Hillary Clinton Scores Solid Victory Over Bernie Sanders In Nevada
Hillary Clinton pulled off a strong win that promises to set up a string of victories that will likely leave Bernie Sanders in the dust.
Despite the uncertainty that I spoke of this morning, Hillary Clinton pulled off a clear victory today over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the Nevada Democratic Caucuses, setting her campaign up for a string of victories that will likely mean that the race for the Democratic nomination is effectively over by mid-March:
LAS VEGAS — Buoyed by the support of enthusiastic workers in the city’s big casinos, Hillary Clinton defeated Senator Bernie Sanders in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, thwarting his momentum and proving to an anxious Democratic Party that she maintains strong support among minority voters that she can carry to a general election.
Mrs. Clinton’s campaign breathed a sigh of relief on Saturday as the results of the often-unpredictable campaign began to roll in. At a caucus at the famed Caesar’s Palace, blackjack dealers, pit bosses, cooks and housekeepers excitedly declared their support for the former secretary of state.
“She’ll change immigration. She’ll change the economy. She’ll change todo!” said Dora Gonzalez, 54, a casino porter at the Bellagio, using the Spanish word for everything
“And she’s a mujer!” added her friend Elba Pinera, 51, and originally from Honduras, using the Spanish word for woman.
Mrs. Clinton had for months considered Nevada a haven that would provide a welcome shift from the mostly white electorates of New Hampshire and Iowa. But in recent weeks, Mr. Sanders’s populist message began to take hold and polls showed the two Democrats in a statistical dead heat. Her campaign, bracing for another loss, seemed to look beyond Nevada to the contest next weekend in South Carolina.
Still, early organizing in the state and a last-minute on-the-ground push by Mrs. Clinton’s campaign and its supporters paid off. And Mrs. Clinton, who is typically a reserved presence on the trail, seemed to embrace the quirkiness of campaigning in Las Vegas, posing for photographs with Britney Spears, who was in town for her show at Planet Hollywood, and even receiving the endorsement of 500 sex workers, mostly from Carson City brothels, who formed the “Hookers 4 Hillary” group.
Less than an hour before the caucuses began, Mrs. Clinton was shaking hands in the employee cafeteria at Harrah’s casino. “I need your help this morning, in the showroom at 11 a.m.,” she told the predominantly Spanish-speaking workers.
Mrs. Clinton’s victory was a serious setback for Mr. Sanders, who campaigned hard in Nevada in hopes that a surge of Latino and black voters would heed his call for a political revolution.
After soundly defeating Mrs. Clinton in predominantly white New Hampshire, Mr. Sanders was under pressure to show that he could attract the broad cross-section of Democrats necessary to win the party’s nomination.
Mr. Sanders did prove popular with many Hispanic voters, winning 53 percent of them to 45 percent for Mrs. Clinton in early entrance polls reported by CNN. But he fared poorly among African-American voters, earning support from only 22 percent of them, according to the entrance polls. Sanders advisers acknowledged on Saturday that his weak performance with African-Americans means he could face significant difficulties in the South Carolina primary on Saturday and the Super Tuesday states on March 1, many of which have large African-American populations.
In the five Nevada precincts with the highest percentages of African-American caucus goers, Mrs. Clinton swept, winning all 76 delegates.
The Nevada results were personally important for Mrs. Clinton, who struggled in 2008 to win caucus states, though she prevailed here against Barack Obama. In this campaign, she has won the two caucuses so far, here and in Iowa.
While her public schedule was relatively light, with just one rally per day, Mrs. Clinton poured herself into shaking hands and meeting the mostly minority workers who make the Las Vegas casinos run.
The Clinton family was staying at Caesar’s Palace, and their daughter, Chelsea, dropped in on volunteers in the heavily Latino East Las Vegas area and knocked on doors in a working-class suburb.
After weeks of shifting the focus of her message, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign seemed to hit a stride here, emphasizing her experience and her commitment to fighting for African-American and Hispanic voters. That message was accompanied by an intense attack on Mr. Sanders, questioning his capacity to deliver on his promises of major change, and also his commitment to African Americans and Latinos.
