Democratic, Republican Candidates Campaign In NY Ahead Of Primary
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- With New Yorkers set to hit the polls later this month in a crucial primary vote, presidential candidates on both sides plan to spend the weekend rallying across the state.
Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders hosted a block party in Harlem on Saturday morning, before holding other events at Bronx Community College, the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center in Long Island City and at the Apollo Theater.
Sanders brought supporters to their feet at Saturday's event uptown with a call for a better society, 1010 WINS' Roger Stern reported.
"Love always trumps hate," Sanders said.
Sanders told supporters his campaign is within striking distance of rival Hillary Clinton in New York, WCBS 880's Stephanie Colombini reported. Sanders currently falls behind the former New York senator in New York polls.
"If we can win here in New York State, it will be a huge step forward," Sanders said.
Sanders also made several stabs at Clinton, saying it was "amusing'' to see Hillary Clinton join governor Andrew Cuomo in celebrating a bill raising the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour because -- as Sanders noted -- Clinton supports increasing the federal minimum wage to $12.
The Vermont senator also criticized Clinton for not releasing transcripts of speeches she was paid up to $250,000 to make to banks on Wall Street.
"It must be a speech that will probably solve all of the problems in the world written in Shakespearean prose," Sanders said. "So I believe that a speech that great should be released to the public. Let the world see it!"
Clinton has said that she will release her speeches when the other candidates – including the Republicans – release theirs.
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Hillary Clinton spent Friday in the Western part of New York, holding a rally in Rochester and stopping in Buffalo to answer voter questions at a medical center, CBS2's Dave Carlin reported.
Clinton stopped by Junior's Restaurant in Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon, 1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria reported. There was a big cheer when she surprised the afternoon crowd. She sat at the counter and was offered a pineapple cheesecake slice, but when asking to taste it by reporters she declined.
"I learned early on not to eat in front of all of you! So I'm sitting here just pining for a bite," Clinton said jokingly.
Clinton spent much of Thursday campaigning in the Bronx, where she addressed crowds before taking a ride on the subway.
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On the Republican side, John Kasich plans to attend Town Hall meetings in Rochester and New Rochelle, before heading to a fundraising ball in Pearl River in Rockland County Saturday night. Kasich made a campaign stop in Connecticut Friday ahead of the state's primary later this month.
GOP front runner Donald Trump is taking a break from campaigning Saturday, with his next campaign event scheduled for Sunday in Rochester. Trump headed to Long Island Wednesday evening to rally his supporters in his home state.
After spending Friday night in Las Vegas at a Republican Jewish Coalition meeting, Ted Cruz plans to speak to potential voters in the Colorado state GOP convention. The Republican candidates are vying for 13 delegates at stake with the state. Yesterday, Cruz won 21 of Colorado's delegates.
According to an Associated Press count, Trump has 743 delegates, Cruz has 532 and Kasich has 143. It takes 1,237 to clinch the nomination, though there's a real chance no candidate will reach that mark by the national convention in Cleveland in July.
Of Cruz's Colorado delegates so far, only 17 were formally pledged to him. But they were all included on the senator's slates and are largely state party officials who said they were barred from signing a formal pledge for Cruz but have promised to back him in balloting at the convention.
Wyoming Democrats are holding caucuses Saturday. At stake are 14 of Wyoming's 18 convention delegates. The state is overwhelmingly Republican: More than 140,000 residents are registered with the GOP, compared with about 41,000 registered Democrats.
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