Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders bring the battle to California

Welcome to battleground state status, Califoia Democrats. If, at least, for a little while.

On the moing after Indiana sent Sen. Ted Cruz packing and essentially made Donald Trump the presumptive Republican nominee for president, the Democrats find they have a frontruer who is being chased by a challenger that not only won in the Hoosier State, but has vowed to keep fighting through June 7.

Hillary Clinton leads Beie Sanders in delegates and is just a few hundred short of securing the presidential nomination in Philadelphia this summer. But both campaigns have begun to set their sights on Califoia and the tussle begins in eaest today.

At stake: 475 delegates.

President Bill Clinton is speaking on behalf of his wife at Garden Suite Hotel in Los Angeles this afteoon, where he is expected to discuss the economy, immigration and issues “holding families back.” His talk comes a day before the former secretary of state spends Thursday at a series of fundraisers and will meet with volunteers in Monterey in the afteoon.

The Clinton campaign also opened its second office in the state Tuesday night and plans to open about eight throughout Califoia in the run-up to the June 7 primary and when early voting begins Monday.

Sanders is also hitting Califoia today, tapping celebrity to do surrogate work for him at UC Irvine and Cal State Long Beach today.

Actress Susan Sarandon will kick off the UCI event at 10:30 a.m. and is expected to be joined by Kendrick Sampson of “The Vampire Diaries” and Heather Matarazzo of “The Princess Diaries.”

Sampson and Matarazzo will then scoot up the freeway to Cal State Long Beach for a rally on the lawn by the school’s engineering building at 1:30 p.m.

Both campaigns have said the expect to compete heavily in Califoia throughout the primary season - giving the state a rare taste of a what a competitive, top-of-the-ticket contest feels like in June.

Hoever, the path for Sanders is difficult. Including pledged and unbound superdelegates, Clinton 2,202 of the 2,382 needed to become the nation’s first woman nominee for president. Sanders trails with 1,400 delegates, according to website Real Clear Politics.

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