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World

The center holds: Biden thrives on Super Tuesday

4 March 2020

11:29 AM

4 March 2020

11:29 AM

Joe Biden doesn’t have the organization that Bernie Sanders has behind him. He doesn’t have the money that Michael Bloomberg has. But he does have ‘Joementum’ and that could be all that matters. It’s been more than enough for him on Super Tuesday so far.

Having had his campaign written off in almost all media quarters, Biden suddenly finds himself with the kind of ‘comeback narrative’ energy that wins elections. Bloomberg’s expensive experts can only look on jealously: Bloomberg has. Bernie Sanders had invested quite a lot of time and money in Virginia. But with Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar dropping out, it seems Biden has hovered up the vast majority of their support.

Moreover, Biden’s ability to win over a large majority of black voters is impressive – exit polls suggest that 60 percent plus of African Americans in Alabama, North Carolina and Virginia backed Biden. Like Bill Clinton, he has some connection to black voters that white people struggle to understand. It could be religion: Biden is a man of faith, Sanders is not. It could be that black voters are less interested in socialism and more interested in beating Donald Trump. It could be something else.


Biden may be sweeping the south, but as expected he’s be checked in Texas. But the Democrats’ winner-doesn’t-take-all delegate system means that his competitive showing could help him. The reforms that were meant to be make the race fairer after 2016 could end up hurting Sanders in 2020.

There are 99 delegates up for grabs in the Commonwealth of Virginia, where it appears Biden has benefited from the capitulation and endorsement of fellow so-called ‘moderate’ Democrats, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar. Ahead of the vote, he had led Sanders by 17.5 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.

Northern Virginia is home to a number of government employees, contractors and lobbyists, many of whom would baulk at the prospect of having to vote for a democratic socialist, while reviling President Trump.

Sanders has won his home state of Vermont and Colorado and is expected to do better as the results move west. But the Virginia result suggests that the nomination is still going to be a close contest.

Biden, meanwhile, has cruised to victory in Tennessee, Alabama and Oklahoma. July’s convention in Milwaukee is set to be a ruckus. Thank the Lord there’ll be plenty of beer.

See the full story of The center holds: Biden thrives on Super Tuesday on Spectator USA.

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