Clinton, Sanders Make Final Push Before Primary

With polls showing Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in a virtual tie before Tuesday's primary, both campaigns are pulling out the stops with final appeals to voters Monday in and around Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.

More than 2 million Californians have already returned their vote-by-mail ballots, but the two campaigns seem to be leaving no stone unturned while urging their supporters to vote.

Hillary Clinton has Monday events planned in Lynwood, Long Beach and Los Angeles. Bill Clinton has scheduled appearances in San Francisco, Oakland, Hayward, Richmond and Antioch.

Bernie Sanders is spending some of his last day before Tuesday's primary at an afternoon concert at Crissy Field in the Presidio in San Francisco. Among the musicians listed on the bill are Dave Matthews, Fishbone and Oakland's Fantastic Negrito.

At a stop in Sacramento on Sunday, Hillary Clinton implored thousands of supporters packed into a community college gym to cast their ballots.

“Because I want to finish strong here in California," she says. "It means the world to me.”

Although Clinton is expected to win enough delegates in Tuesday's New Jersey primary to formally capture the Democratic nomination, losing the nation's largest state and one of its most diverse and liberal to Sanders would likely encourage the Vermont senator to continue his fight all the way to the party's national convention at the end of July. That prospect unnerves party officials who are eager to begin unifying the Democratic Party.

Clinton didn’t pay much attention to Sanders during her Sacramento speech. Instead she reiterated her message that likely Republican nominee Donald Trump is unfit to be president.

"We're going to have a very contentious campaign," she said. "Because I'm going to point out at every single moment I can why I believe the Republican nominee should never get near the White House."

Clinton did take a moment to thank California Gov. Jerry Brown for his recent endorsement.

Brown has had a tense relationship with the Clintons in the past but in a letter last week Brown said Hillary Clinton represents the best option for beating Trump in November. And while Brown did not attend the Sunday rally, his executive secretary, Nancy McFadden, did.

"He [Brown] knows she's effective. He knows she's tenacious," McFadden said. "He knows that she's prepared to lead our country on day one."

While McFadden acknowledged that Clinton will likely have enough delegates to clinch the nomination before California's polls close, she said the state can put an exclamation point on Clinton's primary run.