Sanders hot streak

Clinton's camp tries to shut down talk of Sanders hot streak

By Nick Gass and Eliza Collins

Hillary Clinton’s campaign on Monday sought to take some wind out of Bernie Sanders’ sails, hitting the airwaves and holding a conference call to emphasize that the former secretary of state is “dominating” the race for the Democratic nomination.

Sanders got a boost last week after scoring five blowouts, and has since tried to show that he’s still very much a contender. He’s emphasized that superdelegates could reconsider their support of Clinton and has tried to pressure her into a debate ahead of the New York primary on April 19.

Tad Devine, a senior adviser to Sanders, held his own call with reporters on Monday where he predicted a rosy path forward and called Clinton a "weak front-runner."

But the Clinton campaign quickly sought to shut down that talk.

Chief strategist Joel Benenson held a conference call shortly after Devine finished, where he projected that Clinton was "dominating" the primary and predicted she would continue right into the nomination.

"At the end of April there just isn’t enough real estate for him" to close Clinton's lead, Benenson said. April will "make clear who the nominee will be and that it’s gonna be Hillary Clinton."

Benenson was also asked about the superdelegates that Sanders’ campaign is trying to flip to their side. Beneson said he "chuckled" because it sounded like "Richard Nixon's secret peace plan."

"There is no indication that these folks have flipped," he said, adding that Sanders had worked with many of the superdelegates for decades and he assumed the campaign would be touting names if they were able to get people to switch.

“We haven’t heard any of that yet," he said.

Even after Sanders’ winning streak, Clinton has a strong lead over the Vermont senator, with 1,712 delegates to his 1,004. That puts Clinton 671 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to clinch the nomination.

Also, Clinton's lead includes 469 superdelegates that Sanders’ camp argues are not locked in (he so far has 29 superdelegates) and could very well change their minds once they see the groundswell of support for the senator.

"I think what’s important to remember here is that superdelegates are kind of like football recruits," Sanders spokeswoman Symone Sanders said in an interview with CNN's "New Day” on Monday. "You know, they say they are coming but until they have signed on the dotted line and they’re in practice, you don’t know that they’re all the way with you and that they’re on your team. And so we think that we still have time to garner support from these superdelegates, especially when we’re winning."

The Sanders and Clinton camps also tussled on Monday about the idea of further debates, especially whether one should occur before the New York primary.

Benenson claimed that the Vermont senator has reneged on his promise to avoid running a negative campaign and therefore does not get to dictate the terms of any future debates.

Appearing on CNN, Benenson pointed to a Washington Post story in which Sanders' campaign discussed possible efforts to sharpen rhetoric against the former secretary of state. "They’re talking about running harsher negatives now," Benenson said, adding that he was not distracting from the issue but explaining the campaign's stance.

“Because I think the real question is what kind of campaign is Sen. Sanders going to run going forward," Benenson remarked. "He pumped $4 million in the weekend before March 15, and he lost all five states on March 15. They spent about $4 million running negative ads.”

“This is a man who said he’d never run a negative ad ever. He’s now running them, they’re now planning to run more," he continued. "Let’s see the tone of the campaign he wants to run before we get to any other questions.”

CNN's Kate Bolduan then inquired why the campaign would not agree to debate in New York despite agreeing in January to more debates. Benenson responded, “Because we agreed to debates up to a certain point. We’re now out campaigning in these states.”

"What's the risk?" Bolduan asked.

“There’s no risk. She’s done very well in the debates. The debates have been very good, but Sen. Sanders doesn’t get to decide when we debate, particularly when he’s running a very negative campaign against us. Let’s see if he goes back to the kind of tone he said he was going to set early on. If he does that, then we’ll talk about debates," Benenson said.

"So no chance of a New York debate?" Bolduan pressed.

“I didn’t say that," Benenson said. "I said we’re going to see what kind of tone he sets."

Michael Briggs, a spokesman for Sanders, hit back at Benenson on Monday afternoon. "Sen. Sanders has never run a negative ad in his life," he said, adding, "Some people this year wanted a coronation instead of a campaign in which we debate our rigged economy and corrupt campaign finance system. But despite what the pundits and establishment politicians wanted, our grassroots supporters are giving us a political revolution. I can see how that might put Mr. Benenson in a bad mood."