The Big Apple as a backdrop for Clinton's two-front battle is all the more resonant given that all three candidates have deep New York ties.
Trump is from Queens, and his real estate empire is headquartered in Manhattan (pictured below). Sanders, and his wife, Jane, grew up in Brooklyn. Clinton, who represented New York for eight years in the Senate, calls Chappaqua, a wealthy suburb of Manhattan, her primary home.
Clinton faces a somewhat tricky path in competing against both men simultaneously. While the former Secretary of State's campaign is eager to pivot to the November general election, aides are also mindful of not appearing, particularly to Sanders supporters, as if she believes she has clinched the nomination.
"It's a difficult balance to strike," said Bob Shrum, a veteran Democratic strategist. "She wants to pivot to the general, but she wants to do it without looking presumptuous about the primaries."
Aides also say, however, that targeting Trump energises the base and undermines Sanders by sending a signal to rank-and-file Democrats that she is prepared to take on Trump in the general election.
Clinton is bringing her own fighting style to the battle with these two native New Yorkers: Trump, a verbal brawler who has not spared Clinton the personal attacks that have characterised his approach to his rivals; and Sanders, a scrappy politician who is unafraid to level deep policy criticisms her way.
In her new TV ad, Clinton doesn't name Trump, and she brings a light-hearted touch to the critique.
"When some say we can solve America's problems by building walls, banning people based on their religion and turning against each other," she says in the ad, "well, this is New York, and we know better."
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the ad.
Clinton has directly criticised Sanders. In a speech in Harlem on Thursday, she dinged him for voting with the National Rifle Association, making foreign policy an "afterthought" and being a "single-issue candidate".
"My opponent and I share many of the same goals," Clinton said. "But some of his ideas for how to get there won't pass. Others just won't work because the numbers just don't add up."
Mostly, however, Clinton is following the same hyper-local strategy in New York that she used in Michigan, where she focused relentlessly on the Flint water crisis; Alabama and Missouri, where she campaigned against voter ID laws; Arkansas, where she criticised a religious freedom bill; and Illinois and West Virginia, where anti-union legislation has been in her crosshairs.
In New York, Clinton can go a step further and tout her own leadership and accomplishments while in the Senate - a strategy her aides hope will play well against both Sanders and, in particular, political novice Trump.
On Thursday, Clinton campaigned in the Westchester suburbs, where she waxed nostalgic about moving nearby in 1999, before launching her Senate career.
She also rapped Trump for his controversial remarks suggesting that women who seek illegal abortions should be punished - and took aim at Sanders for saying that the controversy was a distraction from the "serious" issues in the race.
"To me, it is a serious issue and this is a very serious discussion!" she said.
Clinton planned to be in Syracuse today, where she is expected to focus on manufacturing jobs that she has taken credit for helping to bring to upstate communities as a senator.
Sanders, too, has planned an aggressive campaign in New York to draw contrasts with Clinton, aides said - particularly on issues such as the contributions Clinton and supporting political action committees have received from Wall Street interests, the fossil fuel industry and lobbyists for the gun industry.
Jeff Weaver, Sanders' campaign manager, said there were a lot of reasons why Sanders should be appealing in the Empire State.
"People in New York appreciate authenticity, and they like a real fighter," Weaver said. "We are 100 per cent committed to contesting New York."
As Sanders attempts to catch Clinton in the race for the nomination, a lot is at stake in New York's April 20 contest, which offers 247 pledged delegates, the largest trove aside from California between now and the Democratic convention.
The race is a homecoming of sorts for Sanders, who was born and raised in Brooklyn before he launched a political career in Vermont. The Sanders campaign recently opened its statewide headquarters in the borough minutes from Clinton's headquarters.
Voters can expect to hear a lot about Sanders' humble roots in Brooklyn. During a swing through New York last month, he walked in his old neighbourhood with CBS news anchor Scott Pelley and wondered if he could get into the old "three-and-a-half room, rent-controlled" apartment where he grew up. It turned out the apartment was vacant and being painted, and the painters let him in.
"God, I can't believe how small it is," Sanders said. "When you were a kid, it looked so big."
Sanders had a large rally yesterday in the Bronx, where guests included actress Rosario Dawson, director Spike Lee and Residente, a Puerto Rican singer and founder of the popular alternative rap group Calle 13.
Weaver, however, argued that the bigger burden is on Clinton to show she can carry New York by a comfortable margin, given that it is her adopted home state and she represented New Yorkers in the Senate for two terms.
"We've got to do well in New York, obviously, but she has to do really well in New York," Weaver asserted.
Weaver said Sanders' campaign has a plan to catch Clinton in pledged delegates that does not require an outright win in New York. He did not provide details, though aides have previously acknowledged that he needs to win California and win it by a large margin.
Sanders faces that added challenge that he will not be able to count on independent voters - who have broken for him in previous contests - in the New York primary, which is closed to Democrats only.
Clinton has the advantage of a long track record in the state, especially on economic issues, her advisers say.
"If you look at her record in the Senate, that's an important part of her story that we haven't talked about," said Clinton adviser Karen Finney.
"There's a lot of talk about the 90s, and not a lot of talk about what she did when she actually had a vote."
Already, Clinton has deployed New York's political heavyweights, including Senator Chuck Schumer and congressman Charlie Rangel, to amplify her case to voters - and her attacks on Sanders.
As Clinton and Rangel campaigned at a Harlem bakery, Rangel praised Sanders for calling attention to the "immoral and illegal" levels of income inequality in America.
"Bernie Sanders has always been there for social justice and no one can challenge that, it's just that Hillary Clinton has done something about it."
-Bloomberg
