Americans were voting in 14 states on Tuesday with Joe Biden counting on a wave of endorsements by other moderate candidates to help blunt the momentum of leftist frontrunner Bernie Sanders and catapult him atop the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren were also on the ballot as voters from Maine to California trooped to the polls on Super Tuesday to decide who will face Donald Trump in November.
“Today’s the day!” tweeted Biden, the 77-year-old former vice president who is making his third bid for the White House. “Make sure to get out and vote.”
After disappointing finishes in the first three contests, Biden revived his flagging campaign with a landslide win in South Carolina on Saturday and is hoping the energy from that victory carries over into Super Tuesday.
A total of 1,357 delegates are at stake on Tuesday and Biden needs a good performance to prevent Sanders from taking a potentially insurmountable lead ahead of the next contests.
A candidate needs 1,991 delegates to win the nomination at the party convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July.
Biden’s hopes received a major boost on Monday when he received the endorsements of three of his defeated rivals for the nomination.
The Democratic establishment is desperate to unite around a centrist candidate who can triumph over Sanders, who they see as too far to the left to represent the party against Trump.
– ‘Highest compliment’ –
Pete Buttigieg, the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, threw his support behind Biden a day after quitting the race himself.
“I’m looking for a president who will draw out what is best in each of us,” Buttigieg said in Dallas, Texas, with the former vice president at his side.
Biden appeared reinvigorated by the support, and he repeatedly flashed his million-watt smile.
He emotionally compared Buttigieg to his son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015.
“The fact that he’s prepared to help me means a great deal to me,” Biden said of Buttigieg. “I don’t think I’ve ever done this before, but he reminds me of my son Beau.
“I know that may not mean much to most people but to me it’s the highest compliment I can give any man or woman.”
Biden also delivered a tough message intended to warn voters away from Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who has called for a “political revolution” in America.
“Most Americans don’t want the promise of a revolution,” Biden said. “They want results. They want a revival of decency, honor and character.”
Biden took the stage at another rally with Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who also endorsed him for president.
By endorsing Biden, Klobuchar could deprive Sanders of a large delegate claim in her home state of Minnesota on Tuesday.
“What’s really important to me is beating Donald Trump,” Klobuchar told CBS News on Tuesday. “I think Joe Biden is going to be a great president.
“I don’t think we should have a socialist heading up our ticket.”
– ‘Somebody who can beat Donald Trump’ –
Biden later introduced Beto O’Rourke, who made a big splash early in the Democratic race but then fizzled out. O’Rourke remains popular in Texas, the state with the largest delegate haul on Tuesday after California.
“We need somebody who can beat Donald Trump (and) in Joe Biden we have that man,” O’Rourke said, peppering his short speech with Spanish.
The trio of endorsements could be political gold for a resurgent Biden.
His campaign was on life support after Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, but he is suddenly the main challenger to Sanders on the biggest day of the primary campaign.
The former vice president to Barack Obama says his strength with blacks, Hispanics, women and suburbanites will show in the coming contests.
Bloomberg, who is competing with Biden for moderate voters, is appearing on the ballot for the first time after skipping the first four contests. He is hoping to make a splash on Super Tuesday with a lavish multi-state ad blitz.
“I’ve won three elections so far. I don’t plan to start losing now,” the former New York mayor said in Virginia on the eve of Super Tuesday.
Flush with money, an extensive organization, and momentum in the polls, Sanders has focused on multiple states including delegate-rich California, Tuesday’s biggest prize.
In Utah, he said there was “a massive effort” to stop his campaign.
“The corporate establishment is coming together, the political establishment is coming together,” he added. “They are really getting nervous.”
AFP