NEW ORLEANS -- Hillary Clinton and her Democratic allies have invested at least $41 million in commercials in states such as Ohio, Florida and Nevada over the next six weeks.

Those messages will be echoed by hundreds of Clinton workers in those same states and amplified by President Barack Obama and other top Democrats.

In contrast, Republican Donald Trump has made few preparations for contending with that sort of well-oiled political machine. His campaign has no advertising plans and is just now hiring employees in key states. Republican leaders are far from in agreement on how best to talk to voters about the New York businessman, or if they will at all.

"It's political malpractice," said Mitch Stewart, Obama's 2012 battleground states director and a Clinton backer. "He's in for a rude awakening. This isn't a national vote contest where you can be on cable news every day and dominate coverage. This is literally going state by state and coming up with a plan in each."

Clinton's June and July ad buy comes as a reward for her months of fundraising. In May, she raised $27 million in primary election money that must be used before she accepts her party's nomination at the convention in late July.

Trump is playing catch-up. He did not begin raising money in earnest until May 25, having largely financed his primary bid through personal loans to his campaign.

Clinton's campaign is spending about $23 million on ads before the convention, according to advertising tracker Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group.

But those voters are also hearing from Priorities USA, a super political action committee financed by millions of dollars from Clinton's staunchest supporters. The goal of that $18.7 million batch of ads: cast Trump as a con man and bully unprepared to be commander in chief.

It's a strategy Democrats used successfully four years ago against Obama's GOP opponent, Mitt Romney.

Now, facing an opponent with higher negative ratings and a weaker political organization, Democrats are looking not only to retain the White House, but also to gain seats in Congress.

In the days after Clinton won the June 7 primaries in California, New Jersey and elsewhere, Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., lined up behind her.

Her primary rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, is expected to support Clinton eventually, though his supporters made clear Saturday in Chicago that they weren't yet going to give up.

Hundreds of Sanders supporters convened for a strategy session on ways to keep the movement going and to hold Clinton's feet to the fire on the issues that most concern them.

Their greatest leverage, attendees said, is that Clinton would need them in a close race against Trump.

"The Democratic Party has to take a step toward our side, they have to include us," said Mark Manning, an attendee from Sarasota, Fla.

Trump, who has belittled the need for endorsements, has signaled a willingness to go it alone if he believes the Republican leadership is undermining him.

However, Trump said at a rally in Las Vegas on Saturday that "it would be helpful" if fellow Republicans would rally around him.

Trump has struggled to win over much of his party's establishment. Many top Republicans, including Romney and past presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, do not plan to attend the party convention in July. Others refuse to answer questions about their nominee.

"Donald Trump has people hiding under rocks, hoping he doesn't know where they are," said New York Rep. Steve Israel, a Clinton supporter and former chairman of the House Democrats' campaign arm.

At New Hampshire Democrats' annual convention on Saturday, Warren, long a vocal critic of Trump, called him a "thin-skinned racist bully" who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the White House.

"Every day we learn more about him, and every day it becomes clearer that he is just a small, insecure moneygrubber who doesn't care about anyone or anything that doesn't have the Trump name splashed all over it," Warren said.

Trump has taken to sarcastically calling Warren "Pocahontas." In 2012, the former Harvard Law School professor came under fire when it emerged that during her academic career she identified herself as a minority, citing American Indian roots.

After members of Navajo Nation expressed concerns over Trump's nickname for Warren, Navajo officials said Friday that a meeting with Trump was not going to happen during his trip out west.

Elsewhere Saturday, a gathering of activists in Phoenix urged Democratic leaders to ensure that the party platform protects voter rights, advocates equality for women and recommends reducing the role of money in politics.

The final day of the Democratic National Convention Committee's forum centered on how to attract supporters and appeal to their interests.

Information for this article was contributed by Lisa Lerer, Julie Bykowicz, Jonathan Lemire, Jill Colvin, Michelle Rindels, Kathleen Ronayne and Jacques Billeaud of The Associated Press; by Jenna Johnson, Eva Ruth Moravec and Sean Sullivan of The Washington Post; and by William Douglas of Tribune News Service.

A Section on 06/19/2016