Sanders Campaign Press Release - Clinton Cannot Clinch Nomination before Convention, Sanders Says

MONTEREY, Calif. - Campaigning Tuesday along California's Pacific Coast, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders said neither he nor Hillary Clinton will win enough pledged delegates on June 7 to secure the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

A total of 694 delegates are at stake in six states with contests next Tuesday. "No candidate will end up with the number of pledged delegates needed to win the nomination," Sanders told 7,800 supporters at an outdoor rally here.

The close contest will mean that the selection of a nominee will fall to superdelegates. Those elected officials and other party power brokers won't cast their votes until July at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

He aims to persuade superdelegates that it is in their own self-interest and the best interests of their party that Democrats nominate the candidate best able to defeat Donald Trump.

One reason Sanders is much more likely than Clinton to win the general election in November is that he leads Donald Trump by margins that often are much greater than Clinton's narrow edge over the likely Republican presidential nominee. In one recent poll in California, for example, he led Trump by 17 points. Her advantage was 10 points.

For another reason, the Sanders campaign is the one generating the most excitement. "Our campaign has the energy and enthusiasm that Clinton does not," Sanders said. "I believe we can leave that convention with the Democratic nomination."