Big South Carolina win gives Joe Biden campaign new life; Super Tuesday looms
01 March, 2020
An outpouring of black voter support propelled Joe Biden to a convincing victory in South Carolina’s Democratic primary on Saturday, resurrecting his faltering White House bid and giving the previous vice chairman an opportunity to say he's the moderate alternative to front-runner Bernie Sanders.
The decisive win gives Biden a burst of momentum within the Democratic race to challenge Republican President Donald Trump, which broadens quickly with Super Tuesday primaries in 14 states in three days which will award one-third of the available national delegates.
It was the primary presidential primary win ever for Biden, who is making his third run at the White House.
He immediately took aim at Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont and self-described democratic socialist whose surging campaign and involves a political revolution have rattled a Democratic establishment worried he's too left to beat Trump in November.
"Democrats need a nominee who may be a Democrat," Biden told cheering supporters in Columbia, South Carolina, during a jab at Sanders. "Win big or lose, that is the choice. Most Americans don't need the promise of a revolution. they need quite promises they need results."
Biden beat Sanders among a good range of demographic and ideological groups, including those that said they were "very liberal," consistent with Edison Research exit polls. The polls showed Biden, vice chairman under former President Barack Obama, with 61% of African-American support to Sanders' 17%.
In the wake of his decisive victory, Biden was endorsed by Terry McAuliffe, a former governor of Virginia and ex-chair of the Democratic National Committee, and U.S. Representative Bobby Scott, an influential African-American lawmaker from Virginia – a possible sign the Democratic establishment was beginning to coalesce around his candidacy.
Biden must now hope a flurry of media attention and his name recognition will help him in Super Tuesday states, where Sanders' prolific fundraising has helped him build bigger organizations and broadcast much more advertisements. Sanders leads opinion polls in delegate-rich California, where 3 million early votes have already been cast.
Biden and every one of the opposite Democratic contenders also will face competition for the primary time on Super Tuesday from billionaire former ny Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has blanketed the country with half a billion dollars in advertising. Bloomberg skipped the primary four state primaries.
But a minimum of five states - Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Virginia - have big blocs of African-American voters that would helpBiden make a comeback.
Biden's dominance in South Carolina raised questions on the continued viability of most of the opposite contenders. Former South Bend , Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar all were well behind within the state and have dwindling chances to mount a comeback.
With 99% of the precincts reporting, Biden had 49% of the vote and Sanders was a foreign second with 20%, consistent with official state results. Billionaire activist Tom Steyer had 11% and every one of the opposite contenders were well behind with single digits.
Edison Research estimated 530,000 votes were cast within the Democratic primary, well before the 371,000 cast in 2016 and about an equivalent number as 2008.
STEYER DROPS OUT
As the vote count rolled in on Saturday night, Steyer, who had spent heavily in South Carolina to court African-American voters, ended his presidential bid because it emerged he was coming during a distant third.
Biden desperately needed a win after poor showings within the first two nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire and a runner-up finish in Nevada. He had viewed South Carolina, where his popularity among the state's big bloc of black voters proved decisive, as his firewall against disaster.
The resounding margin could slow the momentum of Sanders, who had grown stronger with each contest, finishing during a virtual tie for first in Iowa with Buttigieg, before notching wins in New Hampshire and Nevada.
"You cannot win all of them ," Sanders told supporters in Virginia Beach , Virginia. "This won't be the sole defeat. There are tons of states during this country and no-one wins all of them ."
Biden, a mainstream Democrat with decades of experience on the U.S. political stage, was powered in South Carolina by support from a broad range of voters, including men and ladies , black and white, middle-aged and old, those with and without college degrees, independent, liberal and conservative, exit polls showed.
The data showed Biden beating Sanders, who has touted his ability to bring out new voters, among those that were voting during a Democratic primary for the primary time.
Exit polls found about six of 10 of South Carolina voters said influential black congressman James Clyburn's endorsement of Biden on Wednesday was an element in their decision. Clyburn introduced Biden at his victory rally.
"My buddy Jim Clyburn, you brought me back!" Biden told the No. 3 House Democrat before addressing supporters.
Biden was projected to win a minimum of 32 of the 54 pledged delegates in South Carolina and Sanders 11, with more to be allocated. No other candidate was projected to possess won any delegates within the state. Heading into the first , Sanders had 54 delegates, Buttigieg 26 and Biden 15.
A candidate needs a minimum of 1,991 delegates to win the nomination outright at the party's convention in July.
Exit polls showed about half voters wanted a candidate who would return to Obama's policies, a key argument of Biden. Nearly eight of 10 voters in South Carolina said that they had a positive view of Biden, compared with five of 10 who saw rival Sanders favorably.
The polls also showed Buttigieg and Klobuchar, who had done relatively well in predominantly white Iowa and New Hampshire, had low single-digit support among black voters, raising questions on their path forward because the race moves into more diverse states in March.
Warren, who finished fifth with 7%, congratulated Biden on his victory at a rally in Houston but made clear that she would continue fighting for delegates.
"I’ll be the primary to mention that the primary four contests haven’t gone exactly as I’d hoped," she said, before urging supporters to donate to her campaign. "My campaign is made for the end of the day and that we are looking forward to those big contests."
Source: www.thejakartapost.com