PHILADELPHIA — Sen. Bernie Sanders and his campaign advisers plan to reassess where his candidacy stands after five states vote Tuesday, though he is adamant that he will remain in the race until the Democratic convention this summer.
As Sanders spent the morning happily greeting voters across Philadelphia, his senior campaign strategist said the senator understood the challenges ahead and would talk with his staff Wednesday to decide how his bid will continue. Polls show Sanders trailing Hillary Clinton in at least four of the five states voting Tuesday — Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Still, Sanders, who visited those states and the fifth state, Delaware, is not preparing to drop out of the race but will look into how to adjust how he talks about his prospects.
"If we are sitting here and there's no sort of mathematical way to do it, we will be upfront about that," said Tad Devine, Sanders' senior strategist. "If we have a really good day, we are going to continue to talk about winning most of the pledged delegates because we will be on a path toward it. If we don't get enough today to make it clear that we can do it by the end, it's going to be hard to talk about it. That's not going to be a credible path. Instead, we will talk about what we intend to do between now and the end and how we can get there."
Devine explained that Sanders' senior advisers will talk Wednesday about a range of issues, including how to adjust their message about the election process, what route if any they have to winning the nomination, and where they should focus on gaining ground. He said he could still see a mathematical path to winning the nomination, but he added that if that changed with Tuesday night's results, the campaign would have to adjust.
"We may decide we have to pick up some more delegates in some of these caucus states," Devine said. "Maybe we have to get some more people on the ground between now and the state conventions some place because we are not going to win as many as we thought we were going to win in primaries. But we have got to make up the difference elsewhere — that's the reassessment."
Devine was careful to stress that the senator has already decided that he will compete in every contest, including in California and the District of Columbia, which vote in June.
"Reassess does not mean that he's not going to be part of this race," Devine said. "Reassess does not mean that his message, that we think is the most powerful message, is going to change."
Meanwhile, Sanders, in what has become somewhat of an Election Day tradition, spent Tuesday posing for pictures, shaking hands, and walking the streets as he courted voters in Philadelphia. The senator visited Reading Terminal Market before walking by City Hall and stopping into a coffee shop. Along the way several people shouted, "Go get 'em Bernie," "Free college for my kid," and, "You've got my vote."
Sanders also took some questions from reporters, saying it is "absurd" to ask him when he is dropping out of the race.
"The answer is, we are in this race until the last vote is cast," Sanders said. "The people of California have a right to determine who they want to see as president of the United States and what kind of agenda they want the Democratic Party to have."
When asked how he could in good faith continue to raise money while promising that he has a pathway to the nomination, Sanders frowned.
"As opposed to candidates who raise millions of dollars from Wall Street and the drug companies and the fossil fuel industries?" Sanders said. "As opposed to me who raises $27 apiece running a campaign that has now won 16 states and that has closed the gap? Yeah, I think we are doing just fine."
Yet, signs of Clinton's strength in Pennsylvania were clear Tuesday morning. As Sanders crossed a street, a car full of Clinton supporters waved signs out of the windows shouting, "Hillary, Hillary." Another man briskly walked past Sanders saying, "I'm voting for Hillary."