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Striding into history, Hillary Clinton will become the first woman to top the presidential ticket of a major U.S. political party, capturing commitments Monday from the number of delegates needed to become the Democrats' presumptive nominee. (June 6) AP
Hillary Clinton arrives to the South Los Angeles Get Out The Vote Rally at Leimert Park Village Plaza on June 6, 2016, in Los Angeles.(Photo: David McNew, Getty Images)
Hillary Clinton is the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee, according to the Associated Press, securing enough support from superdelegates to push her over the top on the eve of the final round of state primaries.
Both<span style="color: Red;">*</span>AP and NBC News reported Monday night that a sufficient number of superdelegates had indicated their support for Clinton to guarantee she will have the 2,383 delegates needed at the party's July in convention in Philadelphia to win the party's nod.
Clinton, a former secretary of State, U.S. senator and first lady, becomes the first woman to lead a major-party presidential ticket.
USA TODAY
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Robby Mook, Clinton's campaign manager, issued a statement suggesting the campaign thinks the call by the news organizations<span style="color: Red;">*</span>is premature since it was based on additional new votes from<span style="color: Red;">*</span>superdelegates, the party officials and activists who have a vote at the convention and can support a candidate regardless of primary results. Superdelegates have been a source of controversy from the beginning of the nominating contests<span style="color: Red;">*</span>when her rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, contended that they gave her an unfair early advantage.
"This is an important milestone, but there are six states that are voting Tuesday, with millions of people heading to the polls, and Hillary Clinton is working to earn every vote. We look forward to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Tuesday<span style="color: Red;">*</span>night, when Hillary Clinton will clinch not only a win in the popular vote, but also the majority of pledged delegates," said Mook.
Clinton drew within 25 delegates of the nomination after the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico voted over the weekend.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The newly minted presumptive nominee is planning a victory party Tuesday night in Brooklyn after the results from primaries in New Jersey and California, which the campaign believes will<span style="color: Red;">*</span>give her an overwhelming<span style="color: Red;">*</span>lead in both pledged delegates and the popular vote. Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota also hold Democratic contests Tuesday.
"We are on the brink of an historic, unprecedented moment, but we still have work to do, don't we?"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Clinton said at a rally Monday night<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in Long Beach, Calif.. "We have six elections tomorrow and we're going to fight hard for every single vote, especially right here in California,"
In a tweet following the AP announcement, Clinton said she was "flattered" but urged voters in the six states holding contests Tuesday to get out to vote.
That message was echoed by her husband, former president Bill Clinton, who tweeted, "what she said."
The Clinton campaign is cautious about declaring victory after<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Sanders has repeatedly vowed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to fight all the way to the party’s convention in July in Philadelphia.
Speaking in Los Angeles days ago, he said it “will be a contested convention.” The early call may fuel hard feelings among Sanders and his supporters, who’ve repeatedly complained that the system is “rigged.”
Michael Briggs, a Sanders spokesman, issued a statement saying “it is unfortunate that the media, in a rush to judgement, are ignoring the Democratic National Committee’s clear statement that it is wrong to count the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer.”
“Secretary Clinton does not have and will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to secure the nomination,” said Briggs, noting that superdelegates “can change their minds” before the July convention.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump.”
NBC News also called the race for Clinton, calculating that she has<span style="color: Red;">*</span>2,384 delegates to Sanders’ 1,566.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>John Lapinski, NBC’s director of elections, said the decision was made to declare a winner after additional superdelegates in 10 states indicated their intention to support Clinton.
Those new votes undercut Sanders’ argument for staying in the race. Sanders wants to prolong the battle by asking the party to divorce from tradition.
Superdelegates historically back the candidate who wins the most delegates from primaries and caucuses. In 2008, then-senator<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Barack<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Obama clinched the nomination against Clinton based on the support of delegates won through voting contests and superdelegates, and his<span style="color: Red;">*</span>pledged delegate lead was about half as large as her current edge over Sanders.
Sanders has been arguing that he would convince superdelegates to support him based on<span style="color: Red;">*</span>polls that suggest<span style="color: Red;">*</span>he runs stronger against Republican Donald Trump in a general election.
“He basically seems to be suggesting that superdelegates should overturn the will of the people,” Clinton said in an interview on MSNBC before she was declared the winner. “That is just hard for me to understand. It’s never happened before, it’s not going to happen this time.”
USA TODAY
12 quotable moments from Hillary Clinton's primary campaign
The big prize Tuesday was supposed to be California, where polls show the two neck and neck in the battle for the state's 475 pledged delegates.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>While a Sanders<span style="color: Red;">*</span>win wouldn't dramatically change Clinton’s pledged delegate advantage — Democrats award their delegates proportionally — it would likely embolden him to continue his fight to convince superdelegates to switch their support to him.
It would also encourage him to fight for more policy concessions from Clinton during the convention and thereafter.
Meantime, Clinton has been looking past Sanders and forcefully attacking Trump on national security and his overall temperament for the White House, hitting hard at the GOP real estate mogul.
“I’m tired of Donald Trump, for many reasons, but I’m tired of him downgrading America. I’m tired of him really speaking ill of our country," Clinton said at the top of her speech Monday night in California.
Clinton also hit on themes during a final leg of campaigning in Los Angeles that are likely to figure prominently in her battle against Trump, including education, a pledge to "stand up to the gun lobby" and overhauling the criminal justice system.
“My name may be on the ballot, but I think we’re all on the ballot," Clinton said. "We all have a lot to lose in this election.”
Contributing: Cooper Allen and Kimiya Manoochehri
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