The Wall Street Journal - 04.03.2020

A4| Wednesday, March 4, 2020 PWLC101112HTGKRFAM123456789OIXX ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

U.S. NEWS

PATRICK SEMANSKY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Elizabeth Warren faces questions about her presidential campaign’s future after she lost her home state of Massachusetts.

Mr. Biden’s campaign was

boosted in recent days by the

endorsements of Ms. Klobuchar

and former Mayor Pete Butt-

igieg of South Bend, Ind., both

of whom exited the race in re-

cent days. Former Rep. Beto

O’Rourke of Texas, who left the

race in the fall, also endorsed

Mr. Biden.

Mr. Biden, who said he had

raised about $15 million in

three days, placed a new $1.

million in TV ads in Michigan,

Missouri and Mississippi, which

will hold contests later this

month.

Earlier Tuesday, Mr.

Bloomberg, who has spent

more than a half-billion dollars

of his own money on his cam-

paign, said he wasn’t planning

on dropping out, despite Mr.

Biden’s consolidating support

from the more centrist candi-

dates.

“Have you asked Joe

whether he’s going to drop

out?” Mr. Bloomberg said.

The former mayor had

poured more than $170 million

into advertising in Super Tues-

day states and spent tens of

millions more on an extensive

ground operation there.

The rallying behind Mr. Bi-

den and clearing of competitors

in the party’s moderate wing

played into the decision-making

of Jennifer Felix, a 51-year-old

real-estate agent from Alexan-

dria, Va.

At her polling place in the

city’s Old Town section, Ms. Fe-

lix said she voted for Mr. Biden

after seeing the party come to-

gether in recent days.

“I think Joe Biden has the

experience, and I’m looking

forward to who he picks as vice

president,” she said, noting

that she considered Ms. War-

ren and Mr. Sanders to be too

divisive.

Mr. Sanders’s economic

message appealed to other vot-

ers. In the Los Angeles neigh-

borhood of Mar Vista, Anya

McGrath said she voted for the

senator from Vermont because

she believed he was “more in

touch with people like me, mid-

dle America.”

“He speaks for underserved

people. I’m kind of all about

getting money out of the hands

of billionaires and getting it

back to the people,” said Ms.

McGrath, a 36-year-old pre-

school teacher.

One question that loomed

was the effect of early voting

on the outcome, with more

than 1.4 million Democratic

ballots in California and an-

other million in Texas having

been returned through the

weekend.

—Tarini Parti,

Eliza Collins

and Ken Thomas

contributed to this article.

pends on how many candidates
meet a 15% threshold.
Speaking at a rally in Ver-
mont ahead of the California
results, Mr. Sanders said he
was “cautiously optimistic”
about the state and noted he
was performing well in Texas.
“When we began this race,
everybody said it couldn’t be
done. But tonight I tell you
with absolute confidence, we’re
going to win the Democratic
nomination,” Mr. Sanders said.
Mr. Biden benefited from
the momentum his campaign
generated since his South Car-
olina victory on Saturday, exit
polls published by CNN
showed.
About half of Democratic
primary voters in Virginia and
Oklahoma said they made their
decision within the past few
days, and Mr. Biden won about
6 in 10 of those voters in both
states. Late-deciders repre-
sented a smaller proportion of
the vote in North Carolina and
Alabama, but he also had the
largest share of those voters
there.
“It’s a good night. It’s a good
night,” Mr. Biden said to cheers
at a rally in Los Angeles, add-
ing: “They don’t call it Super
Tuesday for nothing.”
He credited Ms. Klobuchar
for his win in her home state,
where exit polls showed about
half of Democratic primary vot-
ers made their decisions in the
last few days and the largest
share went for Mr. Biden.
Even before polls closed in
the Super Tuesday contests,
which were to allocate one-
third of the party’s pledged
delegates to the summer con-
vention, the remaining candi-
dates were already eyeing
other delegate-heavy contests
in the Midwest and South later
this month.
Ms. Warren and Mr.
Bloomberg, who was on the
ballot for the first time Tues-
day after skipping the states
that voted in February, faced
pressure to justify continuing
their presidential bids as
Messrs. Biden and Sanders ap-
peared to be pulling ahead.
Ahead of the results, Ms.
Warren and Mr. Bloomberg sig-
naled they didn’t think any
candidate could capture
enough delegates to win the
nomination outright, instead
viewing their path as coming
from a contested convention.

