Hillary Clinton was under pressure to do well in Democratic nominating contests in Kentucky and Oregon on Tuesday so she can turn her attention to the general election and the mounting attacks on her being waged by Republican candidate Donald Trump.
The continued presence in the race of Bernie Sanders is prompting concerns among Clinton allies that he will damage her ability to take on Mr. Trump and hurt the Democrat in the fall.
Benefiting Trump? But many supporters of Mr. Sanders are not worried about any ill effects of the U.S. Senator remaining in the race, arguing that Mr. Trump is such a flawed candidate that Ms. Clinton will easily dispatch with him if she faces him in the Nov. 8 election.
Allies of Ms. Clinton have held back from overt calls for Mr. Sanders to exit the race. Any moves by her campaign to try drive Mr. Sanders out of the race could risk angering Democratic voters, including his supporters, and end up backfiring.
So Ms. Clinton must continue her primary fight in Kentucky and Oregon, where analysts predict she will have a hard time winning. The Democratic race is unlikely to wrap up before California, New Jersey and several other States vote on June 7. After Mr. Sanders won both West Virginia and Indiana this month, analysts said he has a good chance of taking Kentucky.
He has insisted that he will stay in the presidential election until the Democratic National Convention that is to take place from July 25-28, but Democratic strategist Jim Manley said Mr. Sanders should be careful that he does not wind up helping Mr. Trump.
