Warren won't call Massachusetts a 'must-win' state as Sanders campaign seemingly aims for 'symbolic blow'

It's the South Carolina primary, but Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has his sights set on Massachusetts.

While many other candidates remain in the Palmetto State, Sanders flew north Friday evening and held a Saturday rally in Boston. Massachusetts is a Super Tuesday state, so the timing checks out, but Sanders' presence there is notable primarily because it's the home state of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), his closest ideological competitor in the race.

There's not a lot of data on Massachusetts, but some polls hint at a tight race between the two New Englanders, per The New York Times.

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Warren, who struggled this month in neighboring New Hampshire, on Saturday declined to call Massachusetts a must-win state, despite serving as its senator, and said she isn't surprised Sanders is campaigning there because it's a "very progressive state and progressive ideas are very popular." But the Sanders campaign may also have zeroed in on Massachusetts precisely because a victory could result in, as the Times describes it, a "symbolic blow" to Warren's once-promising campaign. Read more at The New York Times.