judge he believes to be biased against him because he is Mexican-American have drawn criticism. On Monday, Trump, a NY real estate developer, insisted his concerns were valid. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N18Y0PZ Clinton, in an MSNBC interview on Monday, said Trump’s comments about the judge were racist and bigoted.

He pointed to polls showing him faring better than Clinton in head-to-head matchups with Trump and his strength among Democratic voters under the age of 45.