Sanders, Clinton square off in New York

Democratic rivals woo unions and black voters.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders held dueling rallies for support from union members and black voters Wednesday ahead of New York’s Democratic presidential primary, with Sanders preparing to leave the political battleground briefly to address a Vatican conference in Rome.

Both candidates courted organized labor, with the Vermont senator picking up support from the local transit workers union and walking the picket line at one point with striking Verizon workers.

Clinton, meanwhile, issued a statement supporting the workers and calling for Verizon to come back to the bargaining table. The former New York senator also campaigned in New York City and addressed the National Action Network, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton — giving her a visible platform before the city’s black community.

As Clinton campaigned in her adopted home state, Sanders prepared to hop to Rome for a 10-minute speaking slot Friday at a Vatican conference on social and economic trends.

He’s expected to head overseas just after the pair debate tonight.

His comments there would dovetail with his campaign push for economic equality and come ahead of critical primaries in states with large Roman Catholic populations: New York on Tuesday and, a week later, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

“What I’m planning to say is that it is not acceptable from a moral perspective, from an economic perspective or from an environmental perspective that so few have so much and that greed is running as rampant as it is throughout the entire planet,” Sanders said in an interview.

Clinton was heading to California on a weekend fundraising swing.

New York City offers by far the largest bloc of votes in next Tuesday’s primary and campaign officials estimate it could account for about 70 percent of the vote.

In 2008, when Clinton dueled with then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in the state’s primary, more than half of the vote came from the city’s five boroughs.

Clinton holds a lead of about 250 pledged delegates in the chase for the nomination, an advantage that Sanders is trying to chip away in the New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland primaries and beyond.

Sanders on Wednesday announced his first endorsement from a Senate colleague, Oregon’s Jeff Merkley.

In an op-ed piece in The New York Times, Merkley cited Sanders’ positions on the dangers of global warming, and the “threats to our economy from highrisk strategies at our biggest banks.” He said that Sanders has fought hard for military veterans, and conceded Sanders has an uphill battle ahead of him to win the Democratic nomination.

MARY ALTAFFER / AP Sen. Bernie Sanders and actor Harry Belafonte appear together Saturday at a campaign event at New York City’s Apollo Theatre.

RICHARD PERRY / NEW YORK TIMES Hillary Clinton and the Rev. Al Sharpton appear at the National Action Network convention in New York City on Wednesday.