The Note: Bernie Heading to ‘The View’ (And The Vatican)
— -- NOTABLES
--HAPPENING TODAY -- BERNIE SANDERS ON ‘THE VIEW.’ The Vermont senator pays a visit to ABC’s “The View” which airs at 11 a.m. ET this morning. Sanders was a guest on the show back in February, where he tried the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavor named after him, shot some hoops with the co-hosts, and talked politics. His presidential opponent Hillary Clinton was a guest on “The View” on Tuesday.
--SANDERS TO VISIT VATICAN NEXT WEEK: Sanders will visit the Vatican next week to attend a conference on social issues, his campaign announced today, according to ABC’s ALANA ABRAMSON. The invitation was extended by the Vatican, Sanders said today. Sanders said on "Morning Joe" that he was "very moved" by the invitation. “I’m a big, big fan of the pope," Sanders said. "Obviously there are areas where we disagree, on women's rights or gay rights, but he has played an unbelievable role, an unbelievable role of injecting a moral consequence into the economy. “People think Bernie Sanders is radical," he added. "Read what the pope is writing.”
--SANDERS CAMP SAYS IT WILL ‘100 PERCENT’ CONTEST CONVENTION IF CLINTON DOESN’T CLINCH DELEGATE MAJORITY. It’s not just the GOP that may be headed to a contested convention. Bernie Sanders' campaign manager believes the Democrats may be going in the same direction. Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver says that if Hillary Clinton fails to reach a majority of pledged delegates ahead of the Democratic convention, Sanders will “100 percent, absolutely” challenge her for the nomination -- even if Clinton has more votes than Sanders. “The way the math is right now, it is very, very, very unlikely that either candidate will arrive at the convention with enough pledged delegates to win the nomination,” Weaver said in an interview on ABC News’ “Powerhouse Politics” podcast. Clinton would need to win 63 percent of the 1,741 remaining pledged delegates up for grabs to clinch the nomination counting only pledged delegates before the convention, while Sanders would need to win 78 percent, ABC’s JORDYN PHELPS notes. Clinton currently has 1,280 pledged delegates while Sanders 1,030. Each candidate would need 2,383 delegates to clinch. http://abcn.ws/1Mif9bC LISTEN to full podcast: http://apple.co/21V9721
--SANDERS SURPRISES NEW YORKERS WALKING DOWN BUSY MIDTOWN STREET. Not to be outdone by Hillary Clinton, who took the subway Thursday morning, Sanders decided to go on a stroll in Midtown Manhattan. Accompanied by a dozen Secret Service agents and a handful of staff, Sanders surprised and delighted New Yorkers as he hoofed it Thursday evening. On his way to tape an interview, the Vermont Senator and Brooklyn native stopped for a snack at the Brooklyn Diner. ABC’s MARYALICE PARKS reports, he ate a bowl of chicken soup and an English muffin, while sitting at a booth near the window with his wife Jane. http://abcn.ws/1MXdQ1K
THIS WEEK ON ‘THIS WEEK’: Fresh off his win in Wisconsin, Sen. Bernie Sanders goes one-on-one with George Stephanopoulos, live Sunday on “This Week.”
YESTERDAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC’s VERONICA STRACQUALURSI and PAOLA CHAVEZ
BILL CLINTON CLASHES WITH BLACK LIVES MATTER PROTESTERS: ‘YOU ARE DEFENDING THE PEOPLE WHO KILL THE LIVES YOU SAY MATTER’. Former President Bill Clinton had a tense and prolonged exchange with Black Lives Matter protesters at a Hillary Clinton campaign event Thursday in Philadelphia. "I don't know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped up on crack, sent them out onto the street to murder other African-American children," Clinton said, addressing protesters holding signs that read (among others), “Black youth are not super predators.” ABC’s MATTHEW CLAIBORNE notes, former President Clinton is no stranger to protesters when he is on the campaign trail for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton; however Thursday, the majority of his speech was spent engaging with them. http://abcn.ws/1oH18IO
TED CRUZ SWAPS MIC FOR ROLLING PIN TO TOUR MATZO BAKERY. While campaigning in New York, Ted Cruz traded his mic for a rolling pin as he toured Chabad Neshama Center, a Jewish Community Center in Brooklyn, and made matzo bread from scratch at the center's Model Matzah Bakery. Despite being a rookie matzo baker, the Texas senator was impressed with the final product, admitting, "fresh baked is better than the box,” as he took a bite. ABC’s PAOLA CHAVEZ and VERONICA STRACQUALURSI have more. http://abcn.ws/1VCgw6t
TRUMP SHOULD DROP OUT IF HE DOESN’T GET MAJORITY IN NEW YORK, CRUZ CAMPAIGN MANAGER SAYS. Ted Cruz’s campaign manager is calling on GOP frontrunner Donald Trump to drop out of the race if he fails to clinch a majority in his home state primary later this month. “If he doesn’t get over 50 percent, he should probably consider dropping out, like everyone else has when they don’t win their home state in a dramatic fashion,” Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe said in an interview on ABC News’ “Powerhouse Politics” podcast Thursday. ABC’s JORDYN PHELPS notes, while quipping that he doesn’t expect the GOP frontrunner to take his advice, Roe also acknowledged that Trump is the “huge favorite” headed into the New York primary and that it is an “away game” for Cruz, who did little to invite the New York vote when earlier in the campaign cycle he criticized Trump for having “New York values.” http://abcn.ws/1V07tOk
WAR OF WORDS: SANDERS AND CLINTON SPAR OVER QUALIFICATIONS. The decorum between the Democratic presidential candidates appears to be on shaky ground as the two spar over each other’s credentials.The latest battle reached its pinnacle as Senator Bernie Sanders listed a host of reasons why he thinks former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton isn't qualified to be president. ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY reports, rather than focusing on the positions she has held in public service, Sanders has been ticking off a list of policy positions he disagrees with, including her vote for the Iraq War and various trade agreements. http://abcn.ws/22fxWpA
HILLARY CLINTON RIDES THE SUBWAY IN NEW YORK CITY. Hillary Clinton was just like us Thursday. The Democratic presidential candidate took a short ride on the New York City subway, where she rode the No. 4 train in the Bronx one stop: From Yankee Stadium at 167th street up to 170th street. ABC’s LIZ KREUTZ reports, she then made her way to Munch Time, a diner in the Bronx. Clinton's Metrocard didn't work at first when she tried to enter through the turnstile. But after swiping it a few times, she eventually got through. http://abcn.ws/1PWrGvP
WHAT NEW YORKERS THINK ABOUT THEIR VALUES. Sen. Ted Cruz may have used "New York values" as a punchline at earlier points in the campaign, but he's now scrambling to clarify his vague remarks less than two weeks before the state’s primary. Even though Cruz never mentioned any names when taking shots at the state's “values,” the people “I was talking about are the liberal New York Democrats who have hammered this state,” he told ABC News Thursday morning. But when ABC News asked a random selection of people at New York's Grand Central Station today what they thought epitomized "New York values," their answers had little to do with politics. ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY and JEESOO PARK have more. http://abcn.ws/1Sh3SEk
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
WHY JOHN KASICH WANTS YOU TO TAKE A WIDOW OUT TO DINNER. At nearly every stop on his "quixotic" presidential campaign, John Kasich implores those around him to take a widow out to dinner. “Anybody here lost a spouse?” the Republican candidate asked last October at a VFW post in New Hampshire. A man spoke up amid the silence. He had been married 45 years before his wife passed away. “Anybody ever invite him to dinner?” Kasich said rhetorically. “We gotta be a community,” Kasich said. “We gotta be neighbors. And I’m gonna try to get ya a dinner date.” The story has come to encapsulate Kasich's quirky motivational speaking style and the reason he says he is running against all odds: to improve the world, to encourage others to help their neighbors and to tell as many people as possible that God has made them special. The "widow," according to Kasich’s campaign, is an amalgamation of men and women who have approached the candidate with their tragic stories, some with tears in their eyes and others unaware of just how alone they actually are, ABC’s BEN GITTLESON writes. http://abcn.ws/1VBDCKj