Party rift grows as Sanders fundraises for DNC chair's opponent
Bernie Sanders campaigned in California on Monday, predicting he will win the Democratic primary there next month.
Hillary Clinton needs only 90 more delegates to clinch the nomination, but Sanders is vowing to stay in until the bitter end -- and is taking aim at Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chair of the Democratic Party.
"Do I think she is the kind of chair that the Democratic Party needs? No, I don't," Sanders said of Wasserman Schultz on Sunday's Face the Nation.
Sanders put his money where his mouth is this weekend, raising a quarter of a million dollars to defeat Wasserman Schultz, the chair of his own adopted party.
The money went to her primary opponent, a Florida professor named Tim Canova.
"I think Senator Sanders wants to see a progressive Congress. He's been in a position to access Debbie Wasserman Schultz's leadership abilities, and we see a party that's increasingly divided and perhaps in no small part because of her actions," Canova said.
It's the latest evidence of a growing rift between Sanders and Democratic party leaders. A skit from the most recent episode of "Saturday Night Live" highlighted claims that the system is rigged against Sanders.
Sanders has also blamed Wasserman Schultz for limiting the number of debates and scheduling many of them on weekends.
Wasserman Schultz in turn called Sanders an instigator after his supporters disrupted Nevada's party convention.
CBS News asked her if this incident had tested the fragile detente between the Sanders campaign and Democratic leaders. "I'm not doing anything to discourage the senator from continuing his campaign."
On Monday, Wasserman Schultz did announce Sanders will name five of the fifteen members of the committee that will craft the Democratic Party platform for the convention.
Sanders also wants one more debate against Clinton in California, but so far he has gotten no commitments.