Herbert Gregory, 69, who has been a cook at Caesar’s for 22 years, said Mrs. Clinton’s experience as first lady, senator and secretary of state had earned his support.
“She’s more qualified than Bernie,” Mr. Gregory said as he waited in line to enter the ballroom where the caucus was to begin. “It’s very important, because we don’t want to see what Obama has done go down the drain.”
More from The Washington Post:
LAS VEGAS — Hillary Clinton held off a powerful late challenge from rival Sen. Bernie Sanders in Nevada’s Democratic caucus vote Saturday, securing a narrow victory that could help her renew a claim to the mantle of presumptive Democratic nominee.
With more two-thirds of precincts reporting, Clinton held a four-point lead over Sanders — a margin more decisive than her razor-thin Iowa win but much closer than the Clinton campaign had anticipated as recently as a month ago, when it touted polls showing the former secretary of state with a 25-point lead.
Addressing supporters at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Clinton delivered the full-throated victory speech that she was unable to give in Iowa two weeks ago, where the race was not officially settled until the next morning.
“Some may have doubted us but we never doubted each other,” she said after taking the stage to “Hill-a-ry” chants. “This one is for you.”
Sanders prevailed in many rural areas and won Washoe County, where Reno, Nevada’s second-largest city, is located. But Clinton racked up a 10-point margin in Clark County, which is by far the state’s largest, home to Las Vegas and nearly three-quarters of its residents.
Nevada is the first state to gauge Clinton’s support among Hispanics, a growing demographic Democrats will need to win in November. The state, which is home to a well-organized workforce of hotel and culinary workers, is also a key test of labor power.
While entrance polling showed Sanders gaining stronger-than-expected support among Latino caucus-goers, Clinton maintained an overwhelming advantage among African American voters. She will seek to expand on that minority support in Southern and Midwestern states that will vote in the coming weeks, starting with the South Carolina Democratic primary next Saturday.
In the end, Clinton’s win over Sanders comes in at about the same five point margin that she beat Barack Obama by in 2008. The difference this time is that it appears from preliminary estimates that Clinton will end up doing far better when it comes to actual convention delegates from Nevada than she did last time. Eight years ago, despite the fact that Clinton received the most votes in Nevada in the caucus Barack Obama actually ended up winning one more delegate than she did after the final calculations were made. Without going into a convoluted explanation for why this was the case, a large part of it had to do with the distribution of the vote throughout the state between not only Clinton and Obama but also the other candidates who were still in the race at the time. This time, the distribution of votes is far more favorable to Clinton and it appears that she will walk away from the caucuses with 21 committed delegates to 15 for Bernie Sanders, with four Nevada delegates designated as “uncommitted” for the time being. Since it is the delegate count that actually matters in determining who wins the nomination, every win by Clinton that adds to her current advantage over Sanders in that regard pushes her campaign closer and closer to the point where victory becomes inevitable and sends a message to Bernie Sanders and his supporters that, notwithstanding his early success, the writing is on the wall as far as the ultimate outcome of this fight is concerned.
It’s hard to understate the importance of this win for Clinton’s campaign going forward. After two contests in which the Sanders wave seemed to have set the Clinton campaign back on its heels, the former Secretary of State has a solid victory in her pocket that puts her in a strong position to change the narrative of this campaign very quickly. From here, the Democratic campaign heads to South Carolina for a primary next week where Clinton seems to be assured of victory thanks in no small part to her overwhelming support from the African-American community. Assuming that those numbers hold up, and there’s every reason to believe that they will, the race then heads to a series of primaries on March 1st, March 8th, and March 15th most of which are in states that seem tailor-made for Clinton in that they are large, diverse, and have a significant African-American and minority population that should help her win nearly all of the contests over the next three weeks. Not all of them, mind you, because Sanders will likely win Vermont’s primary quite easily, for example, and could also end up taking Massachusetts and one or two of the western states that hold caucuses rather than primaries. On the whole, though, this win looks as though it is going to set Clinton up for a series of wins that will push her closer and closer to the inevitability that has really always been there, while Bernie Sanders will likely come to realize sooner rather than later that the Democratic nomination never really was realistically within his grasp.
