Sanders Forges Ahead: 'No One Said a Political Revolution Would Be Easy'

Following a series of presidential primary losses to Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, Bernie Sanders reminded supporters: "No one said a political revolution would be easy."

"What you will not hear from the political and media establishment," the campaign said in an email Wednesday, "is that, based on the primary and caucus schedule for the rest of the race, this is the high water mark for the Clinton campaign...Starting today, the map now shifts dramatically in our favor."

"The fact remains that Hillary Clinton's lead will never be as large as it is right now," the email said. "From here on out we keep chipping away until we take the lead."

Campaign manager Jeff Weaver said Wednesday from Sedona, Arizona that the Sanders team expects "over the weeks and months we will steadily, consistently and ultimately successfully erode her current advantage in pledged delegate."

Clinton won primaries in Florida, Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio on Tuesday, and holds a narrow lead in the as-yet-uncalled Missouri.

But on a press call Wednesday, Weaver and Sanders' chief strategist Tad Devine said the states coming up--Arizona, Washington, California, and Idaho--were more likely to vote for the senator from Vermont.

"We believe, as we look ahead at the states that are in front of us, that we can beat her in most of these states and beat her in some of these states by decisive margins," Devine said.

Jeff Cohen, director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College and co-founder of the progressive advocacy group RootsAction.org, noted in an interview with The Real News on Wednesday that "no one expected the Sanders movement, the political revolution, to get off the ground. We're taking on the biggest political machine one of the most powerful political machines in the country."

As D.D. Guttenplan wrote in The Nation on Wednesday:

Are the odds against [Sanders supporters]? Of course. That's what it means to live inside a rigged system. But remember where we were only a few months ago. With each primary victory--and each close call--Sanders shows us our own strength. With each packed rally we see the claim that socialism is un-American exposed as a lie, that a world where no one starves, healthcare is not rationed by wealth, and energy companies aren't allowed to rape the earth for profit and leave the rest of us to take the consequences is not only possible but popular.

The Sanders team was also not deterred by a strategy memo sent by Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook which called Tuesday's victories "decisive" and stated, "At a time when other candidates are focused on telling voters everything that is wrong in America and pushing a political strategy to win an election by dividing the country, Democrats voting last night supported the candidate who has a vision to move the country forward and real plans to get us there."

In response, Sanders stated, "I congratulate Secretary Clinton on her victories on Tuesday. I also want to thank the millions of voters across the nation who supported our campaign and elected delegates who will take us all the way to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia."

"With more than half the delegates yet to be chosen and a calendar that favors us in the weeks and months to come, we remain confident that our campaign is on a path to win the nomination," he said.