Clinton sees big win, Sanders an upset in California

LOS ANGELES -- With the primary season's biggest prize in play, Hillary Clinton has fashioned a strategy to reprise her 2008 victory in California when she defeated Barack Obama by running up big margins with Hispanics and women. Bernie Sanders is hoping for an upset to sustain his argument to stay in the race.

There is another historical backdrop for Clinton: Her husband locked up his first presidential nomination in the California primary in 1992.

This year, the state's June 7 Democratic primary offers the largest trove of delegates in the nation and gives Clinton the opportunity for a turnaround after Sanders embarrassed her with recent wins in West Virginia and Indiana.

She's got the party's nomination all but clinched, no matter what happens, but a loss in the Democratic stronghold would be a stinging setback and refresh questions about her electability in November.

Sanders, with only a wisp of a chance of overtaking her delegate lead, concedes he faces a daunting climb.

One sign: On a recent sunny afternoon in Mariachi Square, a landmark in a Hispanic neighborhood east of downtown Los Angeles, campaign organizer Richard Avina was waiting for volunteers to arrive to help him knock on doors.

No one showed up.

Decked out in a Sanders T-shirt, Avina, 24, who left his hospital job to help the campaign, acknowledged the obvious: "It's been a little rough."

Still, the Vermont senator said at a rally in Stockton this week if he can rack up big wins in California and other endgame primaries, "I think you are looking at the Democratic nominee."

June 7 amounts to a capstone on the primary season, with voting also in New Jersey, Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota. Clinton could lose every state and still become the nominee.

Besides winning in California before, the former first lady leads in polling and has a deep team of experienced advisers and organizers, some plucked from her 2008 state campaign and from Obama's team.

Another Clinton edge is with blacks -- she has trounced Sanders among black voters in key states like New York and Florida and wants to duplicate that in California.

A rally last week in a heavily Hispanic neighborhood east of downtown Los Angeles pointed to her emphasis on the Latino vote, and the campaign Wednesday kicked off a statewide battery of women-to-women phone banks.

She recently met with a who's-who of black pastors and community leaders in Los Angeles.