Photo via Las Vegas Sun
I thought everybody was supposed to “feel the Bern”? As much as the media would like to see a horserace, let’s get real here…
@An Interested Party:
Believing that Sanders (to paraphrase PCH) can win involves the level of suspension of disbelief normally reserved for science fiction movies.
Hillary should be worried if she can´t beat among Hispanics the guy that voted against Immigration Reform in 2007 and then went to Lou Dobbs to praise the defeat of the proposal.
@Andre Kenji:
He’s likely to be out by mid March
@Andre Kenji:
Stop it. Bernie is done. Worse, he was never in it. The media, and some Dems, wanted a horserace. Bernie is still in it because Hillary, Anti-Bernie Dems and the DNC have chosen not to attack Sanders on his voodoo math, or controversial past statements. They haven’t because he has never been a real threat.
OT: Bush has dropped out of the Republican race.
@HarvardLaw92:
And Carson says he’s staying in.
Grifters gotta grift.
Almost every headline I’ve seen says Clinton narrowly defeats Sanders in Nevada. 5 points is narrow? Based on polls from 6 months ago, she didn’t win by the expected amount, but recent polls had it a lot tighter, so 5 points is, as Doug, points out, a solid win.
BTW, I haven’t decided on the candidate I am going to pick in Missouri’s primary, but trying to spin every headline to make it look bad for Clinton is a bit tiresome. Leave the editorial comment to the editorial pages.
I suspect many of the regulars at Daily Kos are on suicide watch tonight. Bernie was supposed to be an unstoppable juggernaut…weren’t we all going to feel the Bern?
Let him do his thing and Hillary will be gracious to him and allow him to ramble on at the convention about all the great things he was going to do. (How they’d actually get done? Magic I guess.)
I still think he should have promised a free pony along with his free college.
@EddieInCA: I´m talking about the General Election. Democratic candidates that win in the General Election does not have hard time beating flawed opponents like Bernie Sanders in the primary.
@MikeSJ:
From what I saw, they are busily spinning this away as being a narrow victory from which Sanders will recover and ultimately win the nomination.
Never underestimate the human capacity for self-delusion & suspension of disbelief. These people will keep believing right up to the second that Sanders exits the race, which is when they’ll really be on suicide watch.
@EddieInCA:
He still has some books left to sell.
Clinton’s inability to win at least 127% of Nevada’s delegates makes it clear that her campaign is doomed.
@Andre Kenji: This could turn out to be a close contest because of fear of non-caucasians anyway; still in all, three contests into the primary is a little early to call Hillary on having a hard time winning.
Speaking of the general election, here’s a reason why Sanders is an extremely flawed candidate…
“…. receiving the endorsement of 500 sex workers, mostly from Carson City brothels, who formed the “Hookers 4 Hillary” group.”
Well, birds of a feather. But I digress.
I was hoping to see a rational explanation for how a 25 point lead a month ago, turned into a four points victory, is “a solid victory.” But it’s looking too Orwellian to be of interest. Anyway, the fix is in, so it matters not. Exit Sanders from the free beer campaign scene.
And now maybe she can shed some light on her, um, interesting philosophy. Wage depressing pro-immigration, slobbering sycophancy to Wall Street……….and the scourge of income inequality.
Sit back and enjoy. This ought to be better than dodging sniper fire in Croatia. Orville Redenbacker, Garret’s or straight theatre popcorn? Maybe she’ll just bark like a dog.
@EddieInCA:
Exactly. Hillary has been pretty mild in her criticism of him, which shows that a) she knew she had him beat, and b) she’s hoping his supporters will back her come November. Not attacking Bernie but waiting for the inevitable implosion of his campaign will make b more likely.
@Andre Kenji:
First off, the entrance polling appears to be wrong about the Hispanic vote but we may have to wait for a while to have a clearer picture of that.
Second, Hispanic voters are, as a group, younger than the electorate as a whole, and Sanders has kept his hold on the young voters. If it turns out that the Hispanic vote was closer than anticipated, I think that by itself could explain why. The worries about paying for school and Sanders’ free college promise is very powerful among young voters.
