Is This The End For Bernie Sanders? Hillary Clinton Turns Her Attention To Donald Trump

After experiencing a disappointing showing in the South Carolina primary contest, Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders is pledging to carry through his campaign to the very end. But frontrunner Hillary Clinton seems to be looking ahead to a general election throwdown against the Republican pack leader, billionaire Donald Trump. Although the Super Tuesday primaries are not in the books just yet, the Clinton camp expects big wins when voters from 12 states and American Samoa head to the polls on March 1.

Clinton as much as called Donald Trump out by name during her victory speech on Saturday night with a veiled reference to the real estate mogul’s oft-repeated campaign slogan.

“Despite what you hear, we don’t need to make America great again,” Clinton said in comments transcribed by CNN. “America has never stopped being great.”

A report by CNN further cited conversations with unnamed Democrats close to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign who indicated that, while Bernie Sanders is not likely to drop out of the race in the near future, he might be at an insurmountable disadvantage within the next two weeks. Clinton supporters apparently also feel that Donald Trump is more than likely to be the Republican nominee for president, which could potentially turn traditionally Democratic states like Pennsylvania and New Jersey into contention.

NPR’s breakdown of the Super Tuesday contests indicates that a total of 865 delegates are at stake for Democrats during the primary elections. Republicans will decide where 595 of their delegates go in that party’s match ups. While Sanders has an edge in states like Vermont and Massachusetts, Hillary Clinton is heavily favored in the remaining states, as per polling data compiled by Real Clear Politics.

On the Republican side, Ted Cruz has respectable leads in Arkansas and Texas, Donald Trump leads the field in many other Super Tuesday elections. Nevertheless, CNN has further noted that the Clinton campaign is also looking past Bernie Sanders to the possibility of a formidable run by Florida senator Marco Rubio. Rubio, regarded by many pundits as the Republican establishment’s favorite for the GOP nod, would not present the same challenges as a nontraditional candidate like Donald Trump.

Media outlets including the Nation and the Washington Post credit Hillary Clinton’s recent surge in the polls to her longstanding appeal with African-American voters. It’s a safe bet that Donald Trump can match Clinton’s pull with that particular facet of the American electorate, especially considering his reluctance to distance himself from overtly racist endorsements from the likes of David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan. As noted by the Inquisitr and other outlets, Trump was pressed to renounce such support during a Sunday morning interview, but declined to do so.

All told, Bernie Sanders seems to get lost in the shuffle as the gap widens between his delegate count and that of Ms. Clinton. Nevertheless, he is still in full campaign mode, picking up a major endorsement by Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii this weekend, according to the Washington Post. Political news site the Hill noted that even in the wake of his defeat in South Carolina, Bernie Sanders expressed confidence that he would ultimately move on to face off against Trump in November, telling his supporters, “We will defeat Trump because love trumps hatred.”

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