Chicago Tribune - 24.02.2020

14 Chicago Tribune|Section 1|Monday, February 24, 2020 D

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SPARTANBURG, S.C. —

Billionaires are the consis-

tent villains in Bernie Sand-

ers’ campaign narrative. He

rails against what he per-

ceives as the undue influ-

ence their wealth wields

and how that contributes to

the yawning inequalities of

American life.

His criticisms are un-

sparing, and his most recent

target is Mike Bloomberg, a

rival for the Democratic

presidential nomination

and one of the world’s

richest people.

But another billionaire in

the race, Tom Steyer, has

largely escaped Sanders’

wrath. And perhaps with

good reason: It could well

be Steyer who helps propel

Sanders to success in the

crucial state of South Car-

olina.

Steyer’s aggressive

courtship of black voters in

the state, coupled with tens

of millions of dollars in

advertising, has put him in a

surprisingly strong position

that could siphon support

from former Vice President

Joe Biden. That would cre-

ate a lane for Sanders that

undercuts Biden’s case that

South Carolina will be his

electoral firewall.

Over the past few weeks,

Steyer has largely had South

Carolina to himself, as the

most of the other candi-

dates focused on New

Hampshire and Nevada.

Most of the field, including

Biden and Sanders, at-

tended a march and rally in

Columbia on Martin Luther

King Jr. Day. Sanders hasn’t

returned since, and Biden

made a brief, last-minute

stop the night of the New

Hampshire primary.

Early polls showed Biden

with a commanding lead in

South Carolina, particularly

among the black voters who

make up as much as two-

thirds of its Democratic

electorate. Biden also has

compiled the most endorse-

ments from black lawmak-

ers and other officials.

Michael Bailey, a spokes-

man for the Democratic

Black Caucus of South Car-

olina, said Biden’s stout

presence may have led

some campaigns to think

they had no path to victory

in the state.

“A lot of the other candi-

dates assumed that Biden

had it wrapped up, so we’re

not going to put our re-

sources there. We’re going

to battle in other states and

try to make up,” Bailey said.

But Sanders has had a

presence in the state since

his previous campaign in

2016: an existing infrastruc-

ture from Our Revolution, a

super PAC that supports

him, providing a ready-

made organization.

Since launching his 2020

bid, Sanders has held cam-

paign events in rarely vis-

ited, lower-income commu-

nities and, as many candi-

dates have done, spoken in

black churches on Sundays.

“What I’ve come to

understand is that he’s

someone who fights social

injustice,” said state Rep.

Ivory Thigpen, an African

American legislator who is

backing Sanders. “And

fighting for social injustices

is in the DNA of African

Americans. My mama said a

long time ago, ‘real’ crosses

all barriers.”

Sanders is also getting

help from an unexpected

source: Republicans. Last

month, a group of GOP

leaders from South Caroli-

na’s upstate region an-

nounced a push to encour-

age fellow Republicans to

cross over and support

Sanders in the Democratic

primary. It was an effort to

boost the candidate they see

as the weakest general elec-

tion matchup with Presi-

dent Donald Trump.

But Sanders’ biggest help

may be Steyer’s money. He

has spent more than $

million on ads in the state

and has doled out more

than $300,000 to support

Democratic Parties at the

state and county levels, ac-

cording to his campaign,

and has also forged inroads

particularly in the black

community.

On Monday, a fifth mem-

ber of the Legislative Black

Caucus officially endorsed

Steyer. Two others, includ-

ing the caucus chair, are on

his campaign’s payroll as

senior advisers.

Some of that support,

said one longtime state law-

maker, can be seen as cut-

ting into Biden’s appeal to

moderate black voters, a

move that could be making

room for Sanders’ more

progressive backers.

“I think that he’s creating

space for others and nar-

rowing the lane,” said state

Sen. Gerald Malloy, an unaf-

filiated member of South

Carolina’s Legislative Black

Caucus. “Tom Steyer has

the willingness to reach out

to minority voters in ways

that other candidates can’t

or haven’t.”

For Bailey, Steyer’s candi-

dacy was garnering more

support than just from dis-

affected Biden supporters.

“I don’t think it’s just that

he’s taking votes away from

the vice president — he’s

taking votes from every-

body, and he’s bringing new

voters to the polls,” he said.

Some of Steyer’s efforts

have been unconventional.

His wife, Kat Taylor, re-

cently rented a home in

Columbia, where she has

hosted several open houses

and plans to use it as an East

Coast base of operations as

long as her husband is in the

presidential race.

“I’ve said from the begin-

ning, if you want to be a

Democratic candidate for

president, you’ve got to ap-

peal to everybody across the

country, and you’ve got to

appeal to the diverse Demo-

cratic Party coalition,”

Steyer said after a campaign

block party earlier this

month.

Steyer may give Sanders

a boost in crucial state

Billionaire could

help propel rival

to victory in SC

By Meg Kinnard

Associated Press

Billionaire Tom Steyer has largely escaped Sen. Bernie Sanders’ wrath in the race for the

Democratic presidential nomination. And perhaps with good reason.

MEG KINNARD/AP

SEOUL, South Korea —

South Korea’s president

said Sunday that he was

putting his country on its

highest alert for infectious

diseases and ordered offi-

cials to take “unprecedent-

ed, powerful” steps to fight a

soaring viral outbreak that

has infected more than 600

people in the country,

mostly in the last few days.

China also reported hun-

dreds of more infections for

a total of more than 77,000,

and Iran raised its death toll

from the virus to eight — the

highest toll outside of

China. While the number of

patients worldwide is in-

creasing, some virus clus-

ters have shown no link to

China and experts are strug-

gling to trace where those

clusters started.

The Iranian health min-

istry said there were 43

confirmed cases in Iran,

which did not report its first

case of the virus until

Wednesday.

Warning that China’s

virus epidemic is “still grim

and complex,” President Xi

Jinping called for more ef-

forts to stop the outbreak,

revive industry and prevent

the disease from disrupting

spring planting of crops.

South Korean President

Moon Jae-in said his gov-

ernment had decided to

increase its anti-virus alert

level by one notch to “Red,”

the highest level. The step

was last taken in 2009 to

guard against a novel in-

fluenza outbreak that killed

more than 260 people in

South Korea.

Under the highest alert

level, authorities can order

the temporary closure of

schools and reduce the op-

eration of public trans-

portation and flights to and

from South Korea.

Moon’s education min-

ister, Yoo Eun-hae, said later

Sunday that the new school

year for kindergartens, ele-

mentary, middle and high

schools in South Korea has

been put off until March 9.

Moon said that the out-

break “has reached a crucial

watershed,” and that the

next few days will be “criti-

cal.” “We shouldn’t be

bound by regulations and

hesitate to take unprece-

dented, powerful measures,”

he said.

Early Monday, South Ko-

rea reported 161 more cases

of the new virus, bringing its

total to 763. The country

didn’t report any new

deaths, leaving its total at six.

Also on Monday, main-

land China reported 409

new infections caused by the

virus and 150 new deaths.

In all, 2,592 people have

died in the country from

COVID-19, the disease

caused by the virus.

S. Korea: ‘Unprecedented’ steps necessary to fight virus

By Hyung-Jin Kim

Associated Press