Bernie Sanders endorses Hillary Clinton for president as polls show that Trump has zero percent among Black voters in Ohio, though tied with Clinton in Ohio, and greater Cleveland Black and other activists and the Ohio Chapter National Organization for Women, led by the Imperial Women Coalition, prepare to protest at the RNC in Cleveland, Ohio the morning of July 18 at 9:30 am on Public Square....By seasoned political reporter and editor Kathy Wray Coleman of www.clevelandurbannews.com and www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

Democratic presumptive presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders who, on Tuesday, endorsed Clinton for president of the United States of America

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com

By Editor-in-Chief Kathy Wray Coleman, a-23-year journalist who trained at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio for 17 years, and who interviewed now President Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS. Coleman is the most read reporter on Google Plus with some 2.9 million readers

CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire- Bernie Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, his rival for the Democratic nomination for president and the presumptive nominee, a long awaited endorsement that heightens her chances of becoming president in a race against Donald Trump, the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party.

"She will be the Democratic nominee for president and I intend to do everything I can to make certain she will be the next president of the United States," said Sanders at a rally Tuesday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and with Clinton by his side.

Sanders said that he could think of no better person for president and both he and Clinton said that they are driven by a desire to defeat Trump, who trails Clinton by 15 percentage points in some polls.

"We are joining forces to defeat Donald Trump," said Clinton.

Of the 1,283 delegates needed to clinch the nomination Clinton has 2,205 pledged delegates and 602 superdelegates, and Sanders has 1,646 pledged delegates and 48 superdelegates.

The endorsement comes at an opportune time and as the Democratic National Convention begins July, 25 in Philadelphia, the venue where Clinton will officially accept her

party' s nomination.

It also comes as the four-day Republican National Convention gets underway in Cleveland, Ohio on July 18. (Editor's note: Activists from around the world will converge on Cleveland for the RNC with the local Cleveland group the Imperial Women Coalition, joined by elected officials, other local activists and the Ohio Chapter National Organization for Women, opening the official RNC protest stage that morning at 9:30 am. Their issues, say organizers, include violence against women, reproductive rights, erroneous police killings, equal pay, health care, education, housing, and the legal system.CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE OF THE LIST OF SCHEDULED SPEAKERS AND ISSUES THAT WILL BE ADDRESSED VIA THE IMPERIAL WOMEN COALITION FOR THE SPEAKERS PLATFORM AT THE RNC ON JULY 18 IN CLEVELAND).

The support from the Vermont U.S. senator and socialist who drew a cadre of grassroots voters and Democratic progressives seeking something different from America's political spectrum is a win-win for Clinton. And it has angered some of Sanders' supporters who are upset with the status quo, and the Clinton's.

Sanders wooed newcomers, re-enticed some seasoned voters, and is popular among community activists and young Blacks and Whites, and Latinos, among others, with the Latino vote also split.

Still, Clinton remains the favorite in the Black community with many of them upset that Sanders took his time endorsing her. And in the swing state of Ohio, like elsewhere, Trump remains in trouble with Black voters.

A NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll released Wednesday, a day after Sanders publicly announced his endorsement of Clinton, shows that Trump at zero percent among likely Black voters in Ohio, and Clinton has 88 percent, though they are virtually tied in Ohio.

The former U.S New York senator representing New York and former first lady has effectively been on a winning course since she announced her candidacy in April of 2015.

She won the March, 14 Democratic primary in Ohio over Sanders by 13 percentage points, both Clinton and Sanders speaking days before but on separate occasions at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church on the city's largely Black east side.

But Sanders proved that he could tread into her territory in many instances.

He  won all but one of the primaries in April, taking seven states, including Hawaii, Washington, Utah and Wyoming, and Clinton winning only in Arizona.

And he won in places like Michigan, and nearly in Kentucky where Black voters gave Clinton a win by a razor then margin with 46.8 percent of the primary vote to Sanders' 46.3 percent, a difference of roughly 1,900 votes.

Clinton won Kentucky, which is about nine percent Black, with help from Black voters in Louisville, the state's largest city, and Lexington, its second largest municipality.

Nonetheless, the math did not look good for Sanders, 74, and whose populace of supporters was largely White in spite of his ability to draw a fraction of the Black vote in primaries across the country, former state senator Nina Turner, a Cleveland Democrat and former democratic candidate for secretary of state,  among members of his inner circle.

At that time Clinton, 68, was just 78 delegates short of the 2,383 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination when including both pledged and superdelegates.

And the former secretary of state kept on winning thereafter, taking a host of other primaries, including California, Puerto Rico, New Mexico, New Jersey, South Dakota, Montana, the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia, Sanders winning since May in only Montana and North Dakota, and Clinton still soaring among superdelegates.

The November general election, a political showdown between Clinton and Trump for the White House, is Tuesday, Nov. 8.

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) /(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email:editor@clevelandurbannews.com