A win... But barely...

Hillary Clinton's joyless victory

Her narrow Kentucky win is a temporary comfort in a week that exposed a deep Democratic rift.

By Gabriel Debenedetti

Hillary Clinton’s supporters breathed a heavy sigh of relief on Tuesday night when news finally landed that she eked out a win over Bernie Sanders in Kentucky. It’s not that she needed the delegates. The result simply ensured that the likely Democratic nominee wouldn’t lose the two states voting Tuesday, which would have opened her up to weeks of second-guessing and nit-picking from Democrats concerned about her inability to put Sanders away.

But Clinton’s narrow Kentucky win — her lone state victory in the month of May, and one that ensured she wouldn't go five weeks without winning a state — is a temporary comfort. It was paired with a loss in Oregon during a week when Sanders supporters appeared more emboldened and committed than ever, despite the senator’s all-but-impossible path to the nomination. And there are few signs that the party is ready to fully unite behind its frontrunner: In the wake of Nevada’s chaotic state Democratic convention Saturday and the ensuing sniping between the Sanders camp and the Democratic establishment, the prospect of a messy national convention in July is no longer unthinkable.

Now, eyeing a two-and-a-half week lull before the next Democratic contests, Clinton faces the task of erasing the perception that she is a wounded front-runner while at the same time competing with presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump for a bite of the news cycle.

“It’s a delicate time and she does have the challenge of the two-front campaign, one with Trump and the other where she really has to give room and respect to Sanders and his supporters,” explained veteran Democratic strategist Bob Shrum, who played leading roles in the presidential campaigns of John Kerry, Al Gore, and Ted Kennedy. “Because she needs them in the fall. She needs him in the fall."

Recognizing Sanders’ surging strength in Kentucky earlier this month, Clinton’s campaign switched gears and decided to spend more time in the state and direct more resources there. After appearing to stop investing in television advertising in the primary contests, Clinton returned to the airwaves. She also kept an atypically heavy campaign schedule there. The late push paid off against Sanders, who campaigned in Kentucky but also spent recent days criss-crossing the country to hit states with upcoming primaries.

With at least Kentucky in her pocket, Clinton is now able to turn her attention to the states and territories voting June 5 and 7 — when she is likely to pass the delegate threshold to claim the nomination, counting super delegates. With few public events and a trove of private fundraisers on her current schedule for the coming stretch, Clinton is likely to focus on restocking her campaign treasury while her campaign and outside groups formally intensify their general election assault on Trump in the swing states.

Yet Clinton still must now wrestle with the question of how to bring Sanders’ supporters into the fold after the Nevada’s Democratic Party convention fallout exposed deep intra-party rifts around the country.

It’s a task that Clinton has long expected, but one that was made all the more urgent after Sanders himself appeared to fan the flames on Tuesday with a defiant statement that challenged the Democratic Party to change its ways. The Nevada discord echoed earlier disagreements in Colorado and Iowa, and Sanders’ icy relationship with the Democratic National Committee shows no signs of thawing.

If anything, Sanders’ contentious relationship with the DNC appears to be getting worse, with the Vermont senator releasing a letter earlier this month accusing the national committee of stacking the deck against him in convention standing committee assignments and DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz asserting Tuesday night in a CNN interview that Sanders’ response to reports of violence in Nevada was “anything but acceptable.”

Supporters of the former secretary of state say the coming weeks should involve some initial steps at rapprochement — or at least first attempts to near harmony.

“We’re entering the home-stretch, but it’s important for Hillary not to be overconfident,” warned former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Clinton backer who ran against her for president in 2008, recommending that she place Sanders backers on convention committees and consult with him when selecting a running mate. “There should be an effort to reach out to Sanders no matter how painful it is, and no matter how negative it’s gotten. We’ve got the delegates, but we need the votes in the general."

It’s a stark turn of events for a party that was eager to use its summer showcase as a contrast to Republican disarray.

But after his Oregon win, Sanders can point to 22 victories – with the possibility of a few more to come – providing him with more bargaining power than any runner-up in recent history as he looks to shape the party platform and reform the nominating process.

As such, Clinton is likely to build a brisk campaign schedule for the coming stretch, hoping to minimize her opponent’s delegate count on the last big day of primary elections on June 7. The best case scenario for Clinton is that such a series of public events gets her supporters energized in the absence of any big event before then, such as a debate.

“Her big concern,” explained Shrum, “is that she doesn’t want to limp to the nomination."