Sanders favored in West Virginia primary

As unhappy Republicans ponder Nader-ing themselves in the fall, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is favored to win the Democratic presidential primary Tuesday in West Virginia.

Sanders holds a 6-percentage-point lead over Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton in the Mountain State, according to an average of polls by Real Clear Politics.

The good news for Bernie’s supporters? Should that polling hold true, Sanders stands to take about 16 of West Virginia’s 29 delegates. The bad news? Clinton would take 13, leaving her only about 140 delegates away from clinching the Democratic nomination.

Yes, that includes super-delegates. But with Clinton having won 3.1 million more votes than Sanders in Democratic caucuses and primaries thus far, there is no reason to think Democratic insiders will reject their party’s top vote-getter.

More bad news for the Sanders crowd? New Jersey with 126 delegates and California with 475 are just around the calendar’s corner. And Clinton has double-digit leads in both states, making June 7 the date when the former secretary of state is most likely to clinch the Democratic nomination.

Next? Voters in Kentucky, with 55 Democratic delegates, and Oregon, with 61, go to the primary polls on May 17.

On June 7, Democratic voters also go to the polls in both Dakotas, Montana and New Mexico.

This story was originally published May 9, 2016 at 2:49 PM with the headline "Sanders favored in West Virginia primary."