Clinton campaigns in Kentucky before Tuesday's primary

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Hillary Clinton is making a big final push in Kentucky, where rival Bernie Sanders hopes to extend his winning streak and delay her clinching the Democratic presidential nomination.

Big-name surrogates have been sent, television ads are playing, and Clinton is touring the state in advance of Tuesday's voting.

On Sunday, the former secretary of state dropped in at Louisville churches and held rallies in Louisville and Fort Mitchell. Sanders on Sunday made a swing through Kentucky, as well.

"We need a president who will work every single day to make life better for American families," Clinton said at a union training center in Louisville. "We want somebody who can protect us and work with the rest of the world. Not talk about building walls, but building bridges."

While Clinton leads Sanders by nearly 300 pledged delegates going into Tuesday's primaries in Kentucky and Oregon, the Vermont senator continues to win contests and has pledged to stay in the race until the July convention.

With Donald Trump set as the presumptive Republican nominee, Clinton's team would like to turn their attention to the general election contest, but they still can't fully make that shift.

A win in at least one of the two upcoming contests would give Clinton momentum heading into the primaries in California and New Jersey in early June.

Oregon is favorable terrain for Sanders, but Clinton's campaign thinks the race is competitive in Kentucky, where she planned to spend Sunday and today courting voters.

"It will be close, but either way, as with all the contests this month, we will gain additional delegates and move that much closer to clinching the nomination," Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said in an email.

Clinton easily won the Kentucky primary over President Barack Obama in 2008. But this time she has come under criticism in parts of the state after saying in March that "we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business." Clinton later said she misspoke, but the comment has drawn fire in mining communities.

On Sunday in Louisville and in Fort Mitchell, Clinton touted her plan for coal country. Her proposals include protecting miners' health care coverage and retirement programs, investing in infrastructure in mining communities and repurposing mines.

Before a cheering crowd in a Fort Mitchell backyard, Clinton pledged to put husband Bill Clinton -- who won the state in 1992 and 1996 -- "in charge of revitalizing the economy."