It’s a long shot for Bernie Sanders to win the Democratic Party presidential nomination. But he is still campaigning hard, vowing to take his candidacy to the convention in Philadelphia in July.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during a campaign rally in Cathedral City, Calif. May 25, 2016 (AP)

Sanders trails Hillary Clinton by 268 pledged delegates going into the final nine contests of the primary election season. Neither are likely to win the nomination with pledged delegates only.

Both candidates will need to make their case to the 712 so-called “superdelegates” that they are the better candidate to take on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Both need to have convincing victories in the final primaries, especially California.

With 475 pledged delegates at stake, California has the biggest delegate haul. Sanders has been campaigning in the state for more than a week. Clinton has changed her schedule and will add two more days of California campaigning before the June 7 primary. She also got a boost with an endorsement from California governor Jerry Brown.

Donald Trump already on the attack against Hillary Clinton. Many Democrats worry Sanders is dividing the party when the delegate math doesn’t add up.

It’s Time for Clinton and Sanders Supporters to Swallow Some Tough Medicine

Robert Reich – Alternet

First, my advice to Clinton supporters: Don’t try to drum Bernie Sanders out of the race before Hillary Clinton officially gets the nomination (if she in fact does get it)….

Sanders should stay in the race also because he has attracted a large number of young people and independents. Their passion, excitement, and enthusiasm are critically important to Hillary Clinton’s success…

Next, my advice for Sanders supporters: Be prepared to work hard for Hillary Clinton if she gets the nomination.

Some of you say that refusing to fight for or even vote for Hillary will show the Democratic political establishment why it must change its ways.

But the “Democratic political establishment” is nothing but a bunch of people, many of them big donors and fundraisers occupying comfortable and privileged positions, who won’t even be aware that you’ve decided to sit it out – unless Hillary loses to Donald Trump.

 

Last week, Golden State was down three games to one. Tonight, they finished off a great comeback in California. I like comebacks.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 31, 2016

Confessions of a Former Dead-Ender

Froma Harrop – Real Clear Politics

Though most of his supporters say they will make the transition to Clinton, a sizable minority — 28 percent, according to a recent poll — insist they will not. Some vow to cast ballots for Trump. The dedicated liberals among them (as opposed to those just along for a populist ride) are being called “dead-enders.”

I feel some of their pain, for I was once considered a dead-ender. The year was 2008. Barack Obama had clinched the Democratic nomination after a grueling contest.

Bernie Sanders Should Stay in the Race

John Crisp – Kitsap Sun

Clinton, on the other hand, appeared to have the nomination wrapped up from the beginning but still can’t achieve an unfavorable rating below 50 percent. While more scrutiny of Clinton is hard to imagine, if she gets the nomination, the scandalous issues Republicans will raise will have to compete for attention….

The allegations against Clinton don’t have to have merit to have legs. But it appears that some of them do have merit. Her vote in favor of the ill-advised Iraq War, for example, or the fabricated sniper fire in Sarajevo….

Where does this leave Sanders? If Clinton is nominated, I doubt that many Sanders supporters would actually vote for Trump. But last week an avid tea party friend of mine said that if he had to choose between Trump and Sanders, he might well vote for Sanders.

A supporter holds up a sign for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at a campaign rally, Saturday, May 28, 2016, in Santa Maria, Calif. (AP)

Democrats Civil War Is Only Just Getting Started

Matt Rhoades – New York Post

In one corner is the Hillary Clinton wing of the party, represented by the liberal establishment in the Acela Corridor. These are the left-of-center party leaders interested only in preserving power.

In the other is the Elizabeth Warren/Bernie Sanders wing that rose to prominence on the backs of the radical Occupy Wall Street protest movement. Vehemently opposed to American free enterprise, these extremists are fueled by burning left-wing populism and hostility toward capitalism. They demonize success by pitting the so-called “one percent” versus the “99 percent,” and have less interest in governing than they do advancing ideological purity.

The growing influence of the Warren/Sanders wing of the party is obvious. Despite spending nearly $200 million in the Democratic primary, Clinton has still failed to close out a 74-year-old socialist who doesn’t even comb his hair.

Democratic Leaders Should Kiss Up to Bernie Sanders

Paul Goldman – Reuters

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally in Santa Maria, Calif., May 28, 2016.

Instead of denying reality, however, the Democratic establishment should follow President Lyndon B Johnson’s approach in the 1964 presidential campaign.

Polls showed Republicans had virtually conceded the African-American vote when they nominated Senator Barry Goldwater, who had voted against the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. As the summer Democratic National Convention approached, LBJ knew he had the political leeway to reject further political demands being made by younger African-American activists.

But LBJ understood political math. He knew that in order for Martin Luther King Jr. to keep his troops united in the fall — and ready to rally behind the Democratic ticket — the civil rights leader had to be a winner, not a loser.

So LBJ confided in King what he planned for African-Americans if he won the election.