'It hurt': Clinton says Sanders dragged out nomination fight

Hillary Clinton says Bernie Sanders’s reluctance to concede the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination before the party’s convention was disrespectful, hurtful and stood in stark contrast to the way she handled her primary loss to Barack Obama in 2008.

“I had such a different experience in ’08,” Clinton said in an interview with the “Pod Save America” podcast that was posted on Tuesday. “Once it was over, it was over. And I quickly endorsed President Obama. I worked really hard to get him elected. I was still arguing with my supporters at the Denver convention, telling people, ‘Don’t be ridiculous. You’ve got to vote for Senator Obama, at the time.’ And I was thrilled when he got elected.”

“I didn’t get anything like that respect from Sanders and his supporters,” Clinton said. “And it hurt. You know, to have basically captured the nomination, ending up with more than 4 million votes than he had. And he dragged it out.”

“I won, really, by March and April, but he just kept going,” Clinton told NPR’s “Morning Edition.” “And he and his followers’ attacks on me kept getting more and more personal, despite him asking me not to attack him personally. And, you know, I really regret that. But now he’s got a chance to prove he’s something other than a spoiler. And that is, to help Democrats. And I don’t know if he will or not, but I’m hoping he will.”

Sanders formally endorsed Clinton on July 12, 2016 — two weeks before the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia — and campaigned for Clinton during the general election.