Standing in the sun-soaked White House driveway after an hourlong private meeting with President Obama, Bernie Sanders seemed to acknowledge on Thursday that his campaign is in twilight. But he stopped just shy of endorsing presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
The senator from Vermont, who has drawn the support of millions of Americans to a campaign powered by economic populism, vowed to take his candidacy at least through the Washington, D.C., primary on Tuesday, carry his issues to the Democratic nominating convention in late July and fight through November to deny Donald Trump the presidency.
“Donald Trump would clearly, to my mind and I think the majority of Americans, be a disaster as president of the United States,” Sanders told reporters outside the White House, his wife, Jane, at his side. “Needless to say, I am going to do everything in my power and I will work as hard as I can to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president of the United States.”
Barely 90 minutes after Sanders spoke, Clinton’s campaign released a three-minute video message from Obama, endorsing her.
Sanders also disclosed that he spoke to Clinton on Tuesday night, after she clinched the majority of pledged delegates to the Democratic convention. She also leads Sanders by a lopsided majority among so-called superdelegates, or party notables, meaning she would need to suffer a political cataclysm for him to have a plausible path to the nomination.
“I congratulated her on her very strong campaign,” he said. “I look forward to meeting with her in the near future to see how we can work together to defeat Donald Trump and create a government which represents all of us and not just the one percent.”
Earlier this week, Clinton earned a decisive win in California, a state upon which Sanders had hinged the hopes of his flagging campaign.
But Sanders, ever defiant, said on Thursday that he looked forward “to the full counting of the votes in California, which I suspect will show a much closer vote than the current vote tally.” Still, the overall tenor of his remarks — for example, his statement that he would take his “issues” but not explicitly his candidacy, to the convention — suggested a candidate who knows he faces vanishingly long odds.
Sanders is set to hold a Thursday night rally for Washington, D.C., voters. “The major point that I will be making to the citizens of the District of Columbia is that I am strongly in favor of D.C. statehood,” he said. But Sanders could also send a message if he drops his stump-speech attacks on Clinton — or renews them.
Democrats have increasingly wondered what Bernie wants from his increasingly quixotic campaign.
Sanders, who has several times declined to explicitly ask his supporters to vote for Clinton, has left no doubt that he wants to shape the Democratic Party agenda. Some have speculated that he could write some of the planks of the party platform, but Sanders knows that the document is largely symbolic. He could also seek to influence Clinton’s choice of vice president or, if she wins, her picks for cabinet posts.
Sanders was also due to meet with Senate Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid Thursday afternoon and Vice President Biden at his official residence, the Naval Observatory, after that.
But there are already signs that congressional Democrats will seek to advance issues dear to him. Senate Democrats are reportedly planning to release a package of proposals, including changes to campaign finance rules.
The senator’s stop at the White House recalled his previous visit in January, when he told reporters that Obama and Biden would be “even-handed” in the primaries. On Thursday, he thanked them for keeping their promise.
“What they said at the beginning is that they would not put their thumbs on the scale, and in fact, they kept their word, and I appreciate that very, very much,” he said.
The visit was carefully choreographed. Sanders arrived at the westernmost entrance of the White House, the lower level of the West Wing, where Obama was working. But reporters were invited to watch the two men walk from the residence of the White House back into the West Wing.
Despite that stagecraft, Bernie was still Bernie. On his way to the White House, the senator popped into a Peet’s Coffee for refreshments, apparently eager not to appear… overeager.
The senator from Vermont, who has drawn the support of millions of Americans to a campaign powered by economic populism, vowed to take his candidacy at least through the Washington, D.C., primary on Tuesday, carry his issues to the Democratic nominating convention in late July and fight through November to deny Donald Trump the presidency.
“Donald Trump would clearly, to my mind and I think the majority of Americans, be a disaster as president of the United States,” Sanders told reporters outside the White House, his wife, Jane, at his side. “Needless to say, I am going to do everything in my power and I will work as hard as I can to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president of the United States.”
Barely 90 minutes after Sanders spoke, Clinton’s campaign released a three-minute video message from Obama, endorsing her.
Sanders also disclosed that he spoke to Clinton on Tuesday night, after she clinched the majority of pledged delegates to the Democratic convention. She also leads Sanders by a lopsided majority among so-called superdelegates, or party notables, meaning she would need to suffer a political cataclysm for him to have a plausible path to the nomination.
“I congratulated her on her very strong campaign,” he said. “I look forward to meeting with her in the near future to see how we can work together to defeat Donald Trump and create a government which represents all of us and not just the one percent.”
Earlier this week, Clinton earned a decisive win in California, a state upon which Sanders had hinged the hopes of his flagging campaign.
But Sanders, ever defiant, said on Thursday that he looked forward “to the full counting of the votes in California, which I suspect will show a much closer vote than the current vote tally.” Still, the overall tenor of his remarks — for example, his statement that he would take his “issues” but not explicitly his candidacy, to the convention — suggested a candidate who knows he faces vanishingly long odds.
Sanders is set to hold a Thursday night rally for Washington, D.C., voters. “The major point that I will be making to the citizens of the District of Columbia is that I am strongly in favor of D.C. statehood,” he said. But Sanders could also send a message if he drops his stump-speech attacks on Clinton — or renews them.
Democrats have increasingly wondered what Bernie wants from his increasingly quixotic campaign.
Sanders, who has several times declined to explicitly ask his supporters to vote for Clinton, has left no doubt that he wants to shape the Democratic Party agenda. Some have speculated that he could write some of the planks of the party platform, but Sanders knows that the document is largely symbolic. He could also seek to influence Clinton’s choice of vice president or, if she wins, her picks for cabinet posts.
Sanders was also due to meet with Senate Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid Thursday afternoon and Vice President Biden at his official residence, the Naval Observatory, after that.
But there are already signs that congressional Democrats will seek to advance issues dear to him. Senate Democrats are reportedly planning to release a package of proposals, including changes to campaign finance rules.
The senator’s stop at the White House recalled his previous visit in January, when he told reporters that Obama and Biden would be “even-handed” in the primaries. On Thursday, he thanked them for keeping their promise.
“What they said at the beginning is that they would not put their thumbs on the scale, and in fact, they kept their word, and I appreciate that very, very much,” he said.
The visit was carefully choreographed. Sanders arrived at the westernmost entrance of the White House, the lower level of the West Wing, where Obama was working. But reporters were invited to watch the two men walk from the residence of the White House back into the West Wing.
Despite that stagecraft, Bernie was still Bernie. On his way to the White House, the senator popped into a Peet’s Coffee for refreshments, apparently eager not to appear… overeager.
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