Fearing Trump, some Democrats up pressure on Sanders to exit

"It all sort of slows the takeoff of her general-election campaign," said Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a member of the party's liberal wing f-rom a perennial battleground.

Sanders is having none of it, frequently telling the thousands of supporters who attend his rallies that he still has a narrow path to the nomination.

"Please do not moan to me about Hillary Clinton's problems," Sanders said in a recent interview with MSNBC. "It is a steep hill to climb, but we're going to fight for every last vote."

Yet there is no question his campaign is on its last legs. His fundraising d-ropped by about 40 percent last month and he's laid off hundreds of staffers. Biden said this week he "feels confident" that Clinton will be the nominee. Even Obama is pointing out the realities of the delegate math, which puts Clinton on track to capture the nomination early next month.

By every measure, Clinton is handily winning the Democratic contest. She has won 23 states to Sanders' 19, capturing 3 million more votes than her rival along the way. She has 94 percent of the delegates needed to win the nomination, which means she could lose all the states left to vote by a landslide and still emerge as the nominee — so long as all her supporters among the party insiders known as superdelegates continue to back her.

White House officials believe Obama has the ability to coax some die-hard Sanders' fans into the Clinton camp, particularly young people and liberals. But if he moves before Clinton officially captures the nomination, he risks angering those voters and undermining that effort.

Clinton faces a similar calculus. While her international expertise could attract foreign policy-focused Republicans and suburban women, highlighting her record on those issues now might encourage Sanders to resurrect attacks on her vote in favor of the Iraq war.

"When his rhetoric takes a sharper tone against her, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. "I know that can be used as ammunition."

Clinton supporter Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, pointed to the results in West Virginia, whe-re 4 in 10 voters said in exit polls that they considered themselves independents or Republicans. That's a sign the late state primaries — particularly the open contests — were doing little to help Clinton.

"There's a lot of cross-over voters that are more about hurting a nominee as opposed to helping a potential nominee," she said.

Clinton backers say there's plenty for Sanders to do in his old job — and a lot of good reasons for him to join forces. If Democrats regain the majority in the Senate, he'd likely become chairman of the powerful Senate Budget Committee.

"We are looking forward to welcoming him back to the Senate," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

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