Bernie Sanders: I can still beat Clinton in presidency bid

Bernie Sanders says he still has a “path toward victory” in his bid against Hillary Clinton to win the Democratic nomination for US president. He rejected suggestions that she has all but sewn up the party’s nomination.

“I don’t believe they have an insurmountable lead,” Sanders said, from Arizona, where he was campaigning. “Secretary Clinton has done phenomenally well in the Deep South, and in Florida. That’s where she has gotten the lion’s share of votes. And I congratulate her for that. But we’re out of the Deep South now.”

Clinton pointed to a memo by her campaign manager, Robby Mook, who said she has an “insurmountable lead” in the delegate count. The campaign noted its pledged delegate lead of more than 300 is twice as large as any that then-Illinois senator, Barack Obama, held over Clinton in the 2008 primary. “And, note Ohio, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada and Iowa are generally not considered Deep South,” said Clinton spokesman, Brian Fallon, referring to states won by the ex-secretary of state. Clinton’s win in Missouri means she won all five of Tuesday’s Democratic primary contests. She also beat Sanders in Florida, Ohio, Illinois, and North Carolina.