ContinuedfromPageOne

Biden,

Sanders

Post Wins

Early signs indicated that

Mr. Bloomberg’s big-spending

strategy hadn’t paid off in

some states, and an adviser

said he would be reassessing

his investment in the coming

days. For example, in Virginia,

the billionaire’s campaign

spent about $18 million—about

50 times as much as Mr. Biden

and his allies put in—on TV

and radio ads. A similar story

played out in North Carolina,

where Mr. Bloomberg spent

about $17 million to Mr. Biden’s

roughly $466,000.

Speaking to supporters late

Tuesday in West Palm Beach,

Fla., Mr. Bloomberg said, “No

matter how many delegates we

win tonight, we have done

something no one else thought

was possible. In just three

months, we’ve gone from just

1% in the polls to being a con-

tender for the Democratic

nomination.”

For her part, Ms. Warren

largely ignored Tuesday’s re-

sults in an appearance in De-

troit, sticking to her stump

speech. She was expected to

return to Massachusetts on

Wednesday with no public

events scheduled.

Mr. Sanders had a head-start

on collecting delegates and mo-

mentum by winning in New

Hampshire and Nevada and

achieving a virtual tie in Iowa,

and he painted the coalescing

around Mr. Biden as an effort

by the political establishment

to hamstring his candidacy.

March Onward

A further 1,091 delegates will be awarded this month, with more

than half coming March 17, when three of the largest states—Ohio,

Illinois and Florida—cast ballots.

April Swing

By the end of April, nearly 90% of all delegates will have been

handed out, with a large chunk decided on the 28th, when six

eastern states vote.

Final Stretch

The remaining 522 delegates are spread out from Guam to the Virgin

Islands, with the largest prize—New Jersey—awarding 126 delegates

on June 2, along with three other states and D.C.

March 10 (352 delegates):Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi,

Missouri, North Dakota, Washington;March 14 (6):Northern

Mariana Islands;March 17 (577):Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Ohio;

March 24 (105):Georgia;March 29 (51):Puerto Rico

April 4 (107 delegates):Alaska, Hawaii, Louisiana, Wyoming;

April 7 (84):Wisconsin;April 28 (663):Connecticut, Delaware,

Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island

May 2 (46 delegates):Guam, Kansas;May 5 (82):Indiana;

May 12 (57):Nebraska, West Virginia;May 19 (115):Kentucky,

Oregon;June 2 (215):D.C., Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico,

South Dakota;June 6 (7):Virgin Islands

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FEB MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE

Cumulative number of delegates

Through

Tuesday

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ofMarch

April28:

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June2:Contests

in4statesandD.C.

Next Round

Following Super Tuesday, the Democratic presidential primary moves on, with more than half of

convention delegates still to be awarded, including more than 1,000 up for grabs in March alone.

A look at where the race is headed over the next three months:

Sources: Associated Press; Democratic National Committee Brian McGill and Max Rust/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

LOS ANGELES—Joe Biden’s
Super Tuesday victories served
notice that his triumph in
South Carolina was no fluke
and could form the basis of a
competitive coalition of voters
in what is shaping up to be a
protracted fight with Bernie
Sanders.
The former vice president,
once staggered by losses in
Iowa and New
Hampshire,
stormed back
with wins in at least eight
states, including delegate-rich
North Carolina and Virginia.
Mr. Sanders triumphed in
California, the night’s biggest
delegate prize, as well as Colo-
rado, Utah and his home state
of Vermont, while Texas looked
too close to call. But Mr. Biden
captured Minnesota, a day af-
ter receiving the endorsement
of one-time rival Amy Klobu-
char, and Oklahoma—two
states that Mr. Sanders carried
in his 2016 campaign.
Super Tuesday served as a
disappointment for Michael
Bloomberg and Elizabeth War-
ren, who faced daunting ques-
tions about the futures of their
campaigns.
Mr. Bloomberg managed to
snatch victory in American Sa-
moa despite his freewheeling
campaign spending while Ms.
Warren lost her home state of
Massachusetts, trailing both
Mr. Biden and Mr. Sanders.
Here are the main take-
aways from Super Tuesday:

The Biden Coalition

Exit polls showed Mr. Biden

assembling a winning coalition

that included African-Ameri-

cans, suburban voters and

older voters, allowing him to

argue he could best unite the

party against President Trump.

