Sanders aide: We can win nomination before convention

A top aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) says that he can win the Democratic presidential nomination before the party’s convention.

“I think we can win the nomination before the convention,” senior adviser Tad Devine said on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

{mosads}“It’s going to be a difficult task. I think we can get there,” he said. “We think we can win more states. We think we can win more delegates. We think we can prove to Democratic leadership that he is the best possible candidate for a general election.”

Devine said that Sanders plans on winning as many possible remaining voting contests and delegates before the Democratic National Convention in July.

“We’re going to have to win most of the events between now and then and most of the delegates,” he told Maddow. “I think we can do that. We want to see where we are when the process ends. Bernie has made a commitment to go through to the end.

“All of those people who have been such a big part of this campaign, he wants to give them an opportunity to vote for him.”

Devine added that superdelegates — party leaders not bound to the popular vote in their states — should watch how voters act in the remaining presidential primary.

“The key test is succeeding with voters,” he said. “Superdelegates should wait, look and listen to see what the voters are going to do. They should let the voters speak first.”

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton leads Sanders with 1,930 delegates to his 1,189, according to the latest RealClearPolitics delegate count.

That total is comprised of 1,428 delegates and 502 superdelegates for Clinton and 1,151 delegates and 38 superdelegates for Sanders. At least 2,382 delegates are needed to avoid a contested convention in July.