Mitch Perry
Given that Hillary Clinton needs just 73 delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination for president, there is speculation she could become the de facto nominee even before Californians finish voting next Tuesday night.
There is a total of six states where Democrats go to the polls next week, with the big one being the Golden State, where 475 delegates are at stake. Though polls vary on who will win that primary, because of the proportional distribution of delegates, both candidates are expected to get three-figure delegate hauls.
At that time, undoubtedly supporters of Clinton could start a major push for Bernie Sanders to officially drop out of the race. Then again, some of those people are saying that right now.
“Listen, Bernie is a friend of mine. I love Bernie. He’s been a good senator,” Florida Sen. Bill Nelson told reporters in Tampa on Wednesday. He then added, “But it’s time for Bernie to stand down.”
Those remarks aren’t anything new from the Florida Democrat. In fact, he said the exact same thing at a press conference in Tallahassee a month ago.
Nelson is also echoing comments made by California Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein on Sunday, when she told ABC’s This Week that Sanders “ought to be able to read the signposts as well as anybody else, and if he did that, he would know that it’s all but over,” adding that, “I know the passion of a campaign. I know when you’re in it, and you just keep go, go, go until the last hour is there. Well, the last hour is close by.”
Nelson was also asked if he thought Sanders might make a good running mate for Clinton.
Florida’s senior senator, who was the subject of unlikely rumors recently that he could be in the mix for VP, didn’t go there.
“That is totally up to the Democratic nominee, which I expect to be Hillary,” he said.
