UPDATE: Bernie takes Alaska, Wasington today; Hawaii still out

WASHINGTON (AP)

Bernie Sanders has won the Democratic presidential caucuses in Washington state. It’s the Vermont senator’s second victory over front-runner Hillary Clinton in the three states holding party caucuses today.

He also claimed a win in Alaska.

The Vermont senator tried to build his enduring support among liberal activists into a Saturday sweep that could help him narrow a gap of 300 delegates won in primaries behind Clinton. Sanders looked strong in Washington state in early results. Clinton and Sanders also competed in Hawaii.

While Sanders faces a steep climb to the nomination, a string of losses for Clinton would highlight persistent vulnerabilities within her own party. Sanders continues to attract tens of thousands to his rallies — drawing more than 17,000 in Seattle this week — and has collected more than $140 million from 2 million donors.

Most of his dozen primary-season wins have been in states with largely white populations and in caucus contests, which tend to attract the most active liberal Democrats. He’s heavily favored by younger voters, who were a key part of the coalition that boosted Obama to victory twice.

In Spokane, Washington, a huge line of caucus attendees snaked around a high school parking lot on Saturday morning.

“I think one of the biggest things is free tuition for students,” said Savannah Dills, 24, a college student who supports Sanders. “And getting big money out of politics. He’s not paid for by billionaires.”

Retiree Dan McLay, 64, attended the caucus in a hard-hat, which he joked he needed because he was one of the relatively few Clinton supporters in the big crowd.

“Look at this thing in Brussels,” McLay said, referring to the deadly bombings. “We need a real experienced leader.”

For Sanders, turning passionate support into the party nomination has grown increasingly difficult.

Clinton had a delegate lead of 1,223 to 920 over Sanders going into Saturday’s contests, according to an Associated Press analysis, an advantage that expanded to 1,692-949 once the superdelegates, or party officials who can back either candidate, were included.

Based on that count, Sanders still needs to win 58 percent of the remaining delegates from primaries and caucuses to have a majority of those delegates by June’s end.

His bar is even higher when the party officials are considered. He needs to win more than 67 percent of the remaining delegates overall — from primaries, caucuses and the ranks of uncommitted superdelegates — to prevail.

“I have gotten 2.6 million more votes than Bernie Sanders,” Clinton told supporters crowded into a union hall in Everett, Washington, this week. “We are on the path to the nomination, and I want Washington to be part of how we get there.”