Resurgent Biden makes push to deny Super Tuesday breakthrough for Sanders

[webfact]

Resurgent Biden makes push to deny Super Tuesday breakthrough for Sanders

By Trevor Hunnicutt

 

Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders rallies with supporters in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S. March 2, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday took his resurgent campaign to California in a last-minute push to blunt front-runner Bernie Sanders' momentum as Americans voted in the largest round of state nominating contests.

 

California, the most populous state, is a tantalizing prize in the Super Tuesday elections in 14 states that are the first national test for candidates seeking the Democratic nomination to face Republican President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election.

 

Biden, who is aiming to muscle aside upstart Michael Bloomberg and consolidate support from moderates, has been re-energized since a blowout win in South Carolina on Saturday, and polls show him gaining on Sanders in some states.

 

While campaigning in a diner in Oakland, Calif., Biden told a voter that "hopes are high" of him meeting the 15% threshold needed to collect delegates in liberal California. Failure to do so could cement Sanders' lead in the race.

 

(Get all the Super Tuesday action: https://www.reuters.com/live-events/super-tuesday-id2923975)

 

Sanders, a democratic socialist and U.S. senator who has vowed to make the wealthy and corporations assume a heavier tax burden, is hoping progressives, Latinos and young voters put enough wind in his sails to make his second bid for the Democratic nomination successful.

 

Senator Bernie Sanders was in Burlington, Vermont to cast a vote for himself on Super Tuesday, as he battles to maintain his lead in the democratic nomination.

 

He has heavily outspent Biden on ads and in building a campaign organization in the Golden State, where 415 delegates will be awarded. At least 1,991 delegates are needed to become the nominee at the party's convention in July.

 

The rush of primary elections on Tuesday, in which one-third of the delegates are up for grabs, may provide some clarity in a muddled race that has seen several candidates rise and fall, leaving many Democratic voters torn and uncertain.

 

But Biden, who was President Barack Obama's vice president, has emerged as a top threat since his South Carolina win opened the floodgates on endorsements from Democratic officials worried that Sanders' proposals to restructure the economy would doom the party's prospects in November.

 

Biden is trying to thread the needle between progressive Democrats' desire for big structural change in the nation and moderates' yearning for a candidate who will be able to win over enough independents and Republicans to oust Trump.

 

That effort gained fresh momentum on the eve of Tuesday's voting as moderate presidential rivals Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, endorsed Biden after withdrawing from the race.

 

U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful told reporters in Miami on Tuesday that he didn't think any candidate would likely win enough delegates to secure the nomination outright and that therefor a winner would be decided at the party's convention.

 

Leslie Cohen, a retired teacher in Sacramento, California, said she had planned to support Buttigieg but would now vote for Biden.

 

"Once he dropped out and Amy Klobuchar dropped out, my decision was made because I don’t want Bernie Sanders. I don’t think he can beat Trump,” Cohen said.

 

SIPHONING VOTES

Biden's goal on Tuesday will be to stay within reach of Sanders in the delegate count, giving him a chance to make up ground as the campaign possibly becomes a two-candidate race.

 

Tennessee is one of the states where Biden hopes to do well on Tuesday. A powerful, killer tornado https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-weather/two-people-killed-around-40-buildings-destroyed-by-tornado-in-nashville-idUSKBN20Q10F in the Nashville area delayed the opening of polls there by an hour, and forced officials to relocate some polling locations.

 

Bloomberg, the billionaire former New York mayor, remains a wild card as he joins the competition for the first time. The moderate skipped the first four contests and spent more than $500 million of his own money to bombard Super Tuesday and later voting states with ads, but has seen his poll numbers slip after a poor first debate.

 

Asked by a reporter in Miami if he thought he risked spoiling Biden’s chances of winning the nomination, Bloomberg responded: “You think I’m going to siphon (votes) from him? He’s siphoning them from me."

 

Jeff Sunderland, 39, of Arlington, Virginia, said he voted for Sanders because he believes more needs to be done to improve the plight of workers. “I think that the working people of this country deserve better from our government," he said.

 

Senator Elizabeth Warren, who was briefly the front-runner in the race last year, also remains in the hunt and hopes to score a victory in her home state of Massachusetts. Opinion polls show her trailing in other states.

 

The pace of the Democratic race begins to accelerate after Super Tuesday, with 11 more states voting by the end of March. By then, nearly two-thirds of the delegates will have been allotted.

 

Voting on Tuesday was taking place against the backdrop of an escalating political and economic crisis over the global outbreak of the coronavirus, which has infected some 90,000 people worldwide and killed more than 3,000, mostly in China.

 

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by half a percentage point on Tuesday in an emergency move to shield the world's largest economy from the fallout.

 

SANDERS LEAD

Sanders headed into Tuesday with 60 delegates to Biden's 54 in the state-by-state nominating fight. Sanders managed a virtual tie with Buttigieg in Iowa and wins in New Hampshire and Nevada.

