Sometimes in a race, particularly a hotly contested political one, it’s not a matter of how far you’ve come but rather how much further you have to go to win. That distance to victory is shorter for Hillary Clinton with each primary and caucus, despite her narrow defeat to Sen. Bernie Sanders Tuesday in Indiana.
Sanders won by a margin of four percent, 52-48, which means they will almost equally divide the 92 delegates. When all is said and done, Sanders will probably reap about six more delegates than Clinton in the typical proportionality Democratic primary harvest.
Depending on which website you consult, Clinton is 182 to 184 delegates from obtaining the 2,383 needed for the nomination. Mathematically, Sanders faces an insurmountable obstacle.
Even so, the fiery candidate marches on. “In primary after primary, caucus after caucus,” Sanders told an enthusiastic throng in Louisville, Kentucky, Tuesday night, “we end up winning the vote of people 45 years of age and younger.” He said that proves “the ideas that we are fighting for are the ideas of the future of America and the future of the Democratic Party.” In short, his “political revolution” is still in play.
Meanwhile, Clinton, perhaps anticipating a setback in Indiana, continues to look beyond Sanders to Donald Trump, who is the presumptive Republican nominee now that Sen. Ted Cruz has suspended his run.
In an interview on Tuesday with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC, Clinton said, “I’m really focused on moving into the general election.” She admitted it’s going to be a tough campaign. Is she looking too far down the road?
Maybe, but the numbers against Sanders present him with a bleak narrative. There are only 13 more primaries remaining, with California and its 546 delegates as the big enchilada. New Jersey is the next largest trove of delegates with 142, and Sanders will have to not only win these primaries but also win by a large margin to have a chance of catching Clinton.
As Sanders pursues Clinton, she has Trump in her crosshairs, and if the recent polls are any indication, she should beat him in the general election. But in the political cycle, polls should be seen for what they are, momentary snapshots, and we are certain that a savvy Clinton is not banking on these barometers.
