Bernie Sanders on Saturday crisscrossed Southern California with rallies at Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and at the Kern County Fairgrounds.
Aiming to speak to more than 200,000 Californians during the month before the June 7 presidential primary election, Sanders already was more than half-way to that goal after he 6,000 supports sprawled across a lawn at the coastline campus of Santa Barbara City College, 7,500 sat in the blazing sun at the Santa Maria High School football field and 4,100 packed the fairgrounds grandstands in Bakersfield at the southern end of California’s Central Valley.
In a tightening California contest with Hillary Clinton, Sanders already has won primaries and caucuses in 20 states. He said a win in the Golden State with its prize of 475 pledged delegates would give his grassroots campaign a big boost heading into this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. “We’re going to go in with momentum and we’re going to come out with the Democratic nomination”.
He also taunted Donald Trump for his on-again, off-again response to Sanders’ challenge to debate in California. Trump had twice agreed to debate Sanders, but then backed down. “Given that there are several television networks prepared to carry this debate and donate funds to charity, I hope that he changes his mind once again and comes on board. There is a reason why in virtually every national and statewide poll I am defeating Donald Trump, sometimes by very large margins and almost always by far larger margins than Secretary Clinton. There is a reason for that reality and the American people should be able to see it up front in a good debate and a clash of ideas.”
Before the sunset rally in Bakersfield, Sanders met with Latino community leaders and residents for a discussion of immigration reform, farmworkers’ rights and other issues.
“It is very clear to me that we have a broken immigration system and we need comprehensive immigration reform and a path toward citizenship,” Sanders said at the meeting at the Kern County Fairgrounds. “The goal should be to unite families, not divide families.”
“I don’t believe there is any member of the Congress with a stronger pro-labor voting record. I’ve been on more picket lines than I can recall,” Sanders added.