 

Besides leading in polls in California, Sanders also is ahead of Biden by a smaller margin in polls in Texas, the second-biggest prize. Sanders' strength with Hispanics should pay dividends in that state, where Latinos comprise one-third of the Democratic electorate.

 

Biden, whose South Carolina win affirmed his popularity with black voters, hopes to win five states where African Americans make up at least a quarter of the Democratic electorate: Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Arkansas.

 

Other states voting on Tuesday are Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Utah. The U.S. territory of American Samoa was holding a caucus contest, and Democrats living abroad began voting in a primary set to continue until March 10.

 

The first polls will close in Vermont and Virginia at 7 p.m. EST (midnight GMT). The last will close in California at 8 p.m. PST (0400 GMT Wednesday).

The next contests on March 10 will be in Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota and Washington state.

 

(Reporting by John Whitesides, Jarrett Renshaw, Ginger Gibson, Doina Chiacu, Sharon Bernstein, Trevor Hunnicut and Zachary Fagenson; Writing by Paul Simao; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Alistair Bell)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-04

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[Tug]

Good I hope he is successful as much as I personally like old Bernie we simply can’t afford him we very well may be drifting towards single payer health insurance but imo we aren’t there yet and can’t afford it 

[Cryingdick]

Hopefully Warren gets slaughtered in Massachusetts polls are about to close. I would like to see it thinned down to Bernie and Biden tonight.

[lannarebirth]

2 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

Hopefully Warren gets slaughtered in Massachusetts polls are about to close. I would like to see it thinned down to Bernie and Biden tonight.

She may pull it out but I hate to see duplicity rewarded. I hope she gets primaried in her next senatorial campaign.

[Cryingdick]

10 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

She may pull it out but I hate to see duplicity rewarded. I hope she gets primaried in her next senatorial campaign.

 

Her only function is to take delegates from Bernie.

[lannarebirth]

7 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

Her only function is to take delegates from Bernie.

 

Who can forget her squeezing herself into the frame of every Bernie photo in 2016. No endorsement then, but she used him to astroturf her own faux progressive mystic. Even a Buttigieg or a Bloomberg has higher ethics than that.

[Cryingdick]

21 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

 

Who can forget her squeezing herself into the frame of every Bernie photo in 2016. No endorsement then, but she used him to astroturf her own faux progressive mystic. Even a Buttigieg or a Bloomberg has higher ethics than that.

 

She appears to be done. Third in her home state so far. Spoke too soon didn't realize the count was so low.

Edited March 4, 2020 by Cryingdick

[bkkatl]

Having only voted libertarian since 2008 as a disgruntled Republican I can safely say that if it comes down to Trump or Bernie, I'd throw my libertarianism out the window and vote for Bernie. But if it's Joe the Pro I'll be punching my ballot for a third party again. Albeit the libertarian nominees are the worst they've been in a while. 

[Jingthing]

48 minutes ago, bkkatl said:

Having only voted libertarian since 2008 as a disgruntled Republican I can safely say that if it comes down to Trump or Bernie, I'd throw my libertarianism out the window and vote for Bernie. But if it's Joe the Pro I'll be punching my ballot for a third party again. Albeit the libertarian nominees are the worst they've been in a while. 

So in effect rather than vote for Biden you'd be helping 45.

 

Tsk

Tsk

[Saint Nick]

Said it before, saying it again: if Bernie isn't the candidate, the Democrats can kiss the election goodbye and the world is in for another 4 years of fascism in the making!

Trump will mop the floor with Biden on so may issues, Bloomberg is a big bunch of dollar- funded nothing!

All Trump's got on Bernie is "socialism, marxism, communism" and that has been tried for decades, making Sanders the most popular politician in the USA...by a mile!

 

[lannarebirth]

Joe could wrap up the primaries, the convention and the general this week if he named Andrew Yang as his VP choice. It would immediately close the generational divide the Democrats are experiencing and take the wind out of Bernie's sails. He would have to adopt some of Yang's democratic reform proposals and at least pay lipservice to his UBI proposal to the extent he agrees to run some pilot programs. Yang is the future of politics, it would be smart to get him onboard. He will not join a ticket because of personal ambition however. Biden would have to embrace some of his policies. Shouldn't be that hard. Almost every one of them is a gem.

[earlinclaifornia]

1 hour ago, lannarebirth said:

Joe could wrap up the primaries, the convention and the general this week if he named Andrew Yang as his VP choice. It would immediately close the generational divide the Democrats are experiencing and take the wind out of Bernie's sails. He would have to adopt some of Yang's democratic reform proposals and at least pay lipservice to his UBI proposal to the extent he agrees to run some pilot programs. Yang is the future of politics, it would be smart to get him onboard. He will not join a ticket because of personal ambition however. Biden would have to embrace some of his policies. Shouldn't be that hard. Almost every one of them is a gem.

