AP
By Nancy Benac and Lisa Lerer
March 9, 2016
Hillary
Clinton and Bernie Sanders head into Wednesday night's debate with a
far different vibe than when they last squared off just four days ago —
Sanders riding high after his upset victory
in Michigan and Clinton's camp offering reassurances that she's still
on track to claim the nomination.
With
Florida offering the biggest prize in the next round of voting, the two
campaigns began tussling over who's been a true advocate for Latinos
and who's a friend out of political convenience
even before taking the candidates took the stage for their eighth
debate of the primary season.
Sanders
said his Michigan triumph amounted to a public repudiation of
establishment efforts to wrap up the primary and hand the nomination to
Clinton.
"Last
night our political revolution scored 'one of the greatest upsets in
modern political history,' and we're seeing the same kind of
come-from-behind momentum all across America," he wrote
in a fund-raising letter to supporters.
Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, put the spotlight on Clinton's still commanding lead in Democratic delegates.
"We are confident we are nearing the point where our delegate lead will effectively become insurmountable," he said.
The
candidates are squaring off again after a testy debate in Michigan on
Sunday in which they argued about trade and economic issues of
particular interest in the industrial Midwest. This
time, immigration and other issues of special concern to the Latino
community are sure to loom large. Florida is home to nearly 1.8 million
Hispanics, including about 15 percent of the state's Democrats.
The
candidates also will be speaking to a broader audience, though, with
Missouri, Illinois, Ohio and North Carolina also in Tuesday's primary
lineup, with a total of 691 delegates at stake.
A
good share of Florida voters already have locked in their decisions:
nearly 487,000 Democrats have cast an early ballot, representing about
11 percent of registered Democrats.
In
advance of the debate, airing on Univision and CNN, the two campaigns
held rival conference calls, each side arguing that its candidate was
strongest on Latino issues and that the other
side's motivations are suspect.
"Hillary
is the only one we can trust to lead 11 million people out of the
shadows into the light," said Illinois Rep. Luis Guitterez, pointing to
Sanders' vote against immigration reform
legislation in 2007.
Sander's
campaign played up his immigrant roots and pointed to Clinton's
hesitation in 2007 on allowing people who were in the country illegally
to obtain driver licenses.
"We've
seen many troubling instances throughout the secretary's career where
her relationship, her support for the Latino community has been one of
convenience," said Sanders campaign manager
Jeff Weaver.
Hispanic
voters have made up about 10 percent of voters in the Democratic
primaries so far this year, and Clinton has been getting about
two-thirds of their votes to about one-third for Sanders.
The Vermont senator, for his part, stresses that he's making progress
on winning over younger Hispanics.
One
week out from the Florida primary, Clinton holds a lead in opinion
polls there. But she also led in pre-primary polls in Michigan, where
Sanders surprised her with a 50 percent to 48
percent victory.
Clinton
has won 760 pledged delegates compared to 546 for Sanders, with 15
delegates from recent primaries still to be allocated. When
superdelegates are included, Clinton leads 1,221 to
571. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the Democratic nomination.
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