Clinton and Sanders Amass Appearances Before California Fight

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/24/us/politics/clinton-sanders-california.html

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Hillary Clinton has insisted that the Democratic primary contest against Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is behind her and that the party’s nomination is essentially hers.

Don’t tell that to Californians.

This week, Mrs. Clinton will begin her first full swing through the state to campaign before the June 7 primary.

After she delivers remarks at the Service Employees International Union’s convention in Detroit on Monday, Mrs. Clinton will head West for almost four days of fund-raisers and campaign events in Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside, Salinas, San Jose and other parts.

Mrs. Clinton, a known and popular quantity who won California in 2008, has spent far less time in the state than Mr. Sanders. The Vermont senator and underdog has flooded California with rallies, commercials and organizers, hoping an upset win can help him convince superdelegates that he is the candidate best poised to defeat the presumptive Republican nominee Donald J. Trump in the fall.

“You’re going to see me running all over California,” Mr. Sanders told ABC News on Sunday, adding, “We’re going to do everything that we can to get every vote and every delegate that we can and go into that convention with as much momentum as is possible.”

While Mr. Sanders’s path appears mathematically impossible, his continued fight has meant the Clinton campaign has had to invest limited resources in the remaining primary states, rather than fully pivoting to the general election battleground states.

Mrs. Clinton warned voters on Sunday about the consequences of not fully taking on Mr. Trump, telling NBC that the coming weeks could allow the presumptive Republican nominee to “normalize himself” as he tries to broaden his support.

A central part of that effort will be reaching out to women, with whom Mrs. Clinton will aim to connect on Tuesday when she tapes her third appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” alongside the all-female cast of the coming reboot of “Ghostbusters.”

In the meantime, Mr. Sanders will continue to haunt those efforts.