Since starting his pursuit for the presidency of the United States, Bernie Sanders has been considered an underdog, trailing behind presidential-hopeful Hillary Clinton. For months, the Vermont senator's influence was nearly marginal in comparison with the former First Lady, but as the race wore on, Sanders slowly but consistently narrowed the gap between him and his rival.
With Sanders' victories in Washington, Alaska and Hawaii, the presidential candidate has managed to get a few steps closer to his rival once more. Seeing an opportunity to further narrow the gap and fully overtake his rival, Sanders has issued a formal challenge to a debate this April in the state of New York.
Part of the reason behind Sanders' motivation for issuing the challenge lies in the fact that despite his consecutive wins on Saturday, Clinton still enjoys a fairly comfortable lead over her opponent. Thus, beating the former first lady in her "home state" would surely put a massive dent in her campaign. One of the best ways to do this, of course, would be to beat Clinton in a debate.
After all, for Sanders to actually win the Democratic nomination in June, he would not only need to win New York, he would need to win the state in a landslide victory. Doing so would not only close the gap between the two candidates, it would fully enable Sanders to surpass Clinton's numbers. Considering that New York has always backed the Clinton, such things might be easier said than done.
Jeff Weaver, campaign manager for Sanders, officially sent out a request to his counterpart in the Clinton camp, Robby Mook, on Sunday. As of writing, Clinton's camp has been silent.
Sanders has pledged to continue to the fight, stating that he would stay in the race until all 50 states have had their say. After all, there is an emerging trend in Sanders' victories that really deserves attention.
While Clinton still has a comfortable lead over the Vermont Senator, Sanders has beaten Clinton in a series of landslide victories in the states that he won. In Washington alone, which is also considered a very important state, Sanders won over Clinton, leading 72 percent to 28 percent. Such a trend was even more evident in Alaska, where Sanders won 80 percent compared to Clinton's 20 percent.
Perhaps what makes Clinton extremely confident and seemingly secure about her nomination is the presence of the super delegates that have pledged support for her campaign. For Sanders' supporters, however, the super delegates might very well become Clinton's undoing. After all, super delegates have the option to change their votes at any point until the actual voting takes place at the party convention.
For Sanders, the battle is far from over. If Clinton loses badly in several key states to Sanders, the devotion that the super delegates have shown Clinton so far would face scrutiny, and most of them might very well change their vote. The stronger Sanders' momentum becomes, the better his chances are at winning the nomination.
"What we showed yesterday is in fact the momentum is with us. We think we're going to do well in Wisconsin. We think we got a real shot in New York. And then we go out to California. You go out to Oregon. That's the most progressive part of America," Sanders said.