Mr. Sanders performed well

with liberal voters and voters

under age 30, exit polls

showed, but his poor perfor-

mance in the South showed the

limits to his appeal with Afri-

can-Americans and moderate

voters. Mr. Biden was victori-

ous in Tennessee and Alabama,

and notched a win in Okla-

homa, despite never visiting

the state during his campaign.

About half of Democratic

voters in Virginia and Okla-

homa said they made their de-

cision within the past few days

and Mr. Biden won roughly 6 in

10 of those voters in both

states. Late deciders repre-

sented a smaller proportion of

the vote in North Carolina and

Alabama, but he also had the

largest share of those voters

there.

Sanders’s Setback

Mr. Sanders won three of

the first four early voting

states and showed strength

with Latino voters in Nevada,

liberals and young people.

But Mr. Biden’s comeback in

South Carolina exposed Mr.

Sanders’s struggles with black

voters and Tuesday’s results

raised questions about whether

the self-described democratic

socialist could garner broad

support in suburban regions

viewed as critical in the general

election against Mr. Trump, in-

cluding in Virginia near Wash-

ington, D.C., in Charlotte and

Minnesota’s Twin Cities.

Mr. Sanders demonstrated

staying power in California and

hoped to net a significant num-

ber of delegates from the state.

But Mr. Biden’s recent rise

has prevented Mr. Sanders

from building a significant

early delegate lead as some of

his advisers had hoped.

Momentum

After the nadirs of Iowa and

New Hampshire, Mr. Biden’s as-

cent has been rapid as moder-

ates in the party fear Mr. Sand-

ers leading the ticket.

On the eve of the primaries,

he racked up the endorsements

of former rivals Pete Buttigieg,

Amy Klobuchar and Beto

O’Rourke in Dallas. The coalesc-

ing around his candidacy fol-

lowed a pivotal endorsement by

South Carolina Rep. James Cly-

burn only days before the state’s

primary, a decision that helped

power Mr. Biden’s victory.

Even as the campaigns

awaited results in California

and Texas, Mr. Biden had built

a delegate lead over Mr. Sand-

ers with his string of victories,

making clear that he and Mr.

Sanders are likely to be en-

gaged in a lengthy battle for

the nomination.

Bloomberg or Bust

For a billionaire who has

long thrived on data, Mr.

Bloomberg couldn't have been

pleased with his Super Tuesday

return on investment. He spent

about $215 million in advertis-

ing in the 14 contests but was

on pace to only win in Ameri-

can Samoa.

Mr. Bloomberg was certain

to win delegates but Tuesday

showed he is unlikely to be-

come the main alternative to

Mr. Sanders even though he

tried to displace Mr. Biden dur-

ing the former vice president’s

struggles. Mr. Bloomberg cam-

paigned extensively in the

South, hoping to win over black

voters and others in states

such as North Carolina, Ala-

bama and Tennessee that

might otherwise be drawn to

Mr. Biden.

But Mr. Bloomberg lost ev-

ery Super Tuesday state in

which he competed and was

likely to encounter pressure to

drop out and devote his vast

resources and deep campaign

operation to help Mr. Biden.

Out at Home

Ms. Warren entered the

night searching for an elusive

first victory and facing a home-

state challenge from Mr. Sand-

ers. She appeared to come up

empty-handed on both counts.

Mr. Biden won the state and

Mr. Sanders, who staged rallies

in Boston and Springfield in

the days before the primary,

was also leading Ms. Warren in

Massachusetts, undercutting

her case that she could be-

come a consensus choice if

none of the candidates can

claim a majority of the dele-

gates by June.

She is projected to pick up

delegates, which could give her

leverage in a drawn-out fight

for the nomination. But the

promises of her campaign,

when she led some national

polls last fall, seem long ago.

BYKENTHOMAS

Momentum,

Coalitions Turn

Race Around

ANALYSIS