Interesting Yang won every debate he participated in

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, Saint Nick said:

Said it before, saying it again: if Bernie isn't the candidate, the Democrats can kiss the election goodbye and the world is in for another 4 years of fascism in the making!

Trump will mop the floor with Biden on so may issues, Bloomberg is a big bunch of dollar- funded nothing!

All Trump's got on Bernie is "socialism, marxism, communism" and that has been tried for decades, making Sanders the most popular politician in the USA...by a mile!

 

The majority of democratic voters disagree with you. They think Biden is a much safer bet than Bernie to beat 45.

 

Biden will be our nominee. 

 

We will see whether you are right or the majority of democrats are right in November. 

 

I totally agree though that this is about beating American fascism and saving the USA from the authoritarian demagogue in the white house. 

 

Incredibly high stakes indeed. 

 

Of course even if Biden wins it doesn't automatically follow that 45 will leave. 

 

Leaving for him means exposure to criminal prosecution and prison. 

Edited March 4, 2020 by Jingthing

[lannarebirth]

3 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

The majority of democratic voters disagree with you. They think Biden is a much safer bet than Bernie to beat 45.

 

Biden will be our nominee. 

 

We will see whether you are right or the majority of democrats are right in November. 

 

I totally agree though that this is about beating American fascism and saving the USA from the authoritarian demagogue in the white house. 

 

Incredibly high stakes indeed. 

 

Of course even if Biden wins it doesn't automatically follow that 45 will leave. 

 

Leaving for him means exposure to criminal prosecution and prison. 

 

Biden will probably use Bloomberg's money, staff, offices and data clearinghouse which are all paid through November. All of which are said to be the best ever assembled. Do you find that bothersome at all?  What did Dylan say?    "In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand at the mongrel dogs who teach. Fearing not that I'd become my enemy in the instant that I preach".

[Nigel Garvie]

1 hour ago, Saint Nick said:

Said it before, saying it again: if Bernie isn't the candidate, the Democrats can kiss the election goodbye and the world is in for another 4 years of fascism in the making!

Trump will mop the floor with Biden on so may issues, Bloomberg is a big bunch of dollar- funded nothing!

All Trump's got on Bernie is "socialism, marxism, communism" and that has been tried for decades, making Sanders the most popular politician in the USA...by a mile!

 

You have heard of Jeremy Corbyn? Tried to take a left wing platform to the ordinary voter and got hammered. His manifesto made so many promises of freebies that no one believed him. Whilst I still think Warren is the real deal what would a Scot know, she's out of it anyway. What I can't stomach is the ugly bitterness of Bernie supporters towards her.  She is not a Bernie clone, she has many excellent and well argued ideas, of her own. So many Bernie supporters remind me of the brain free youth in Momentum. The Labour Party leaders spent so much of their energy purging anyone in their own party who didn't believe that Jeremy was the messiah, that they forgot that the Tories existed, it just looks so similar in the US.

 

Kindly take on board, Bernie is not the messiah. (But not a very naughty boy either - I will grant you)

 

Anyone who can beat Trump, the worst President the US have ever had by a country mile, should be supported. 

[Nigel Garvie]

11 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

 

Biden will probably use Bloomberg's money, staff, offices and data clearinghouse which are all paid through November. All of which are said to be the best ever assembled. Do you find that bothersome at all?  What did Dylan say?    "In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand at the mongrel dogs who teach. Fearing not that I'd become my enemy in the instant that I preach".

"Equality I spoke the word, as if a wedding vow" ah but I was so impassioned then, I'm wiser than that now. (Excuse the changed wording).

 

We live in a world where now our deadliest enemies are hatred and populism. So many European populist leaders have been funded by Putin, and surely 45 as well. Both Trump and Putin love their corrupt dictators - so easy to control. If in reality Biden stands a better chance of beating Trump then we have to accept that the excellent policies of Bernie will have to wait. By little steps are great things achieved.

[Saint Nick]

3 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

You do not get it. 

This isn't a wonky policy issues election. 

It's almost all about a referendum on 45 and whether Americans want to endorse or reject a president that has proven himself to be a fully realized authoritarian demagogue. 

That is a very sad statement and I hope you are wrong!

[Jingthing]

11 minutes ago, Saint Nick said:

That is a very sad statement and I hope you are wrong!

I see you say you aren't American so I will share with you that It's a fact that when incumbents run for reelection it's always mostly about a referendum on the incumbent. Also the incumbent is always automatically favored because of both money and the bully pulpit of the presidency. In 45s case the word bully couldn't be more apt. 

 

So I'm not saying anything much different than whatever is already known about all presidential elections with incumbents. 

