Election campaigning is in full swing in New York, which will be holding its all-important primary vote on the 19th April. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who grew up in Brooklyn, has won seven of the last eight primary contests, and is hoping that momentum will help his fight against Hillary Clinton, who was elected twice as the state's senator. Lorna Shaddick examines the battle of the Democrats' hometown candidates.
IN: Their high school...
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Script:
Their high school days were over 50 years ago, but Steve Slavin still remembers Bernie Sanders walking the corridors of James Madison High School here in Brooklyn.
He and the Vermont Senator ran on the track team together, and were room-mates after they left here, while studying at nearby Brooklyn College. Steve says it was clear his friend was destined for great things:
SOT - Super: Steve Slavin, School Friend of Bernie's
We were both distance runners. I met him when I was 16 years old, he was 14. // He went on to become one of the best distance runners in the city. He would never give up. Picture Hillary Clinton. She's running in this race, she knows it's a long race, she builds up a big lead, but she looks behind her - he's still running! So she has to be looking over her shoulder!
And elsewhere in the city, other supporters are also emphasising Bernie's New York roots:
PTC - Lorna Shaddick at campaign offices
This is the Bernie Sanders campaign office in Harlem, in Manhattan, and it's absolutely full of campaign staff and volunteers working the phones, sending emails in favour of the candidate they see as the truly local choice for New Yorkers - Bernie of course brought up in Brooklyn, not too far away from here. And the issues that Bernie Sanders has emphasised in his campaign - things like education, economic inequality, housing - are all the kind of issues that they say are most important to people here in New York.
SOT - Noah Baron, Bernie Sanders Campaign student volunteer
I'm from New York, so this is where my parents live and everything. // Maybe Hillary's favoured to win here but it's a state where Bernie's message should do well. // For centuries, you have people from all backgrounds coming to New York to find opportunity and I think when the opportunity isn't there, as it is now, I think New York would be receptive to his message of restoring that fairness.
SOT - Nibia Burner, Bernie Sanders Campaign Volunteer
I think New York is going to bring it, I really think they're going to bring it for him. // He's a New Yorker, he's a true New Yorker, he was born and raised here just like I was. And Hillary… worked for New York but she wasn't born here, and there's something about us, born here… it's just exhilarating.
Exhilarating it may be, but here in Flushing, Queens, a large crowd of Asian Americans think Hillary's the one who truly has local interests at heart. Here's local Representative, Congresswoman Grace Meng:
SOT - Super: Congresswoman Grace Meng, Democrat Representative, 6th District of NY
She has been in NY, we don't have to talk about how many times. She represented our state in the US Senate, she worked alongside so many of our community groups. All 62 counties in NY state, everyone has a working relationship, everyone has a story and a testimony of what Senator Clinton, back then, had done for us.
Even though Hillary's well ahead in the polls, there's still a lot at stake… Losing this state and its 291 delegates, even to a local boy like Bernie, would be a big and symbolic blow. Lorna Shaddick, New York.