He is worried that she won't debate him in NY. Maybe she won't. I have no idea, but she has no obligation to.
"Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Mr. Sanders said he wanted to have a debate in “New York City, upstate, wherever, on the important issues facing New York and, in fact, the country.” The Democrats have held eight debates so far, the last one on March 9 in Miami, and the two campaigns pledged to hold an additional debate in April and another one in May before the final primaries in June."
"Asked by Chuck Todd, the host, if he was worried that Mrs. Clinton would not debate him again, Mr. Sanders replied, “Yeah, I do have a little bit of concern about that. But I certainly would like to see a debate in New York State.”
"A Clinton campaign spokesman declined to comment about the debate proposal on Sunday."
"Mr. Sanders, fresh off three caucus victories on Saturday, is seeking every opportunity to keep his chances alive despite Mrs. Clinton’s delegate lead, which has not significantly changed. Sanders advisers consider New York to be a crucial battleground; if Mr. Sanders could beat Mrs. Clinton in her home state, it would be a humiliating blow and – perhaps more than any other contest – cast doubts on her strengths as a general election nominee. Yet Mr. Sanders would need a landslide victory in New York to start chipping away at her lead in delegates."
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/03/27/bernie-sanders-challenges-hillary-clinton-to-debate-in-new-york/
This is the latest desperate Bernie theory. That a 'loss in NY' constitutes an existential threat. A two point loss like in Michigan would still give her about half of the almost 300 delegates from the state.
Right now she has 1712 delegates to Bernie's 1004. There are 2049 delegates left to be won.
http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/delegate-count-tracker
What this means is she can get to 2382 by winning just 671 of the 2049: ie, just 33 percent. Bernie for his part needs 1378 or 67 percent. If she takes roughly 150 delegates in NY even if Bernie technically 'won' the state, that would even in defeat take her 22 percent more of the remaining needed 671 delegates to win the nomination.
In truth, it's worse than that as there are still 252 outstanding superdelegates most of which will go to her. Factor that in and she's more than 82 percent of the way there.
Even without the 'momentum.' All you need to know about the state of Bernie's campaign is that they use the word 'momentum' so much. That's now how Obama 2008 won. Indeed, Hillary won NY in 2008 and this didn't magically give her the nomination and she won it by 14 points-even if Bernie won my home state which I doubt, it's unlikely it would be by the margin she won it in 2008.
As for more debates, we've had a lot of them already along with the town halls. It's understandable he wants more debates: when you trail you want more debates when you're leading, you're less excited about the prospect.
But Bernie needs to give it up in trying to make this a question of absolute justice. If he were leading he wouldn't want more debates. It's not that I think a debate would hurt her. To the contrary, she's a great debater. But it's up to her if she wants one and where.
The demand for a NY debate is just a Hail Mary pass. But few Hail Marys work. There is no silver bullet.
"Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Mr. Sanders said he wanted to have a debate in “New York City, upstate, wherever, on the important issues facing New York and, in fact, the country.” The Democrats have held eight debates so far, the last one on March 9 in Miami, and the two campaigns pledged to hold an additional debate in April and another one in May before the final primaries in June."
"Asked by Chuck Todd, the host, if he was worried that Mrs. Clinton would not debate him again, Mr. Sanders replied, “Yeah, I do have a little bit of concern about that. But I certainly would like to see a debate in New York State.”
"A Clinton campaign spokesman declined to comment about the debate proposal on Sunday."
"Mr. Sanders, fresh off three caucus victories on Saturday, is seeking every opportunity to keep his chances alive despite Mrs. Clinton’s delegate lead, which has not significantly changed. Sanders advisers consider New York to be a crucial battleground; if Mr. Sanders could beat Mrs. Clinton in her home state, it would be a humiliating blow and – perhaps more than any other contest – cast doubts on her strengths as a general election nominee. Yet Mr. Sanders would need a landslide victory in New York to start chipping away at her lead in delegates."
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/03/27/bernie-sanders-challenges-hillary-clinton-to-debate-in-new-york/
This is the latest desperate Bernie theory. That a 'loss in NY' constitutes an existential threat. A two point loss like in Michigan would still give her about half of the almost 300 delegates from the state.
Right now she has 1712 delegates to Bernie's 1004. There are 2049 delegates left to be won.
http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/delegate-count-tracker
What this means is she can get to 2382 by winning just 671 of the 2049: ie, just 33 percent. Bernie for his part needs 1378 or 67 percent. If she takes roughly 150 delegates in NY even if Bernie technically 'won' the state, that would even in defeat take her 22 percent more of the remaining needed 671 delegates to win the nomination.
In truth, it's worse than that as there are still 252 outstanding superdelegates most of which will go to her. Factor that in and she's more than 82 percent of the way there.
Even without the 'momentum.' All you need to know about the state of Bernie's campaign is that they use the word 'momentum' so much. That's now how Obama 2008 won. Indeed, Hillary won NY in 2008 and this didn't magically give her the nomination and she won it by 14 points-even if Bernie won my home state which I doubt, it's unlikely it would be by the margin she won it in 2008.
As for more debates, we've had a lot of them already along with the town halls. It's understandable he wants more debates: when you trail you want more debates when you're leading, you're less excited about the prospect.
But Bernie needs to give it up in trying to make this a question of absolute justice. If he were leading he wouldn't want more debates. It's not that I think a debate would hurt her. To the contrary, she's a great debater. But it's up to her if she wants one and where.
The demand for a NY debate is just a Hail Mary pass. But few Hail Marys work. There is no silver bullet.
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