Why not just call her a bitch and get it over with? Humph, when she becomes president, the derangement against her may well be worse than that against her husband and our current president…
Republicans are going to nominate Trump.
Just think about that.
Fwcking amazing.
The party of Lincoln is going to nominate Donald Trump.
@C. Clavin: it should set up a real dilemma for folks like Doug (in Virginia I’ll remind you). Will they vote 3rd party and risk a President Trump? Or vote for Hilliary whose policies they dislike but are still well within normal political discourse/behavior/sanity?
@Guarneri:
…. and those were David Vitter’s people, go figure
@An Interested Party:
Why not just call her a bitch and get it over with?
Jesus Christ, are you actually so unaware that you did not know that this was a thing that happened?
This is so entertaining. I’m sitting back and watching the soi-disant elites and intellectuals on both sides saying “this is awesome! The other side’s actually going to nominate that batshit crazy loon! When our plebes and proles come to their senses and vote for the candidate we’ve chosen, we’ll crush them!”
And in both cases, it’s magical thinking. On both sides, the one who is totally dominating the race is hated and feared by the elites on both sides. Those elites keep telling themselves that the outsider will eventually self-destruct and their base will come to their senses in time. And that is based on nothing more than fantasy, with absolutely zero indicators that it will actually happen.
This also should put the final nail in the coffin of the propaganda that “big money” and “dark money” buys elections. The two candidates who were the favorites of Big Money are getting their asses kicked by people who are spending a fraction of the money they are — hell, Juan Ellis Bush has finally bailed.
And while we’re talking about Hillary, here are the latest details about her e-mails, just for the people who are willfully shoving their heads in the sand.
Hillary discusses by name Afghani on CIA’s payroll
Then Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry sends classified e-mail to then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, along with National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, and Hillary forwards it to an aide for printing out.
BTW, I want to retract any previous statements I have made that the press favors Hillary because they like her. They favor her because she knows how to pull their leashes and make them do her bidding.
The leader of the Democratic Party, Debbie W – Schultz, seemed overjoyed about Hillary’s victory. Am I wrong for thinking that the party leader should be impartial until the primaries are over and the candidate is chosen ? This certainly confirms the whole process is structured and slanted to get a pre-selected and predetermined outcome. And think about it: a “caucus” in Las Vegas: a gambler’s dream – watching the coin flip, roulette wheel, and Rock – Paper – Scissors candidate selection events !
@Tyrell:
This is a political party selecting its nominee. It’s not meant to be egalitarian, or for that matter democratic.
Primaries are like the electoral college, except with the addition of a large chunk of “faithless electors” who are referred to by the Dems as superdelegates. And they can make all of the difference.
It’s the superdelegates that gave Obama the nomination in 2008 even though he didn’t win it on the popular vote. In 2016, Clinton is most likely going to be in Obama’s position even if the primaries are tight: In addition to his potential for being the next McGovern, Sanders isn’t really a Democrat. As there is only one Democrat running for the nomination, it’s should be understandable why the sentiment leans toward the candidate who belongs to the party.
And people need to disabuse themselves of this notion that a candidate has to have a landslide primary win in order to be a contender. There’s no evidence of it, plenty of evidence to the contrary, and no reason to believe it.
If Hillary loses in November, are we going to hear any chirping about the disproportionate influence of African-American voters in the Democratic nominating process?
Mike
@MBunge:
Did that happen when Kerry, Gore, Dukakis, or Mondale lost?
No. It did not.
Kerry percentage of Black vote vs GOP and others:: 88-11-1
Gore percentage of Black vote vs GOP and others:: 90-8-2
Dukakis percentage of Black vote vs GOP and others:: 88-10-2
Mondale percentage of Black vote vs vs GOP and others:: 89-9-2
http://blackdemographics.com/culture/black-politics/
@EddieInCA:
Did Mondale, Dukakis, Gore or Kerry win the Democratic nomination almost entirely due to African-Amercan voters in the party’s primaries and caucuses? What does the general election have to do with anything?
