After capturing another primary victory in Wisconsin on Tuesday, Sanders delivered a slightly more celebratory version of his stump speech at a campaign event in Laramie, Wyoming. Before launching into his familiar excoriation of Wall Street and big banks, he sought to paint himself as the candidate with all the momentum heading into big contests in New York, Pennsylvania and California.
But while he has won six of the last seven states, his campaign has failed to close the gap in the delegate count in any meaningful way. Even in Wisconsin, Sanders will likely only pick up a small net advantage in delegates.
The big delegate-rich states remaining on the schedule are where Sanders could conceivably make up ground, but as Clinton’s camp is quick to point out, the margins that he would need to win by are extremely unlikely. Sanders’ campaign has been coy about setting expectations heading into the April 19 primary in New York, but Sanders couldn’t help himself on Tuesday night.
“I believe we’ve got an excellent chance to win New York,” he said, to thunderous applause in Wyoming. Meanwhile in New York, Sanders hasn’t had the best 24 hours.