The EconomistFebruary 22nd 2020 271J
ill bidenwas in her element. A lifelong
teacher, even during her two terms as
Second Lady, she headlined an “Educators
for Biden” event in a modest Baptist church
in North Charleston. The smartly dressed,
mostly African-American crowd was on
the older side (it was mid-afternoon on a
weekday), as is Joe Biden’s support general-
ly. It felt less like a “getting to know you”
than a “nice to see you again” event. Rev
Bernard Brown, who said he had been “as-
sociated with” Mr Biden for a long time,
called the former vice-president “a man of
good character.” David Mack, a state repre-
sentative from Charleston, said the Bidens
had sent flowers after his mother died, just
a few weeks earlier. The afternoon’s biggest
applause was for a woman in the audience
who said she was “voting for Joe because
he’s an elder statesman. He’s been there.”
Being an elder statesman has not
turned out to be the advantage the Biden
campaign hoped. Mr Biden’s team has al-
ways seen South Carolina as his firewall. A
resounding victory in its primary on Febru-
ary 29th, courtesy of a Democratic elector-
ate that is majority-black, would protect
him from results in Iowa and New Hamp-
shire. South Carolina’s somewhat conser-
vative African-American Democrats, the
campaign thought, trust Mr Biden and ap-
preciate his fidelity to Barack Obama. That
argument, which treated black voters as
more monolithic than they are, looks less
plausible after drubbings in the first two
states and falling numbers in South Caroli-
na, where Mr Biden still leads but by less
than five points, compared with 20 points
at the start of the year.
The chief beneficiary of Mr Biden’s poll-
ing tumble, Mike Bloomberg, is not on the
ballot in South Carolina (he skipped the
four early states to focus on Super Tues-
day). But that does not mean South Caro-
linians are not thinking about his candida-
cy—and particularly about his record on
race. Many black voters seem less incensed
about stop and frisk than white progres-sives think they should be. The practice,
championed by Mr Bloomberg when he
was mayor of New York, of stopping peo-
ple, disproportionately young black and
brown men, in an attempt to cut gun crime
was found to be unconstitutional. Mr
Bloomberg defended the policy for too
long: for a data-nerd, he was reluctant to
acknowledge evidence of his mistake.
South Carolina’s Democratic electorate,
which is older and more churchgoing than
the Democratic average, seem not to find it
disqualifying. Clay Middleton, a major in
South Carolina’s army national guard who
previously held senior positions in the
campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Cory
Booker, expresses it this way: “I’m 38 years
old and there’s one or two things I wish I
hadn’t said or done. [Mr Bloomberg] is 78: I
would have a problem if he didn’t regret
some things. ...I’m not saying I would vote
for Bloomberg, but if I don’t it won’t be be-
cause of stop and frisk.”
Mr Bloomberg may not be on the ballot,
but a more mercenary version of his big-
spending strategy is being road-tested in
South Carolina—by Tom Steyer. The other
billionaire in the Democratic race has
spent nearly $19m in the state, building an
extensive field operation, hiring promi-
nent legislators as campaign advisers and
ensuring that virtually no South Carolinian
can open a web browser or mailbox with-
out seeing a Steyer ad. Jerry Govan, whoSouth Carolina’s Democratic primary
Twilight of the moderates
NORTH CHARLESTON
Centrists, plutocrats and a socialist scramble to capitalise on Joe Biden’s woes
United States
28 The Democratic debate
29 Presidential approval ratings
29 Peter Hotez, vaccine campaigner
30 Bankrupt Boy Scouts
32 Medicine and the law
32 Gentrification in Washington, DC
34 Lexington: The other war on migrantsAlso in this section