Sanders seeks caucus trifecta win to close delegate gap

Sanders is leading Hillary Clinton by a 78-21 margin with 38 percent of the vote in from Alaska. Sanders drew more than 15,000 to a Seattle baseball stadium Friday, his sixth rally in the state, where he hopes a passionate following among liberal activists will help him prevail.

Sanders, who campaigned aggressively on the West Coast this week, also sought victory in the Hawaii caucuses Saturday after recent defeats to Clinton in the Midwest and delegate rich-Arizona.

Bryan Lukashevsky, 68, of Honolulu, voted for Sanders because he thinks the Vermont senator stands for the average American.

Clinton holds a big lead among pledged delegates – 1,223 to Sanders’ 920, according to the Associated Press’ tally.

He hopes to avoid a repeat of that performance by pulling out a win in Washington, which awards more than double the number of delegates than Hawaii and Alaska combined. He needs to win big states big if he wants to eat into Hillary Clinton’s delegate lead.

Through Saturday’s precinct caucuses, 27,170 delegates will be selected based on the candidate’s relative strength, and sent to two meetings in the coming weeks: the legislative district caucuses where a new measure of candidate support will be taken, and county conventions where party platforms will be hashed out. In the past few months his strategy, or at least the strategy of a level-headed Sanders supporter, would have been to win the states that he can win and not lose too badly in the states where he can’t.

In this Thursday, March 24, 2016 photo, Michael Golojuch Jr., right, who leads the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, and his sister, Michele Golojuch, a teacher, left, show their support for presidential candidate Hilary Clinton in Honolulu. It will take 2,383 delegates to secure the party’s nomination at the national convention in July in Philadelphia.

While Sanders faces a steep climb to the nomination, a string of losses for Clinton in the latest voting would highlight her persistent vulnerabilities.

Washington has 101 delegates up for grabs. She maintains a commanding delegate lead overall. More are likely to be allocated to Sanders in several weeks, when Washington state Democratic party releases vote shares by district.

Whatever happens on Saturday, the battle will be won and lost in far bigger states still to come.

Mr Sanders spent millions of dollars on campaign ads ahead of Saturday’s caucuses and visited Seattle on Friday, giving a rousing rendition of his standard stump speech in which he railed against police brutality, a too-low minimum wage, soaring student debt and other ills. In today’s elections, Hawaii offers 34 delegates and Alaska offers 20.

Despite the optimism and fundraising numbers, Sanders would still need a dramatic surge to catch up to Clinton or even hold her under the number needed to clinch the nomination. “I think both candidates are still working very hard to win over voters, and I think we’re seeing that this week with the visits by the candidates”.

With about 19 percent of the precincts reporting, Vermont Sen. It has five delegates, so Sanders gets three and Clinton 2.