We just went through a couple of weeks of Democrats and liberals belittling Bernie Sanders’ performance in Iowa and New Hampshire for no other reason than they considered those states “too white.” Well, it looks so far that Bernie is competitive or capable of beating Hillary in every demographic except African-Americans.
So, I repeat. If Hillary wins the nomination, primarily through overwhelming support among black voters, and then loses in November, will there be any discussion of black voters having a disproportionate influence in picking the Democratic nominee?
Mike
@MBunge:
As of 2014, 13.2% of the US population was black. Iowa – 3.4%. New Hampshire – 1.5%.
If there are areas of the country that aren’t representative of the US as a whole, then it’s places such as Iowa and New Hampshire.
We have a word for those who believe that only white voters have legitimate interests. (Hint: It starts with an a “r” and it rhymes with “racist.”)
@MBunge:
You’ve confused belittling with recasting in terms of reality. Iowa and New Hampshire are two of the three states most conducive to a Sanders blowout due to the fact that their electoral demographics (heavily white, heavily liberal) most closely mirror Sanders base of support. Instead he lost one and gave up 40% of the vote in the second.
This would be the equivalent of Sanders pulling a victory or posting a net tie in states like SC, where the electoral demographics heavily favor Clinton. If that somehow happens on the 27th, feel free to point out how it portends bad things for Clinton’s campaIgn.
But don’t be surprised if it doesn’t. The results so far tell us two primary things:
1) the youth vote, as expected, yet again isn’t turning out in numbers anywhere near large enough to be material, and;
2) Clinton is holding her advantage among racial minorities and older voters, who ARE turning out in numbers large enough to be material.
@Jenos Idanian:
This is the best campaign season EVER.
Oh, pardon me for not being familiar with that…at the same time, you and ilk display an attitude towards her that shows that you would easily call her a bitch, among many other epithets…
Talk about magical thinking…you are quite delusional if you actually think that Sanders is “totally dominating” the race on the Democratic side…meanwhile, regarding the email thing, why don’t you track her down and make a citizen’s arrest…
Here’s a better question…after she wins the nomination, will you and Todd and people like you withhold your support in the fall simply because she isn’t your preferred candidate?
@Jenos Idanian:
Listening to people complain about Hillary’s e-mails is as boring as listening to them complain about incandescent light bulbs.
“… her commitment to fighting for African-American and Hispanic voters.”
Pray, tell. Can anyone enumerate exactly what she has fought for, vis-à-vis African-American and Hispanic voters?
@john430: Pray, tell. Can anyone enumerate exactly what she has fought for, vis-à-vis African-American and Hispanic voters?
And even more importantly, what has all her “fighting” achieved?
She talks about fighting for women, fighting for equal pay, etc., but she didn’t do a damned thing about equal pay in the State Department, or even her own Senate or campaign staffs.
She’s not even “all talk and no action.” She’s “sometimes talk and no action.”
@al-Ameda: This is the best campaign season EVER.
I believe that we have found common ground.
@James Pearce: Yes, I can see by your pot-bellied avatar that you aren’t interested in national security.
@An Interested Party: Sorry, but that barking’s been getting coverage everywhere. At least, everywhere that doesn’t have their heads up Hillary’s fundament.
As far as “dominating,” let’s look at Sanders:
1) Wasn’t even a Democrat until recently — was a Socialist and then an Independent.
2) From what I’ve heard, he’s sponsored a grand total of three laws — two of which renamed Post Offices in Vermont. So he’s not exactly well-loved and well-respected on Capitol Hill.
3) Hillary’s outspent him between 2 and 3 to 1 so far.
4) Hillary’s been a very popular figure in DC, in the public eye as First Lady, Senator, presidential candidate, and Secretary of State for 20 years.
And with that, Sanders barely lost Iowa, blew away Hillary in New Hampshire, and chewed down her lead in Nevada from 25% to 5%. And while I don’t follow these things that carefully, I am fairly comfortable that Hillary will not crush him in South Carolina.
You know what they call the person who wins 100.00% of the Democratic delegates? The nominee.
