“With your help, we’re going to come back to Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention with the most votes and the most pledged delegates,” Hillary Clinton told a crowd of 1,300 in Philly after she took the stage to “Eye of the Tiger.” “And we will unify our party to win this election and build an America where we can all rise together.”
After last Tuesday’s landslide win in New York, Clinton knows that baring a total disaster her only rival Bernie Sanders, is now all but over as he no longer has a realistic path to the nomination. Clinton has taken aim at the GOP front runner Donald Trump and, to a lesser degree, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Her victories in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut and Delaware on Tuesday will only accelerate her move to talking about the general election.
Over the past two weeks, Clinton has sharpened her pitch about the general election’s stakes, heading off Republican attacks on her record as secretary of state under President Barack Obama and delivering a more forceful message about the economy and the need to create jobs and lift wages.
“Imagine a tomorrow where hard work is honored, families are supported, streets are safe and communities are strong, and where love trumps hate,” Clinton said Tuesday night, drawing applause at her play on Trump’s name.
Don’t look for Clinton is to publicly pressure Sanders to quit the race. Her advisers say any efforts to force him out of the race at this point could backfire, angering his supporters and Sanders, both of which Clinton praised Tuesday night “for challenging us to get unaccountable money out of our politics.”
After months of focus on the 2,383 delegates needed for the Democratic Party nomination, her campaign has begun to analyze the Electoral College, working out potential races against Trump and Cruz. And the campaign will begin polling in traditional battleground states like Ohio and Florida.
