Bernie Sanders crushes Clinton in Alaska and Washington caucuses

Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders registered overwhelming victories in Alaska and Washington on Saturday, narrowing front-runner Hillary Clinton’s commanding lead in the race for delegates to win the party’s nomination for the White House.

Sanders defeated Clinton in Washington caucuses 75% to 25% and 79% to 21% in Alaska’s, with about 38% and 72% of the states’ precincts reporting.

Sanders' wins on Saturday underscored Clinton's vulnerabilities within her own party, particularly with young voters and liberal activists who have been inspired by her rival's left-of-centre message.

Sanders still faces a steep uphill climb to overtake Clinton but the big victories in the West generated more momentum for his upstart campaign and could stave off calls from Democratic leaders that he should wrap up his bid in the name of party unity.

“We knew from day one we were going to have a hard time politically in the deep south – that is a conservative part of the country,” Sanders told supporters in Madison, Wisconsin. “But we knew things were going to improve as we head west.

"We are making significant inroads in Secretary Clinton's lead and ... we have a path to victory," Sanders told cheering, chanting supporters in Madison, Wisconsin. "It is hard for anybody to deny that our campaign has the momentum."

Sanders’ victories follow a dominant series of performances in the states that have caucused so far. The senator has fared best in contests dominated by party activists, and won in each except for those of two early states, Iowa and Nevada, where he narrowly lost.

However, despite being bolstered in Hawaii after being endorsed by Representative Tulsi Gabbard, Sanders has a far more difficult path to the nomination, and even with his successes in Washington and Alaska, he remains a distinct underdog.

The next states to vote range along the north-east and through New England, including Clinton’s home state of New York, as Democrats hold “closed” primary elections that do not allow independent voters to participate. This is a major disadvantage for Sanders, who has won unaffiliated voters by huge margins in open primaries.

Clinton, the former secretary of state, has increasingly turned her attention toward a potential Nov. 8 general election showdown against Republican front-runner Donald Trump, claiming she is on the path to wrapping up the nomination.

Heading into Saturday, she led Sanders by about 300 pledged delegates in the race for the 2,382 delegates needed to be nominated at the party's July convention in Philadelphia. Adding in the support of superdelegates - party leaders who are free to back any candidate - she has 1,690 delegates to 946 for Sanders.

Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, needs to win up to two-thirds of the remaining delegates to catch Clinton, who will keep piling up delegates even when she loses under a Democratic Party system that awards them proportionally in all states.

After Wisconsin, the Democratic race moves to contests in New York on April 19 and a bloc of five states in the Northeast, led by Pennsylvania, on April 26.

There were no contests on Saturday in the Republican race featuring Trump and rivals U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Governor John Kasich.