"Thanks to you, we have reached a milestone," Clinton said in a speech. "We all owe so much to who came before."
Declaring a historic victory, Clinton turns fire on Trump in her White House bid(Reuters)
Hillary Clinton celebrated her triumph as the first woman to lead a major party in a race for the White House, scoring big wins in California and New Jersey to cement her grip on the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.
The former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state spoke to supporters at a raucous event in Brooklyn, New York, and placed her achievement in the context of the women's rights movement.
"Thanks to you, we have reached a milestone," Clinton said in a speech. "We all owe so much to who came before."
Clinton appealed to supporters of party rival Bernie Sanders.
She said Democrats had been bolstered by his campaign for eradicating
income inequality, which has commanded huge crowds and galvanized
younger voters. Not yet ready to concede, Sanders vowed to fight on.
Clinton
also harshly attacked Donald Trump, her presumptive Republican rival in
the Nov. 8 presidential election, for using divisive rhetoric that
belittled women, Muslims and immigrants. She took specific aim at his
condemnation of an Indiana-born judge of Mexican heritage.
"The
stakes in this election are high and the choice is clear. Donald Trump
is temperamentally unfit to be president and commander in chief," Clinton said.
"When
Donald Trump says a distinguished judge born in Indiana can't do his
job because of his Mexican heritage, or he mocks a reporter with
disabilities, or calls women pigs, it goes against everything we stand
for," she said.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released
on Tuesday showed Clinton leading Trump by 10 percentage points
nationally as they launch their general election battle, little changed
from a week earlier.
OBAMA, SANDERS TO MEET
Clinton
edged Sanders out in a rough-and-tumble battle that stretched over four
months and 50 states. She won support, especially among older voters,
with a more pragmatic campaign focused on building on the policies of
her fellow Democrat, President Barack Obama.
Obama
called both Clinton and Sanders on Tuesday. The White House said he
congratulated her on securing the delegates necessary to clinch the
nomination and would meet Sanders on Thursday at Sanders' request.
The
Associated Press called the race in California for Clinton early on
Wednesday. Clinton won 56 percent to Sanders' 43 percent, avoiding what
would have been an embarrassing loss in America's most populous state.
The California win came on the heels of a decisive win in New Jersey and
narrower victories in New Mexico and South Dakota in Tuesday's
nominating contests. Sanders won Montana and North Dakota.
A
defeat in California would have reinforced doubts about Clinton's
candidacy. Now, she can turn her attention to healing her fractured
party and drawing in Sanders' passionate supporters.
Clinton's
credentials for office have not been a serious issue, but a scandal
stemming from her use of a private email account while at the State
Department hangs over her head as she enters the general election
campaign.
Clinton, 68, will also be running
against the current of this election season, one that has favored
outsiders like Trump and Sanders. In Trump, 69, she has an unpredictable
opponent who shreds the standard campaign rule book on an almost daily
basis.
FEW OPTIONS
For his part, Sanders, 74, seems to have few options left.
Democratic
Party elites are lined up squarely behind Clinton, including most
likely Obama, who may endorse his former secretary of state as early as
this week. Pressure will mount on Sanders to exit graciously and throw
his support to Clinton.
Eight years ago in June
2008, Clinton did exactly that when she ended her bitter primary fight
with Obama. At the time, it appeared unclear whether Obama would be able
to garner the support of Clinton's most ardent backers, but that
election drew the highest voter turnout in generations.
At
a rally in Santa Monica on Tuesday, Sanders showed no interest in
ending his upstart candidacy, telling cheering supporters he would go on
campaigning through next Tuesday's primary in the District of Columbia
and carry his political mission - although not necessarily his campaign -
to the party convention in Philadelphia next month.
"We are going to fight hard to win the primary in Washington, D.C.," he said. "And then we take our fight for social, economic, racial and environmental justice to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."
Prominent
Democrats say that unifying the party now is the highest priority, and
that if Sanders maintains his challenge to Clinton through the July
25-28 convention, Trump will benefit.
"We have our work cut out for us," said U.S. Representative Alan Lowenthal, a Democrat from Long Beach, California. "My overriding fear is that we get divided, and Donald Trump could win the election."
Even
if Sanders does concede, his supporters may not go quietly. Several
told Reuters in recent days that they would have trouble supporting
Clinton in a matchup against Trump, saying they either would not vote or
would support a third-party candidate.
"People right now are talking if Bernie doesn't get the nomination, they are deregistering as Democrats,"
said Susan Hartley, 71, a lawyer from Northern California, who was part
of the noisy throng of thousands at a Sanders rally in an aircraft
hangar in Santa Monica. "People are really upset."
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