USA Today - 03.03.2020

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NEWS USA TODAY ❚ TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020 ❚ 3A


Klobuchar pitched herself as a mod-
erate with Midwestern appeal and the
political “grit.” She enjoyed a boomlet
after the New Hampshire primary,
where a surprise third-place finish
gave her a needed fundraising boost
and fresh political momentum. Klobu-
char said the New Hampshire results
showed she could beat expectations
and build a broad coalition, as she had
in her Senate races.
“I defied expectations, and I won.
And I have done it over and over again
in the reddest of red districts and the
bluest of blue districts,” she told sup-
porters in New Hampshire.
But her “Klomentum” seemed to
evaporate as quickly as it emerged. She
garnered only 3% of the vote in Satur-
day’s South Carolina primary, a result
that all but closed off her path to the
nomination.
Buttigieg, a former Navy intelligence
officer who served in Afghanistan, was
one of the few military veterans in the
race. He also offered academic creden-
tials as a Rhodes Scholar with degrees
from Harvard University and the
University of Oxford who speaks
multiple languages. And he inspired
unity and inclusiveness as an openly
gay candidate.
But after winning the Iowa caucus-
es, he found it difficult to gain traction
with younger voters and placed a dis-
appointing fourth Saturday in South
Carolina. In his departure speech
Sunday in South Bend, Buttigieg said
he would “do everything in my power to
ensure that we have a new Democratic
president come January.”
Klobuchar invested most of her time
and money in Iowa, where she finished
in fifth place, and New Hampshire,

Sanders has led polling averages in
the biggest prize of California: 415
delegates are up for grabs. The Ver-
mont senator, who held the most dele-
gates heading into Tuesday, tweeted
Monday that he doesn’t believe “we
will defeat Donald Trump with a
candidate like Joe Biden who support-
ed the Iraq War.”
But many moderate Democrats and
establishment party figures feared that
if Sanders, a Democratic socialist, won
the nomination, he wouldn’t be able to
attract the broad coalition the party
needs to beat Trump. Biden has
criticized Sanders’ plans such as
“Medicare for All” and erasing student
debt as too costly.
Another wild card is that former
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
will begin appearing on ballots Tues-
day after spending $539 million
through Thursday to blanket the coun-
try with advertising.
To combat Sanders’ grassroots cam-
paign and Bloomberg’s advertising, Bi-
den spent Monday collecting high-pro-
file endorsements, including former
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of
Nevada. Reid called Biden the “best
able” to defeat Trump.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler, who earli-
er endorsed Buttigieg, threw his sup-
port Monday behind Biden, saying “it’s
time for the party to consolidate.”
The twin departures of Klobuchar
and Buttigieg in less than 24 hours
offered Biden an opportunity to unite
moderate voters behind his candidacy.

where she snagged nearly 20% of the
vote.
But just a few days after the New
Hampshire primary, Klobuchar stum-
bled during an interview with
Telemundo when asked if she could
name the president of Mexico. “No,”
she responded in a lapse that came
back to haunt her during the pivotal
Feb. 18 Democratic debate.
And the New Hampshire bounce
was not enough to help her campaign
scale up as the race moved to Nevada
and South Carolina. She finished sixth
in the Nevada caucuses.
Klobuchar’s rivals, including Biden
and Sanders, were far better organized
in those two states. And they enjoyed
broader support among Latino and
African American voters, key constitu-
encies she was unable to win over.
Klobuchar, 59, has been the senior
U.S. senator from Minnesota since
2007 and is the state’s first female sen-
ator. She launched her campaign in the
middle of a snowstorm on the Missis-
sippi River shore.
“I don’t come from money,” Klobu-
char said as snow piled on the crowd.
“But what I do have is this: I have grit. I
have family. I have friends. I have
neighbors. I have all of you who are
willing to come out in the middle of the
winter, all of you who took the time to
watch us today from home, all of you
who are willing to stand up and say
people matter.”
Klobuchar cast herself as the best
alternative to liberals in the race, Sand-
ers and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, touting
her Midwestern roots and her ability to
work across the aisle to get things done
in the Senate.
Contributing: Rebecca Morin

Biden


Continued from Page 1A

Amy Klobuchar joins rivals Mike Bloomberg and Joe Biden at the Democratic debate in Las Vegas Feb. 19. AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

ers will make their presidential
choices, and a large number of dele-
gates is up for grabs.
On March 3, 14 states and one terri-
tory from across the country have pri-
mary elections: Alabama, Arkansas,
California, Colorado, Maine, Massa-
chusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina,
Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah,
Vermont, Virginia and American Sa-
moa. Voters in all Super Tuesday states
will participate in a primary, while
Democrats in American Samoa will
caucus. Democrats abroad also start
voting on Tuesday and can vote
through March 10.
We likely won’t have complete re-
sults that night, as polls close at vary-
ing times across time zones and larger
states like California likely will take
longer to tabulate results.

What is a delegate? What is a
superdelegate?

