"She will need super delegates to take her over the top of the convention in Philadelphia. In other words, the convention will be a contested contest," he said during a press conference in Washington, D.C. Sanders' top brass has been arguing this point for weeks, but this was the most direct statement the senator has made about his outlook on the remaining portion of the nominating process. Sanders called on super delegates from states like Washington and Minnesota specifically, where he beat Clinton by double-digit margins, to change their allegiances. 1 of 42 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Highlights from Bernie Sanders’s campaign, in pictures View Photos The senator from Vermont is Hillary Clinton’s rival in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination. Add Interest 
 
 The Vermont senator essentially vowed to fight to win over those coveted party elites -- the super delegates -- until they formally vote in July. Sanders would need to win 65 percent of the remaining pledged delegates to pull ahead of Clinton on that front. "We intend to fight for every vote in front of us and for every delegate remaining," he continued. While it is unlikely that either candidate will be able to win enough pledged delegates alone to secure the nomination, according to estimates from ABC News, Clinton has the backing of 520 super delegates at this point, bringing her very close to the threshold. Superdelegates should vote the way their states did 
 
 During the news conference, Sanders suggested that superdelegates had an obligation to reflect the will of the voters in their states. "Those superdelegates in states where either Secretary Clinton or myself has won a landslide victory — those superdelegates ought to seriously reflect on whether they should cast their superdelegate vote in line with the wishes of the people of their states," he said. Asked if the campaign had any internal polling to suggest that they might be able to win the remaining states by the large margins need to pull ahead, Sanders' senior strategist Tad Devine said: "We believe the states ahead represent a real opportunity for Bernie." He said that, considering that number, he had a "tough road to climb," but added that it was not "impossible."
– Bernie Sanders on Sunday made clear that he has no intention of conceding victory to Hillary Clinton if she fails to reach the number of pledged delegates necessary to clinch the nomination. "She will need super delegates to take her over the top of the convention in Philadelphia," he said, per ABC News. "In other words, the convention will be a contested contest." At the New York Times, Paul Krugman writes that this development is "really depressing." Sanders, he argues, is embarking on "an epic descent into whining." If he were to accept defeat graciously, Sanders could play a big role in shaping the Democratic party's future, but Krugman thinks he's risking that chance—along with his credibility—for a few additional weeks of life in a losing contest. "Can someone tell Bernie that he’s in the process of blowing his own chance for a positive legacy?" Meanwhile, an analysis by Philip Bump at the Washington Post suggests that while Sanders can indeed force a contested convention, he has little if any chance of emerging as the winner: "What's going to happen at that convention is not much of a mystery." Click for the full analysis.