ELECTIONS

Clinton wins four primaries Tuesday; Sanders wins only R.I.

Heidi M. Przybyla
USA TODAY

Hillary Clinton was declared the winner in the Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut  and Delaware primaries by news organizations Tuesday night as she was poised to put the Democratic nomination mathematically out of reach for Sen. Bernie Sanders.

But Sanders was the winner in Rhode Island, and he made clear he is not getting out of the race. Shortly after Clinton was declared the Maryland winner, Sanders told a West Virginia rally that he expects to win that state's May 10 primary and that general election polls show him as a stronger candidate against Donald Trump than Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton delivers remarks at a primary night campaign event on April 26, 2016, in Philadelphia.

“The reason that we are generating this enthusiasm is because we are doing something very unusual in contemporary American politics,” Sanders said. “We are telling the truth," he said, without mentioning Clinton by name during an extended version of his stump speech.

Clinton, speaking to a crowd in Philadelphia, made a direct appeal Sanders’ progressive backers, stressing all of the areas of agreement among Democrats and saying she wants to speak to those “who feel beaten down, left out and left behind.”

“Our campaign is about restoring people’s confidence in our ability to solve problems together” and setting bold progressive goals “backed up by real plans,” she said, vowing to build on "a strong progressive tradition" dating to Franklin Roosevelt.

Clinton added, "I applaud Sen. Sanders" for pushing the party to focus on money in politics and income inequality. Among her supporters and Sanders' supporters, "there is much more that unites us than divides us," Clinton said.

The big question beginning Wednesday is whether Sanders will continue to hammer Clinton — including over her prior paid Wall Street speeches — as she attempts to pivot to a general election campaign.

Clinton is expected to have about 90% of the delegates needed to clinch the nomination after all the votes are counted Tuesday. Sanders himself acknowledged in an MSNBC forum Monday night “it will be very hard for us to win” if he continues to lose ground in the pledged delegate count.

Yet a new poll from USA TODAY/Suffolk University found 40% of Sanders’ voters aren’t sure they’ll vote for Clinton, and Republican Donald Trump has been invoking him in lobbing attacks on her. "The Democrats have treated Bernie very badly," Trump said in his victory speech, suggesting Sanders should run as an independent.

Poll: Trump, Clinton face divides in their parties even if they win nominations

In her own appearance on MSNBC Monday, Clinton seemed to implore Sanders to let up on his critiques by referencing her own role in rallying her supporters behind then-senator Barack Obama in 2008.

“I did not put down conditions. I did not say, you know what, if Senator Obama does X, Y and Z, I will support Senator Obama,” she said. ”I spent an enormous amount of time convincing my supporters to support Senator Obama.”

Still, Sanders, who sees himself as the father of a new political movement that’s already pushed Clinton leftward on issues including trade agreements and the Keystone pipeline, doesn’t appear ready to ease off. As Clinton’s victories rolled in, Sanders spoke for over an hour, hitting all of his core issues, including income inequality, a “corrupt campaign finance system,” a “rigged economy,” and Wall Street greed.

Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator and Sanders surrogate, told MSNBC, “I got some breaking news. Senator Bernie Sanders is not getting out of this race. He is going all the way to the convention.”

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Going in to Tuesday's voting, Clinton's delegate lead stood at 1,946 to 1,192, according to a count by the Associated Press, which includes about 500 party leaders known as "superdelegates" who have endorsed Clinton. That put her at 81% of the 2,383 delegates needed to win the nomination. By late Tuesday she had 2,100 delegates, and was likely to end the night about 250 delegates short of clinching the nomination.

Clinton's goal is now to court voters like Joel Nagourney, a Democrat from Bethesda, Md. Nagourney voted for Bernie Sanders despite explaining that he knows he is a long shot. “There’s an old saying that you vote with your heart at first and you vote with your head the second time. This time, I voted with my heart, and in the fall, I’ll vote for Hillary.”

For her part, Clinton is making clear her focus is no longer Sanders, rather Republicans.  In her victory speech Tuesday night, she answered his latest attack on her, that she is playing "the woman card."

If that means advocating for women's health care and equal rights, "then deal me in," said Clinton.

Bernie Sanders addresses the crowd during a campaign rally at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena,  on April 26, 2016, in Huntington, W.Va.

She also hit him at an earlier get-out-the-vote event in Wilmington. “You know, at some point, if you want to be president of the United States, you’ve got to get familiar with the United States. You’ve got to spend time with Americans of all sorts and backgrounds in every part of our country,” Clinton said .

“Don’t just fly that big jet in and land it and go make a big speech and insult everybody you can think of. And then go back, get on that big jet, and go back to your country club house in Florida or your penthouse in New York,” Clinton said.

Contributing: Nicholas Zazulia, Medill News Service