The Democrats had three states on the line Tuesday night and Bernie Sanders came up winning two of them. Hillary Clinton took Arizona which, for some reason, is considered the big prize of the night. However, there’s no denying that with Sanders continuing to win, and in some cases decisively, he still has a fighting chance to push through to the convention.
Report from Reuters:
On the Democratic side, favorite Hillary Clinton routed challenger Bernie Sanders in Arizona to stretch her advantage in the race for her party’s presidential nomination.
Sanders, however, won contests in Utah and Idaho to bolster his case that he still has a chance despite Clinton’s big lead.
The nominating battles in Arizona and Utah, plus the Democratic contest in Idaho, were overshadowed by attacks in Brussels in which at least 30 people were killed and raised security concerns among U.S. voters.
True, Hillary did “rout” Sanders in Arizona, but Sanders more strongly routed Clinton in both Utah and Idaho, and it can’t be ignored. Sure, they are smaller states and were both “caucuses” instead of primaries, but Sanders should be given credit here.
Sanders took almost 80% of the vote in the states he won (see Utah, Idaho), compared to Clinton’s 58% in Arizona. The results of those states came in so late last night that hardly anyone has had a chance to digest the fallout. Sanders was polling well in both, so it’s not a total shock, but he wasn’t polling anywhere near an 80% number.
The truth is that Hillary Clinton still has the delegate math on her side. She can lose states like Utah and Idaho, but still pickup steam since all the Democratic contests award delegates proportionally. Furthermore, she’s still winning the “right” states like Arizona. Her delegate lead is such that unless Sanders can start winning literally every state with an 80% victory, he won’t be able to catch up.
Bernie is likely set for a good stretch of wins, especially considering the three Democratic caucuses happening on Saturday, March 26th, in Alaska, Hawaii, and the state of Washington. All three may be inclined to go for Sanders. Though Hillary will still take home her share of delegates as well.
