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POST TIME: 18 May, 2016 00:00 00 AM
Kentucky opens more ripe turf for Hillary
AFP

Kentucky opens more ripe turf for Hillary

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets the crowd during a campaign rally at La Gala in Bowling Green, Kentucky on Monday. Hillary is barnstorming Kentucky ahead of the state's Tuesday primary as she pivots toward a general election showdown with Donald Trump. AFP photo

Polls opened yesterday in a Kentucky primary that could give Hillary Clinton a chance to bolster her almost insurmountable delegate lead over Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, who has vowed to slog on despite long odds, reports AFP from Hopkinsville, United States.
Though Clinton holds a slim poll lead, Sanders was gunning for victory in the Bluegrass State, building on his win last week in neighboring West Virginia as he battles to keep his long-shot nomination bid alive.
West Virginia and Kentucky are linked to coal, as is much of Appalachia -- the largely white, long-struggling eastern US region where many feel they have been given the cold shoulder in the lukewarm recovery from the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
The northwest state of Oregon on Tuesday was also holding its Democratic and Republican primaries, where limited polling has indicated Clinton is ahead.
Clinton sees Kentucky as an opportunity to appeal to working-class white men -- a demographic where she has lagged both the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and her Democratic rival Sanders.
John Spenlau, 28, speaking to AFP Tuesday outside a voting station in suburban Louisville, said he had voted for Sanders.
"To be honest I don't think he's going to win the nomination but I prefer the idea of continued change," he said referring to Sanders proposals to upend what he calls an unfair political and economic system in the US and fight income inequality, among other problems.
"Hillary would be a more stable candidate but I think that Bernie continues to push the envelope, towards a few more of the social programs that I believe in," Spenlau said.