You’re likely hearing a lot about del-
egates, the race for delegates and who
is leading among national pledged del-
egates. But what does all that mean?
A pledged delegate is a person se-
lected to represent the interests of that
state’s voters at the Democratic Na-
tional Convention in July. Delegates
are awarded to states based on total
population, so the heavily populated
California has many more delegates
than a state like Utah.
Delegates are pledged to candidates
based on the results of the state’s cau-
cus or primary.
In addition, a certain number of so-

called “superdelegates” can vote for
whichever candidate they choose in
the case of a contested convention and
are not bound by the state electorate’s
choice. They are typically party leaders
and other elected officials.
In previous elections, superdele-
gates were able to cast their votes in the
first round at the convention, but they
will only do so if the first round doesn’t
bring a majority winner in 2020. The
new rule follows 2016 results when
superdelegates sided largely with Hil-
lary Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders.

How many delegates are there
and how many do you need to
win?

There are 3,979 pledged delegates
from all states and territories, and a
candidate needs 1,991 of them to win in
the first vote at the Democratic Nation-
al Convention.
There are an additional 771 super-
delegates, or automatic delegates, who
can vote for any candidate they choose
if the convention comes to a second
vote.

How many delegates are up for
grabs on March 3?

The reason Super Tuesday is so sig-
nificant is because there are 1,344 dele-
gates awarded out of the 14 states and
one territory to vote that day, or about
34% of all pledged delegates.

So what happens if a candidate
doesn’t earn the majority of
pledged delegates?

At the Nevada Democratic debate,
candidates were asked whether they
thought the Democrat with the most

delegates should automatically be
named the Democratic nominee if no
candidate reaches the 1,990 majority
required to secure the nomination.
Sanders was the only candidate to say
yes, arguing that it would be the “will of
the people.”
If no candidate reaches that thresh-
old at the nominating convention,
however, the Democratic Party could
be looking at what’s called a brokered
or contested convention, a scenario
that would likely mean heightened ten-
sions for a party split on how progres-
sive, or moderate, its nominee should
be.
In a brokered convention, super-
delegates come into play. If no candi-
date crosses the 1,991 threshold, the ad-
ditional 771 superdelegates get to vote
on the nominee. Those individuals
vote for whomever they choose, mean-
ing they could push one candidate over
the edge even if that candidate was not
leading in pledged delegates. Candi-
dates need a majority of the total –
pledged delegates plus superdelegates


  • to win the nomination.


Who is leading in polls so far in
each state?

So far, Vermont's Sanders has fared
well in primary challenges and polling,
but it’s still a relatively crowded field
and the vast majority of delegates are
still up for grabs. Super Tuesday will
also mark the official entrance of for-
mer New York City Mayor Mike Bloom-
berg, who will appear on ballots for the
first time.
Sanders leads in nine states where
there has been polling. No polling spe-
cifically about the Democratic primary
has been conducted in Alabama and
Tennessee during 2020.

Big day


Continued from Page 1A

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SANTA ANA, Calif. – Santa Ana po-
lice officers fatally shot an armed man
Sunday afternoon inside a Catholic
church, the Orange County Register re-
ported.
The shooting at the altar took place
shortly after the officers were flagged
down at 4:20 p.m. and told someone in-
side Immaculate Heart of Mary Church
had a gun, police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna
said.
The officers found the man with a
gun inside the church, and then the
shooting took place shortly thereafter,
Bertagna said.
The man ran outside with the gun
and collapsed on a nearby street, Ber-
tagna said. He was pronounced dead at
the scene.
“We understand he was distraught
over a relationship,” Bertagna told the
Register. “We’re not sure if that’s why he
was here.”
Police Chief David Valentin said wit-
nesses reported the man was distraught
and possibly suicidal; and it didn’t ap-
pear he was planning a mass shooting.
“It’s tragic, it really is. Any loss of life,
it’s tragic. In this circumstance, it’s a
place of worship,” Valentin said. “People
come here for comfort, spiritual healing,
support, so for this to happen here it’s
traumatic for everyone involved,”
Officers were told by people inside
the church, who had arrived for a 5 p.m.
service, that another person may have
been with the suspect. Officers
searched the church and a nearby
school, but by early Sunday evening had
not yet found another suspect, Bertagna
told the Register.
Police withheld the suspect’s name
pending notification of family.
Maria Roque, 39 of Santa Ana, a
member of the church, told the Register
that she, like the others, was surprised
to find out a shooting occurred. Friends
were in the library inside the church
when the shooting took place, but they
were all safe, she said.
“It’s scary to think we’re not even
safe here,” Roque said. “I’ve been com-
ing here since I was 16 years old.”


Police kill


armed man


at church in


California


ASSOCIATED PRESS


Santa Ana Police detectives stand by
the scene where an armed man was
shot Sunday afternoon by Santa Ana
police at Immaculate Heart of Mary
Church in Santa Ana, Calif.

LEONARD ORTIZ/AP

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