Sanders, political supporters upbeat despite Nevada loss

By Chris Kudialis

Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was upbeat Saturday in a post-caucus rally at the Henderson Pavilion, telling supporters he’s closing the gap on Nevada caucus winner Hillary Clinton.

“Five weeks ago we were 25 percent behind in the polls,” Sanders told a crowd of about 400 people, “and we’ve made some real progress.”

Sanders was defeated by about 5 percentage points Saturday in the Silver State, according to early reports; he polled at 34 percent nationally on Jan. 13, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, compared with 59 percent for Clinton. Earlier this week, the two were virtually tied in Nevada.

“What this entire campaign has been about is the issue of momentum, the issue of bringing more and more people into the political process,” Sanders said.

Nevada State Sen. Tick Segerblom, who endorsed Sanders last year as a “liberal socialist,” was enthusiastic about the Vermont senator’s finish.

Segerblom, a Las Vegas Democrat, suggested recent endorsements from Nevada interest groups and elected officials gave Clinton the edge Saturday.

“We’re like a ragtag little army and we held her to a near-tie,” Segerblom said. “It’s disappointing, but in reality it’s a huge win with where we came from and what we forced her to do.”

Democratic National Committee superdelegate Erin Bilbray said that although Sanders’ loss in Nevada was hard, the Silver State represents just the beginning of the primary season.

With nearly 60 more primaries and caucuses scheduled before July’s Democratic National Convention, Bilbray emphasized that most of the race lies ahead.

“It’s a long way to Philadelphia,” Bilbray said of the nominating event’s location.

Some Sanders supporters at Saturday’s Henderson rally weren’t as cheerful. Others called the caucus procedures unfair and corrupt, claiming they worked in Clinton’s favor.

Kevin Cho, 36, said the results were disappointing after recent polls showed the candidates were neck-and-neck.

“We really had a good chance to win Nevada,” Cho said of Sanders’ campaign. “If not here, where?”

Lucas Fehring, 23, who caucused at Walter Johnson Junior High School in Las Vegas, accused caucus precinct captains of being pro-Clinton and limiting the ability of caucus-goers supporting Sanders to speak.

“They were all plugging Hillary and shutting down anybody who wanted to speak about Bernie,” Fehring said. “Basically being drill sergeants with the caucus process, which is wrong.”

Another caucus-goer, Jose Hernandez, 29, called the caucus procedure at Rancho High School in North Las Vegas subpar.

“There was just a huge amount of disorganization in everything from head count to the dialogue allowed between people in the room,” Hernandez said, “and I don’t think it worked in Sen. Sanders’ favor at all.”