– Angry Clinton –
For Clinton, a loss in Wisconsin would be more symbolic than anything else, as the state distributes delegates proportionally according to the primary results.
But she comes into the contest having lost five of the last six states to Bernie Sanders, and polls show him finishing on top in Wisconsin.
The Vermont senator has already notched victories in two neighboring states, Minnesota and Michigan, and his popularity is undeniable in Wisconsin cities like Madison, which have a high concentration of university students.
Sanders, who has energized young Democrats, is trying to dispel the notion that Clinton is a better candidate for defeating Trump in the general election in November.
“In the last national CNN poll we beat Trump by 20 points and that’s before we really begin to expose what a nutcase he really is,” Sanders told supporters Friday in Sheboygan.
With the momentum in Sanders’ camp, tensions are starting to rise between him and Clinton.
The former US top diplomat showed a rare flash of anger on Thursday when a Greenpeace activist asked her if she would reject campaign contributions linked to the oil and gas industries.
Clinton, who was shaking hands along a rope line, responded sharply: “I am so sick of the Sanders campaign lying about me, I’m sick of it,” jabbing her finger at the young woman in a video that went viral.
While Clinton acknowledged receiving donations from people who work for such companies, the oil and gas companies themselves are not permitted to contribute to candidates.
Spotting an opening, Sanders said in Eau Claire, another Wisconsin city, on Saturday: “When you have a handful of billionaires trying to buy elections, that’s not called democracy, that’s called oligarchy.”
Despite his recent successes Sanders is still trailing in the race for delegates.
Clinton has 1,259 compared to his 1,020, according to a CNN tally. The former first lady benefits from the critical support of nearly 500 “superdelegates,” elected officials and Democratic Party leaders who cast votes at the party’s convention in July.
To win the Democratic nomination, a candidate needs 2,383 delegates.
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