Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders bring Democratic battle to California

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

Just hours after Indiana sent Sen. Ted Cruz packing and Gov. John Kasich called it quits, essentially making 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 for the state’s 475 delegates, as early primary voting gets underway next week.

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President Bill Clinton is speaking on behalf of his wife at the 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 attends a series of Southe Califoia fundraisers and meets with volunteers in Monterey.

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.

Meanwhile the Sanders campaign is going Hollywood, tapping celebrities to do surrogate work for him at UC Irvine and Cal State Long Beach today.

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Actress Susan Sarandon kicked off the UCI event at 10:30 a.m. and was joined by actors Kendrick Sampson of “How to Get Away with Murder” and Heather Matarazzo of “The Princess Diaries.”

Sampson and Matarazzo then scooted up the freeway to Cal State Long Beach for a rally on the lawn by the school’s engineering building.

Both campaigns have said they 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.

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