Joe Biden has become the clear frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination in the United States.
- Delegates: Biden has won 642 pledged delegates against 566 for Bernie Sanders so far. 1,991 are needed to win the nomination outright.
- States: Biden won ten of the fourteen states that held primaries on “Super Tuesday” and he is polling in first place in Michigan, Mississippi and Missouri, which vote next Tuesday. Sanders is ahead in Washington state.
- Popular support: Biden’s national support has shot up from under 20 percent to an average of 34 percent since he won the South Carolina primary a week ago.
- Party support: Sixty more prominent Democrats have endorsed Biden in the wake of his South Carolina victory.
- Competitors: All other major candidates have quit, most recently Michael Bloomberg and Elizabeth Warren.
Sanders isn’t raising turnout
Sanders argues he can defeat Donald Trump by convincing more Americans to vote. A self-declared socialist may lose some swing voters by campaigning on nationalizing health insurance and raising middle-class taxes, but he can make up for it, Sanders argues, by mobilizing young and working voters.
It’s always seemed unwise to me to bet on potential voters rather than actual voters. Now that skepticism has been substantiated. Read more
Read more
- David Brooks argues Sanders is not a liberal Democrat. “He’s what replaces liberal Democrats.”
- Janan Ganesh hopes that after black and rural voters helped save Biden’s hide, “we can dispense with the idea that moderation is a narrowly elite taste.”
- Nicholas Grossman makes the centrist case for Sanders.
- Ezra Klein on Sanders’ biggest mistake: treating Democrats as the enemy.
- Tim Miller on Biden’s “silent majority”.
What’s next?
- March 3-10: Democrats abroad primary
- March 10: Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri and Washington primaries, North Dakota caucuses
- March 14: Northern Mariana Islands caucuses
- March 15: CNN debate in Phoenix