Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke candidly Saturday about his performance in this week’s Democratic primaries, when Hillary Clinton won five out of five states.
The Vermont senator told reporters here he was content with the overall delegate count and that his campaign’s strategy is to accrue delegates through the primary process, reiterating what his top campaign officials have been saying for weeks.
“The disappointment, to be honest with you, was in Ohio,” Sanders then said. “I had hoped that we had an outside shot to winning Ohio. Losing there by 15 points was a disappointment.”
He added, “I will tell you also that we were pleased on Tuesday that we did as well as we did in North Carolina. That is the best result that we have had in the South. We lost it by 15 points. May sound like a lot, but compared to some of the other losses we’ve had, we did pretty well.”
Sanders also addressed a New York Times report that President Barack Obama told fundraisers in a private meeting that Sanders’ bid was nearing an end and the party needed to unite behind Clinton
“I think they walked them back,” Sanders said of the comments. “But here is the point: we are halfway through the Democratic nominating process.” He cited states such as New York, Oregon and Washington that have yet to vote.
“It would be extraordinarily undemocratic to the tell the people in half the states in America, ‘Oh, you don’t have a right to get involved in the nominating process for the Democratic candidate,'” he said.
“I think if you write off or say to half the states in this country that they should not participate, their response may well be on election day, ‘Well, you didn’t want us to participate in the primary process, so we’re not going to come out for the general election.'”