Winning a majority of pledged delegates is difficult. “The first half of the calendar favored Secretary Clinton. The second half will favor Bernie,” said Joe Dinkin, the communications director of the Working Families Party, which backs Sanders. “If that continues, Bernie can win the majority of pledged delegates.”
To get there, Sanders is relying heavily on caucus states like Washington, as they offer his best chance to eat into Clinton’s delegate lead.
Sanders has won seven out of nine caucus contests held so far, and he lost Iowa by only the thinnest of margins. And his victory margins have generally been larger in caucuses than in primaries, winning Idaho and Utah by roughly 80 percent to 20 percent. Big margins are crucial to racking up delegates in the party’s proportional allocation system.
But while the caucus format tends to favor Sanders, it also imposes barriers to voter participation that could be seen as at odds to his core message.
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