 

Democrats clearly have a consensus now that uniting behind Biden regardless of his obvious flaws is a better bet than Bernie. 

 

Some reasons? 

 

Other than his obvious problem of self labeling as a socialist consider these facts

 

Bernie has low appeal with African Americans 

 

Bernie has low appeal with suburban women 

 

Bernie has massive appeal with younger voters but guess what they turn out to vote very poorly! 

 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2020 by Jingthing

[lannarebirth]

1 minute ago, Nigel Garvie said:

"Equality I spoke the word, as if a wedding vow" ah but I was so impassioned then, I'm wiser than that now. (Excuse the changed wording).

 

We live in a world where now our deadliest enemies are hatred and populism. So many European populist leaders have been funded by Putin, and surely 45 as well. Both Trump and Putin love their corrupt dictators - so easy to control. If in reality Biden stands a better chance of beating Trump then we have to accept that the excellent policies of Bernie will have to wait. By little steps are great things achieved.

 

It took 40 years to climb down into this hole. I expect it will take a while to find our way out. Taking the charitable view on Trump, he is at the very least an agent of change. "The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves."

[Thomas J]

7 minutes ago, Nigel Garvie said:

So many European populist leaders have been funded by Putin,

Nigel Garvie, 

 

Where thin air did you pull this statement out of.  Russia can't afford anything.  Russia has a GDP per capita that ranks 61st in the world.  Less than such economic "powers" as Poland, Malysia, and Greece. 

[BobBKK]

Sanders might have some great ideas but remember Corbyn?  people get to the actual day of voting and just cannot stomach voting such radicalism in. I think it's likely to be Biden with maybe Warren or Klobuchar as running mate.

Edited March 4, 2020 by BobBKK

[Nigel Garvie]

2 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

Nigel Garvie, 

 

Where thin air did you pull this statement out of.  Russia can't afford anything.  Russia has a GDP per capita that ranks 61st in the world.  Less than such economic "powers" as Poland, Malysia, and Greece. 

You should ask where Aaron Banks/Farage, Salvatori, Orban, and Le Pen got their unaccounted for funds from, Guatemala maybe.

[zydeco]

1 hour ago, BobBKK said:

Sanders might have some great ideas but remember Corbyn?  people get to the actual day of voting and just cannot stomach voting such radicalism in. I think it's likely to be Biden with maybe Warren or Klobuchar as running mate.

Joe Biden will never run as the nominee.  He is nothing more than a wrecking ball against Sanders. I expect that once he has amassed all his delegates that we'll hear of him retiring from the race because of a recent diagnosis of dementia. The party establishment then might then think about putting up one of their insiders, someone we haven't even had in the public spotlight.  Personally, I hope Warren sticks around, because she just might be able to pick up the pieces at the convention after mush brain quits.

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and the replies have been removed as this topic is not about health care. 

 

 

A post commenting on moderation has now been removed. 

Edited March 4, 2020 by metisdead

[Misty]

32 minutes ago, zydeco said:

 I expect that once he has amassed all his delegates that we'll hear of him retiring from the race because of a recent diagnosis of dementia. T

Do you have any evidence of this, or is it just wishful thinking?

[Jingthing]

You say you want a revolution? 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/03/sanders-revolution-has-stalled/

 

The Sanders revolution has stalled

 

A funny thing happened on the way to the revolution.

[zydeco]

1 minute ago, Misty said:

Do you have any evidence of this, or is it just wishful thinking?

The "evidence" is Biden's incoherent and rambling campaign speeches and interviews. Do I wish my nomination scenario to be the case? Yes, I do. Why? Because Biden will be annihilated by Trump in any debate. And I don't want Trump back. 

[Baerboxer]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

The majority of democratic voters disagree with you. They think Biden is a much safer bet than Bernie to beat 45.

 

Biden will be our nominee. 

 

We will see whether you are right or the majority of democrats are right in November. 

 

I totally agree though that this is about beating American fascism and saving the USA from the authoritarian demagogue in the white house. 

 

Incredibly high stakes indeed. 

 

Of course even if Biden wins it doesn't automatically follow that 45 will leave. 

 

Leaving for him means exposure to criminal prosecution and prison. 

 

Ah I see, Bring on the Tangerine Democrat to take on the Orange Republican.

 

Both make Reagan look like Einstein now! 

 

Just what the world needs - neither of them!

[Stargeezr]

Bloomberg, Warren, or Biden are the 3 who I think, have any chance at all to go

against Trump.  Sanders is just too far left for most people. My opinion, anyway.

Geezer

[Baerboxer]

1 hour ago, Nigel Garvie said:

You should ask where Aaron Banks/Farage, Salvatori, Orban, and Le Pen got their unaccounted for funds from, Guatemala maybe.

 

All a worldwide plot funded by those naughty Russians.

 

Good job we've got the CIA to thwart them for the free world. ????