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            Democrats Focused on Primary Battles in Oregon, Kentucky

   by Chris Hannas

   Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary
   Clinton have stressed economic issues as they try to win voters ahead
   of Tuesday's Democratic presidential primaries in Oregon and Kentucky.

   The two states, located almost on opposite sides of the country, are
   very different but have a similar number of delegates at stake with 74
   in Oregon and 61 in Kentucky.

   Coal an issue

   Sanders easily won last week's primary in West Virginia, a neighbor of
   Kentucky.  Those states have major coal mining industries and while
   Clinton has proposed a program to move away from the coal economy into
   other industries, she has driven away voters who are unhappy with her
   characterization of putting coal miners out of business.

   ''

   The Democratic system of awarding delegates proportionally based on the
   vote means both Clinton and Sanders will gain delegates as they try to
   reach the majority 2,383 needed to clinch the party's nomination.
   Heading into Tuesday, Clinton has 1,716 and Sanders 1,433 from all of
   the states that have already held their primary or caucus.

   Super Delegates give Clinton a huge advantage

   But hanging over the race are the hundreds of so-called super
   delegates, who are party officials free to back any candidate.  More
   than 500 have pledged to support Clinton, while 40 are backing
   Sanders.  That leaves Clinton needing only about 150 more delegates to
   clinch the nomination, which she could get by winning as few as 15
   percent of those remaining.

   Sanders would thus need to win more than 85 percent unless he is
   successful in his campaign to get the super delegates to switch their
   allegiance, which they are free to do.  Under an extreme scenario, with
   all of the super delegates deciding to back Sanders, Clinton could
   still win the nomination through pledged delegates alone if she won
   about 35 percent of those still remaining.

   Sanders plans to stay in the race through the final voting next month
   that includes June 7 contests in California and New Jersey. The
   self-described democratic socialist's message has resonated
   particularly with young voters who have helped him win 19 states so
   far.

   ''

   Trump clinches Republican race

   The longevity of the Democratic contest is in contrast to the
   Republican race, where every candidate except businessman Donald Trump
   has dropped out, leaving him as the presumptive nominee two months
   ahead of the party's nominating convention.

   After Tuesday, the Democrats have no more contests this month, with
   only voting in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico before the big slates
   scheduled for June 7.  While the eventual nominee will have to likely
   wait three more weeks to fully focus on the general election, Clinton
   and Sanders can take some solace in the multiple polls that show either
   of them leading Trump in a hypothetical November vote.

   Trump has focused his general election criticisms at Clinton, but while
   he has at times praised Sanders for his campaign against the
   front-runner, Trump still sometimes goes after Sanders, too.

   "If Crooked Hillary Clinton can't close the deal on Crazy Bernie, how
   is she going to take on China, Russia, ISIS and all of the others?"
   Trump tweeted last week.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/democrats-focused-on-primary-battles-
   in-oregon-kentucky/3331882.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/democrats-focused-on-primary-battles-in-oregon-kentucky/3331882.html