You know what they call the person who wins 50.01% of the Democratic delegates? The nominee.
Notice how both questions have precisely the same answer.
@john430:
My pot-bellied avatar raises his glass and says, “I’m more interested in this cocktail than your opinion, so –GULP– I guess you can keep talking now.”
Look, guys. If you want to use this e-mail thing as a cudgel to beat Hillary Clinton with, be honest with yourself about your motives. Do you want better e-mail security at the highest reaches of government, or do you want to be paying for President Trump’s crumbling “wall” 20 years from now?
@Jenos Idanian:
Wanna bet? I think the Democratic primary race is far from over, but I’m more than willing to bet you that Clinton will win by double digits in South Carolina.
@Kari Q: Wanna bet? I think the Democratic primary race is far from over, but I’m more than willing to bet you that Clinton will win by double digits in South Carolina.
As I said, I don’t follow the polls too carefully, but I just took a look at this report. Lemme play with some numbers.
According to the RCP average, Hillary’s up by 24.
Hillary and Bernie essentially tied in Iowa.
Bernie won New Hampshire by 22 points
Hillary had about a 25% lead in Nevada at one point, ended up winning by about 5.
(Yes, I’m being very sloppy with numbers. This is me just thinking out loud.)
The voting is next Saturday.
I generally don’t like to bet, but I’m tempted to do so in this case. Here’s my offer: If Hillary wins by more than 15 points, you win. If not, I win. And the loser has to put one dollar in the very next tip cup they run across. (I already know which one it’ll be for me should I lose.)
That tempt you?
That’s quite amusing coming from someone who was George Zimmerman’s personal fluffer (not that there’s anything wrong with that) for quite a long time…in the end, can you say “Madam President”? I know you might choke on the words, but still…
Let’s talk about some more fantasies, shall we? Like the idea that we are going to build a wall at our southern border and get Mexico to pay for it…or the idea that the next president will be able to set up a single-payer health care system…no wonder the outsiders are doing so well…they are promising everything but the magic pony…
@An Interested Party: Like the idea that we are going to build a wall at our southern border and get Mexico to pay for it…
Just because you think it’s totally impossible doesn’t necessarily make it so. News flash: there are a lot of people smarter than you are. Here’s one way it might be done…
@An Interested Party: That’s quite amusing coming from someone who was George Zimmerman’s personal fluffer
I expect that kind of dishonest crassness from aholes like Cliffy, but I actually thought you were better than that.
Oh yes, because “everywhere that doesn’t have their heads up Hillary’s fundament” is just so honest and prim and proper…
Good luck with that little fantasy…
@An Interested Party: What, ain’t “fundament” classy enough for you? And here I was trying to be polite and all.
@An Interested Party:
Actually I’d argue that a horserace, with Clinton winning at the end, is the best possible scenario for the Dems. It keeps Clinton in the news, and pulls her to the left somewhat – the first is good for the November election, the second is good for what she actually does in office.
Sanders getting millennials interested is excellent if she can take enough of his policies to take in their votes, not just in 2016, but for the Dems in 2018.
The race between Sanders and Clinton is pure gold for the Dems (so long as Clinton wins in the end – I don’t think Sanders can win the general election). The best case scenario has it lasting until the convention, at which point he concedes gracefully, firing up his followers to vote the whole party line. I think Clinton sees this as well; the prize is the general election, and a coronation (which at one point seemed certain) wasn’t something she’d have wanted.
That, of course, is the key and while I agree that the horserace can help make Clinton a better candidate that certainly isn’t the reason why the media wants a horserace…
@An Interested Party:
True, they’re just interested in getting readers/viewers.
@Jenos Idanian:
I definitely look forward to Putin visiting The Wall and intoning,
“Mr. Trump, tear down this wall!”
@al-Ameda: Are you really so stupid as to not understand the difference between walls that keep people in and walls that keep people out?
@Jenos Idanian:
I will readily accept that bet. In fact, I promise to leave tips in each cup for the rest of the day if Hillary does not win by at least 15 points.
(Sorry for late response, got busy here and nearly forgot that I’d issued the challenge).