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Prepared Remarks -- National Press Club

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We announced the beginning of this campaign a year ago. Before I talk about delegate math and a path toward victory, I want to say a few words about how far we've come in the last year.

When we started this campaign we were considered a "fringe" candidacy. We had no campaign organization, no money and very little name recognition. In national polls, we were 60 points or more behind Secretary Clinton, we were taking on the entire Democratic establishment and, in the Clinton campaign, the most powerful political organization in the country.

That was then. Today is today.

As of today, we have won 17 states and hope to make Indiana the 18th, and we have received some 9 million votes.

In recent national polls we are either defeating Secretary Clinton or are within single digits behind her.

In terms of fundraising, we have received more individual campaign contributions, 7.4 million, than any candidate in presidential history at his point. What the political revolution is about is that we have shown we can run a strong, winning campaign without a super PAC and without being dependent on big-money interests.

As of today, our rallies have brought out more than 1.1 million people throughout this country and that number will go up significantly by the time we are through in California.

Very importantly, in state after state we have won a strong majority of the votes of younger people -- voters under 45 years of age. Our ideas are the future of the Democratic Party and the future of America.

Let me now say a few words about delegate math and a path toward victory.

There are a total of 4,766 Democratic delegates -- 4,047 pledged, 719 super delegates. A candidate needs 2,383 votes to win. Let's be clear. It is virtually impossible for Secretary Clinton to reach the majority of convention delegates by June 14 -- the end of the primary season -- with pledged delegates alone. She will need super delegates to take her over the top at the convention in Philadelphia. In other words, it will be a contested convention.

Currently, Secretary Clinton has 1,645 pledged delegates -- 55 percent of the total. We have 1,318 pledged delegates -- 45 percent of the total. There are 10 states plus D.C., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam remaining. We believe we are quite strong in many of these remaining contests and have an excellent chance to win California -- the state with far and away the most delegates.

For us to win the majority of pledged delegates, we need to win 710 out of the remaining 1083. That is 65 percent. That is, admittedly, a tough road to climb, but not an impossible one. And we intend to fight for every vote and delegate remaining.

In terms of super delegates, I want to say the following...

Obviously, we are taking on virtually the entire Democratic establishment. Secretary Clinton has an estimated 520 super delegates. Many of those committed to her even before we got into this campaign. We have all of 39 super delegates. In other words, while we have won 45 percent of the pledged delegates up to this point, we have only 7 percent of the super delegates.

Two points:

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Bernie Sanders is the independent U.S. Senator from Vermont. He is the longest serving independent member of Congress in American history. He is a member of the Senate's Budget, Veterans, Environment, Energy, and H.E.L.P. (Health, Education, (more...)
 

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