The finish line is in sight. Our longest campaign in history is in its closing chapter. For Hillary and Bernie it has been a long and arduous campaign that should be praised for the level of civility that it has had and for the fact that real issues were discussed.

New York, Pennsylvania and later in June, California and New Jersey will determine the outcome. To borrow a sports phrase this is crunch time, it is do or die for the Sanders campaign. He virtually has to sweep the final primaries to have a chance at victory.

In point of fact there are states that you have to do well in. These are the states where people live. Whether we are talking about winning primaries or winning the general election if you win in the most populous states you will win. These states are Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, California, New Jersey, North Carolina and a few others that are near the top in relation to population such as Minnesota. You can win most of the other states and it won’t matter if you don’t win a majority of the big states.

Bernie has done extremely well in caucus states. But the truth is that he has not done well in the big states that are so important in determining the nomination.

Hillary has done very well in primary states and she has done well in the states that you need to win in. Her victories in the states of Ohio, Illinois, Texas, Florida and North Carolina have given her a nearly insurmountable lead. How she does in the remaining large delegate states will determine whether or not she can seal the deal, and close out her campaign with the needed delegates.

There is now some infighting on whether one candidate or the other has been cheated out of delegates in caucus states. This is to be expected as caucus states are not examples of democracy in action. I wish each state had a primary, so the choice can be simple, you either win at the polls or not. It should not be who got more people into a room.

Democrats may have had skirmishes on the way toward deciding who will be their party’s nominee but at least they will unite as they move forward. The same can not be said about the march to the nomination of the Republican Party.

As intense as the battle for the nomination has been it is important to remind ourselves of the goal at the end of the campaign, and that is a victory in November. There is nothing to indicate that the Democratic Party will not be ready for a great victory.