WASHINGTON, April 24 (APP/AFP): US presidential frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump seek to deliver knockout blows against their rivals in Tuesday’s five high-stakes primaries, with pressure mounting to wrap
up the nomination races and pivot toward the general election battle.
Don’t expect the challengers to buckle just yet.
The extraordinary 2016 race has tested American political tradition, with the Democratic and Republican parties taking their nomination battles deep into primary season.
Clinton, aiming to become the nation’s first female commander in chief, faces a resilient liberal Senator Bernie Sanders, whose grassroots campaign to highlight income inequality has mobilized millions of young voters.
But the ex-secretary of state is poised to extend her delegate lead Tuesday when Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island host their primaries.
Pressed Saturday on reports that she has begun her search for a
runningmate, Clinton shook her head and replied: “I’m just working hard to win on Tuesday.”
Clinton leads in polling in the northeastern states, and if she sweeps all five Sanders will be hard pressed to exit the race.
In Pennsylvania, Clinton turned to the general election, knocking Trump and Republican candidate Ted Cruz and tailoring her message to working-class voters eager to see a return of manufacturing jobs.
“These are not jobs that can be exported, they have to be done right here in Pennsylvania,” Clinton told supporters this week in Philadelphia.
Politics professor Terry Madonna of Franklin and Marshall College in
Pennsylvania said Sanders is “obstinate” about staying in the race, perhaps to earn a speaking spot at the Democratic convention in July.
Clinton “is the inevitable nominee now and the only question is at what point does she wrap up the magic number” of necessary delegates, Madonna told AFP.