Clinton and Sanders fight for every vote in run-up to key primary

Hillary Clinton rallied with supporters on Saturday in this California farmtown. But the real party occurred in nearby Los Angeles, where thousands of young voters gathered to see their hero Bernie Sanders.

Both politicians have been criss-crossing the largest state in the union ahead of Tuesday's primary, and while it is Clinton who is all but certain to prevail in their national battle, Sanders still appears to draw larger and more energized crowds.

The stark difference-Clinton speaking to hundreds in a high school gymnasium in Oxnard, Sanders inspiring thousands at the Los Angeles Coliseum - highlights the challenges of a candidate who turns towards her head-to-head battle with Donald Trump with only tepid support from many Democrats.

"I would say there's some Hillary fatigue out there," Jeremy Jackson, a 39-year-old teacher in Oxnard, told AFP, reflecting on the more than three decades in which Clinton has been inAmerica's public eye.

"Plus, people don't like a commonsense approach. Theywant extreme."

Clintonites don't have "all the pizzazz, but that doesn't mean we're not as enthusiastic", added a federal lawexpert in Oxnard who identified herself as Erica B, age 35.

"We're tired of having to defend Hillary, so we're not always super vocal."

Clinton's campaign exudes party establishment - she was a US senator, served as President Barack Obama's secretary of state, and was first lady in Bill Clinton's presidency, while Sanders epitomizes the scrappy outsider.

She would make history as the country's first female commander in chief, but even that milestone would be tempered after Barack Obama's landmark achievement eight years ago, when he became the first African-American commander in chief.

Clinton's unfavorable ratings are sky high, similar to those of Donald Trump, the braggadocios billionaire who is 2016's presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Sanders argued at his Saturday rally that he consistently fares better against Trump than Clinton does.

He also said he will take his fight all the way to the Democratic convention in July where he aims to sway enough superdelegates -unbound delegates who can vote for whomever they choose at the convention-in his favor to win the nomination.