Sanders says California primary is the "big enchilada"

WATCH LIVE NEWS Breaking Political Fox News Chat Donald Trump Interview Hannity Hillary Clinton

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday called California the big enchilada in his bid to overtake Hillary Clinton and claim the Democratic presidential nomination.

Asked on NBCs "Meet the Press" about his chances of winning, Sanders acknowledged that he needed to do very well in the June 7primary.

What I want to do, and I think we can, is win California here, and win under the big vote, do very, very well in the other five states, Sanders said.

ModeratorChuck Toddasked if his campaign is over if he loses in California.

No, Sanders replied.

California is very, very important, 475 superdelegates. Obviously if we don"t do well in California, it will make our pathmuch harder.No question about it. But I think we have a good chance to winning California, maybe win big, and maybe win four or five of the other states that are off on June 7th.California is the big enchilada, so to speak.

Sanders said Donald Trump would be disaster as president and pledged to do everything that I can to make sure that does not happen.

But he said a Democratic victory required a focus on working families, not Wall Street.

If Secretary Clinton is the nominee, it is her job to reach out to millions of people and make the case as to why she is going to defend working families and the middle, provide healthcare for all people, take on Wall Street, deal aggressively with climate change. That is the candidate"s job to do, he said.

That focus, he said, also extended to Clinton"s eventual pick of a running mate. Todd suggested Sen. Tim Kaine, (D-Va.), who is thought to be on Clinton"s VP short list, might be too conservative for Sanders.

Sanders said only that he liked Kaine, but that "for Democrats to win, they are going to have to address the needs of working people."

Asked whether he would use his clout to push for stronger recognition of the plight of Palestinians livingunder Israeli control in the West Bank, Sanders stressed he remains "100% pro-Israel in the sense of Israel"s right to exist" but added that "the United States has got to respect the needs of the Palestinian people. They cannot be pushed aside."

Source: http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-trailguide-05292016-sanders-say-california-primary-1464531278-htmlstory.html