Sanders: S.C. loss "as bad as it's going to get"
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday that he got beaten "very badly" in the South Carolina primary for the 2016 Democratic nomination on Saturday night, calling it "as bad as it's going to get" for his campaign.
"Now, I won't tell you that we didn't get beaten, and beaten very badly, in South Carolina," Sanders said of his 47-point loss on CBS' "Face the Nation." "I congratulate Secretary Clinton on her victory, but ... I think for us that's about as bad as it's going to get."
Sanders said he has a path to victory, pointing to a list of states on Super Tuesday he thinks he can win: Minnesota, where he was speaking from Sunday morning; as well as Colorado, Oklahoma, Massachusetts and Vermont. He also said he thinks he'll do well in two big, delegate-rich states that vote further down the calendar: New York and California.
"On Tuesday, we're going to have over 800 delegates being selected--I think we're going to win a very good share of those delegates," he said. "...You know, sometimes the media says, 'Well, this state had an election, it's the end of the campaign' -- it is not."
The senator acknowledged that he has a problem attracting African American support after Clinton beat him handily among the demographic in South Carolina on Saturday. Exit polling data found Clinton taking 86 percent of the African American vote, compared with just 14 percent for Sanders.
"No question, let me be very clear: we did really, really badly with older African American voters," he said. "I mean, we got decimated."
But among younger African American voters, Sanders noted, and among young people more broadly, his campaign did much better.
"The future of the Democratic Party, the future of this country is involving young people in this process," he said.
