Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) scored resounding victories over Hillary Clinton in all three Democratic caucuses held Saturday.
With all caucuses reporting in Alaska, Sanders had 81.6 percent of the vote to 18.4 percent for Clinton.
And with all reporting in Washington state, the Vermont socialist had 72.7 percent of the vote to 27.1 percent for the former secretary of State.
Jane Sanders whispered in her husband’s ear the news that he won Washington while Bernie was speaking at a campaign rally in Wisconsin.
The crowd went crazy after Bernie announced the “news alert.”
“We are on a path toward victory,” Sanders declared at the Madison, Wis., event. “…It is hard for anybody to deny that our campaign has the momentum.”
Sanders returns to Wisconsin, where Clinton has a slight edge in polling, on Tuesday for a two-day campaign swing. Clinton campaigns across the state on Monday and Tuesday in advance of the April 5 contest.
Some Dems said on Twitter that Sanders supporters were being told to leave Hawaii caucus locations amid long lines and ballot shortages.
As Sanders won with 69.8 percent of the vote there to Clinton’s 30 percent, no cable news networks were covering the senator’s victories, leading supporters to charge that a pro-Clinton “media blackout” was in effect.
Sanders told NBC’s Meet the Press this morning that “our calculations are that in fact we can win the pledged delegates.”
“And at a time when we have the momentum, we have won five out of the six last contests in landslide fashion. In all of the national polling that I have seen we are beating Donald Trump by much greater margins than is Secretary Clinton,” Sanders said.
Sanders tops Donald Trump by 14 points in the latest Fox News poll and by 24 points in the latest Bloomberg poll. Clinton led Trump by 11 points in the Fox poll and by 18 points in the Bloomberg survey.
“We started this campaign at 3 percent in the polls, 60 points behind Clinton, now in the last poll I’ve seen we’re one point up,” Sanders said.
“So, we have the momentum. And I think a lot of the the super delegates are now beginning to look at which Democratic candidate is in the best place to defeat Donald Trump. I think some of them are beginning to understand that it’s Bernie Sanders.”
Clinton has a lead of 268 over Sanders in pledged delegates but 440 more superdelegates.
Sanders has challenged Clinton to debate in New York before the state’s April 19 primary.
Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager, wrote a letter on Sunday to Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, stressing that “New York will play a critical role in determining the Democratic nominee.”
“However, your campaign has consistently chosen to deny the people of New York the opportunity to see Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton debate in the Empire State,” Weaver wrote.
“It is difficult to understand your motivation. Can you please explain why New York should not host the April debate? Is the Secretary concerned about debating before the people who twice elected her to the U.S. Senate? Perhaps there is some tactical advantage you are seeking by avoiding a debate in New York but I would remind you that Sen. Sanders agreed to debate the secretary in New Hampshire when he was well ahead in the polls.”
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