I had hoped to post after the South Carolina primary on Saturday, February 29th and before Super Tuesday yesterday. Alas, it didn’t happen.
The days since Super Tuesday are all about former Vice President Joe Biden. Before South Carolina many of us assumed his campaign was in trouble because he did poorly in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Nearly from the beginning of the 2020 campaign Democrats have had to choose between two lanes: mainstream and far left. Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren advocated dramatic changes in health care and higher education. They weren’t satisfied with the Affordable Care act and student loans: they wanted Medicare for all and student loan forgiveness. Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar, and Pete Buttigieg argued to continue the President Obama’s agenda. All candidates wished to defeat President Trump and reverse his xenophobia and his disrespect for his office. All candidates pledged to free immigrant children from cages and reverse the policy that demanded that political refugees return to dangerous and filthy conditions in Mexico.
I’m a Democrat in the mainstream lane. I’ve never felt comfortable with Bernie or Elizabeth but I wold have happily voted for anyone who ran against President Trump. That said, I’m thrilled with how well Joe has done since Saturday.
After Iowa and New Hampshire Joe needed not only a win in South Carolina, he needed a big win. He got it. He beat Bernie 48% to 20%. After his win opponents, Pete Buttigieg, and Amy Klobuchar exited the race. This was good news for Joe Biden as both of them endorsed him.
This gave him the momentum going into Super Tuesday and his victory moved him into the frontrunner. In the last few days Pete, Amy, Michael Bloomburg, and Elizabeth Warren have left the campaign. I appreciate their patriotism and their willingness to suspend their campaigns in favor of coalescing around one candidate who can beat President Trump.
The race for the Democratic nominee comes down to Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.
Next week: Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, and Washington.
Stay tuned.