Joe Biden's Big SC Win And What It Means For Super Tuesday – NPR, Npr.org

       

And she’s not the only one.

“I think this is a two-person race right now,” former Obama (Campaign Manager David Plouffe) said on MSNBC “There’s only two people I think are going to accept our party’s nomination. It’s either Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden.”

Wealthy venture capitalist Tom Steyer dropped out Saturday night, which might help Biden’s margins with black voters in the half a dozen states that have significant black Democratic populations Tuesday.

But it doesn’t look like any of the other candidates crowding the medium lane are getting out before then. Biden has to hope that moderate voters, who don’t want Sanders to be the nominee – and are thinking about casting their votes for former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg or Amy Klobuchar – reconsider and go with him.

2. Endorsements (can) still matter

   

Biden got the endorsement this week of South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, a Democratic leader in the House and the highest-ranking African American in Congress. He’s venerated among Democrats in South Carolina.

“My buddy Jim Clyburn,” Biden said during his victory speech, “you brought me back!”

Literally. He’s not joking, folks.

Half of South Carolina Democratic voters said Clyburn’s endorsement was an important factor in their vote – and Biden won them overwhelmingly, according to the exit polls conducted by Edison Research and sponsored by some of the major TV networks.

Clyburn endorsed Biden Wednesday, and % of voters said they made up their minds in just the last few days. Biden won them by a huge margin.

Do any other bold-faced names in key states come out for Biden ahead of Super Tuesday – when he needs them most?

3. Biden has to hope he doesn’t wind up too far behind on Super Tuesday

Biden will come out of Saturday with the most votes out of the first four contests and be very close to Sanders in the overall delegate count. So then why would Biden be the underdog on Super Tuesday?

A few reasons – he’s being badly outspent on the airwaves in the Super Tuesday states; he has fewer staffers organizing on the ground; and Sanders’ strength with Latinos.

            

                  

                

                  

Sanders is spending times what Biden is in Super Tuesday states – $ . 5 million to $ , , according to Advertising Analytics. To put that in context, Biden spent more on ads in South Carolina ($ 1 million) than across the 20 Super Tuesday states.

The most critical thing about Biden’s paltry Super Tuesday spending – he’s not competing on the airwaves in California. California is the crown jewel of Super Tuesday with delegates , 45% of all the delegates at stake Tuesday.

Biden needs money – a lot of it to have any hope of catching up to Sanders . Politico reported Saturday that Biden is gaining at least one major donor and a pro-Biden superPAC raised $ 2.5 million Thursday.

But it might be too late to make a real difference for Super Tuesday. Here’s this forehead-slapping nugget from the Politico piece:

“It was too late, by Friday, to create a TV ad and get it on the air, according to the PAC – and it remains unclear whether the help is coming too late for Biden’s campaign, which largely abandoned delegate-rich California , for example, in the run-up to Super Tuesday. ”

Latinos are a crucial voting bloc in California and Texas. If Sanders runs up the score with them Tuesday, he’s going to be tough to catch in the pledged-delegate race.

4. Sanders figures to do well on Super Tuesday, but he needs to do better with black voters to quiet the naysayers

            

    

    

        

                Bernie Sanders speaks during a campaign event in Massachusetts Friday. Massachusetts is one of the states that vote on Super Tuesday. On Saturday, Sanders was in another Super Tuesday state, Virginia.                                                                            Jessica Hill / AP                                                        hide caption             

            

    

    

                 Jessica Hill / AP              

    

    

        

Bernie Sanders speaks during a campaign event in Massachusetts Friday. Massachusetts is one of the states that vote on Super Tuesday. On Saturday, Sanders was in another Super Tuesday state, Virginia.

        

                         Jessica Hill / AP                           

       

If Biden needs to do better with Latinos and the white, working-class voters he also promised to do well with, then Sanders needs to do better with black voters.

In Nevada, Sanders ate into Biden’s margin with black voters, but that didn’t happen in South Carolina. As expected, African Americans were a significant portion of the electorate Saturday night – %. Biden won them by 45 points over Sanders, (% to) %.

With that kind of loss with black voters, “how can he legitimately be our nominee?” former South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges, a Biden supporter, said of Sanders on NPR Saturday.

Sanders has shown strength with younger black voters in polls, but Sanders did not turn out young voters or new voters in South Carolina. Just 20% of the electorate was under and just 27% were first-time voters.

Sanders is still in the driver’s seat for the nomination, but if he doesn’t do better with black voters on Super Tuesday, expect Hodges’ line to grow into a chorus with party stalwarts.

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