Blacks, Obama Loyalists Help Clinton Overcome Sanders Surge in Nevada

Lack of support from African-American voters will be a concern for Sanders heading into next Saturday’s SC primary where black voters make a up a large percentage of the Democratic electorate.

Clinton did manage to maintain the loyalty of blacks in Nevada, however, where 76 percent voted for the former secretary of state.

Clinton tweeted, “Will Ferrell has a message for you, Nevada: Caucus for Hillary today at 11AM”.

“This was a state that Bernie Sanders was surging in and he had the ability to pull off an upset in the first diverse primary state, frankly”, former Arizona State legislator Chris Herstam said.

Mr Sanders, a Vermont senator, acknowledged that while his insurgent campaign has made strides “at the end of the day… you need delegates”. Entrance polls showed that 62 percent of the Democratic caucus goers came out for the first time Saturday. Forty-five percent went to Clinton, which suggests Sanders has made significant inroads with the Latino population since a January NBC poll showed almost 60 percent of Latino voters supporting Clinton.

Sanders won 15 delegates in Nevada caucuses, but blamed low voter turnout for his 5.5-point loss to Clinton.

Supporters at the event said they were not disappointed by the results, and were looking forward to future contests. They are mapping out plans to stay close to Clinton in the delegate count until the race turns to friendlier territory later in March.

Oddly, the operative who predicted the largest margin of victory for Clinton – 28 percent – is a reluctant supporter.

And in a press release on Saturday, Sanders noted that he received 47 percent of the vote to Clinton’s 52 percent after trailing by as many as 50 points in Nevada in prior months. And strong support from African-Americans signals strength heading into SC next week and Super Tuesday states just beyond.

The run up to the Democratic presidential caucuses in Nevada offered something oddly refreshing: a race in which no one really knew what was going to happen.

In the New Hampshire primary on February 9, the turnout was better – and Sanders won big: 250,974 total votes, but still more than 30,000 votes less than in 2008 which set a record. The caucus system, which generally brings out only the most motivated activists, presumably makes them friendlier to a candidate such as Sanders, who has inspired liberal Democrats.

Mollineau added that Sanders is likely to struggle with the fact that so many states will head to the polls on March 1 – a schedule that prevents the progressive prince from focusing on just one state, as he was able to do successfully in Iowa and New Hampshire. Hillary Clinton is supposed to be fundraising in California. But that comeback effort wasn’t fast enough to overcome her built-in advantages and deny her a victory.