– Narrow end of the funnel –
The preparations were another sign of the Clinton campaign’s eagerness to sidestep a stubborn and increasingly acrimonious rivalry with Sanders and to get on with the general campaign.
“I think that it’s expected in a campaign like this one as we get towards the narrow end of the funnel – we only have 19 primaries left – it’s going to get a little more intense,” Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz told Fox News Sunday.
“But we need to make sure that we focus on the end game, which is to obviously make sure that we can elect our nominee president of the United States, which I’m confident that we will.”
Clinton has refrained from personally calling on Sanders to quit the race, but her supporters have become increasingly vocal in insisting the Vermont senator has no chance of winning.
“Sanders has run a stunningly strong campaign fueled by passionate supporters. But raising $$ stating you have a path to the nomination is fraud,” David Plouffe, who managed President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and now supports Clinton, tweeted this week.
The candidates face off again on Tuesday in five high stakes primaries, with Clinton heavily favored to add to her near insurmountable lead in the delegate count.
She currently has 1,941 delegates of the 2,383 needed to win the Democratic nomination, to Sanders’ 1,240.