Los Angeles Times - 24.02.2020

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twice as much of the vote,
solidifying his position as
the front-runner in the con-
test.
Pete Buttigieg’s cam-
paign has questioned some
of the results, saying its own
figures indicate the former
South Bend, Ind., mayor got
more votes than Biden.
For Biden, second would
be an improvement over his
fourth-place finish in the
Iowa caucuses and fifth-
place showing in the New
Hampshire primary, and he
cast the results as the begin-
ning of a comeback.
“You have in your hands
the power, unlike any time in
a long time, to determine
who the next Democratic
nominee will be,” he said
Sunday, speaking to the con-
gregation at Royal Mission-
ary Baptist Church in North
Charleston.
He added that he did not
take African American vot-
ers’ support for granted.
Some political figures
here believe Biden contin-
ues to have a shot in a state
where he was once the
undisputed leader.
“He’s moving up,” said
Clay Middleton, a South
Carolina political strategist
who advised New Jersey
Sen. Cory Booker’s unsuc-
cessful presidential cam-
paign. “However, he needs to
win the debate” when the
candidates confront each
other here Tuesday. “He has
to own that stage.”
None of the other top
contenders has quite as
much at stake in this state as
does Biden — a fact reflected
in their schedules, which
were heavy with appear-
ances in Super Tuesday
states, where several drew
large crowds.
Buttigieg made a brief
appearance here, then held
a town hall in northern Vir-
ginia. Sen. Elizabeth Warren
of Massachusetts held an
event in Denver with thou-
sands of supporters and
plans a rally in San Antonio
this week.
Sanders was already in
Texas when he celebrated
his Nevada triumph Sat-
urday night; he stayed there
Sunday for rallies in Hous-
ton and Austin.
In Houston, he largely ig-
nored Biden but sought to
rebut Democratic establish-
ment figures who worry he
would lose to President
Trump, reeling off a series of
polls showing him beating
Trump in key states.
Some people in the “cor-
porate media” get “agitated
and nervous,” he said. But
“we are gonna win here in
Texas, and in November we
are gonna defeat Trump
here.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar of
Minnesota spent Sunday in
North Dakota, which holds
caucuses March 10, before
traveling to Super Tuesday
states Oklahoma and Ar-
kansas.
The election is “about

taking back our country,”

she told an audience of sev-

eral hundred in Fargo, N.D.

“It’s about stopping the

mean tweets at 4 in the

morning and stopping the

drama.”

Biden’s campaign, by

contrast, has moved staff

from Super Tuesday states

to South Carolina. Even so,

they are outnumbered by

those working for some of his

principal rivals.

In South Carolina, Biden

is battling not just Sanders

but also billionaire Tom

Steyer, who has eclipsed ev-

eryone on air here, with

more than $13 million in

broadcast and digital ads,

and gone on a campaign

spending spree targeting

black voters, who make up

about 60% of the state’s

Democratic primary elec-

torate.

Steyer also spent heavily

in Nevada but ended up not

winning any delegates to the

nominating convention.

South Carolina is friendly

territory for Biden not only

because it is the first of the

early-voting states with a

large population of black

voters, a pillar of Biden’s po-

litical strength, but also be-

cause of long-standing ties

he has with the state’s politi-

cal leadership.

But Biden’s once-com-

manding lead in polls here

has seriously eroded — even

among black voters.

For most of 2019, polling

averages showed Biden with

a lead here of some 20 per-

centage points, but that

cushion has all but vanished.

A CBS/YouGov poll of the

state, released Sunday,

showed Biden leading with

28%, but Sanders close be-

hind, with 23%. Steyer had

18%, followed by Warren with

12%, Buttigieg with 10% and

Klobuchar with 4%. Michael

R. Bloomberg, the billion-

aire former New York mayor,

is not on the ballot. Steyer’s

showing in the poll qualified

him for Tuesday’s debate,

which will feature seven can-

didates.

Biden’s strength in South

Carolina among black vot-

ers is widely attributed to his

role as vice president to

Barack Obama, who re-

mains a hero to many.

At Sunday’s church serv-

ice, the senior pastor, Isaac

J. Holt Jr., praised Biden by

invoking Obama’s judg-

ment.

“Barack chose him out of

a long list of people he knew

to be his vice president. So

that goes a long way with

me,” he said.

And Biden sought to use

Obama’s legacy as a weapon

against Sanders, pointing to

a report in New York maga-

zine that Sanders had con-

sidered mounting a primary

challenge to Obama’s reelec-

tion in 2012.

“Bernie and I have real

disagreements on support

for Barack,” he said.

Sanders campaign man-

ager Faiz Shakir denied that

report, citing a 2011 interview

in which Sanders said he

was not planning a primary

challenge.

Beyond his support

among black voters, Biden

has other long-standing per-

sonal and political ties to the

state. He was close to late

South Carolina Sen. Ernest

“Fritz” Hollings, an iconic

political figure who intro-

duced him to political lead-

ers throughout the state.

Biden delivered the eulogy

at Hollings’ 2019 funeral.

In a tribute to Biden’s

roots in a more bipartisan

era that seems foreign to

many young Democrats to-

day, he also in 2003 gave a eu-

logy for Sen. Strom Thur-

mond, the former segre-

gationist Republican sen-

ator from South Carolina.

And for decades, Biden and

his family have vacationed in

South Carolina.

“It’s nothing to walk into

a restaurant in South Car-

olina and see Joe Biden, or to

go to church and see Joe Bid-

en,” Clyburn said. “He’s been

coming here for 20 years and

people know him.”

In an interview Sunday

on NBC’s “Meet the Press,”

Clyburn offered some criti-

cism of Biden, saying he had

not been forceful enough so

far in laying out for voters

why he should be their

choice.

But in an interview on

ABC’s “This Week,” he

warned that having Sanders

as the nominee could put the

Democrats’ House majority

in jeopardy.

“I think that that would

be a real burden for us in

these states or congres-

sional districts that we have

to do well in” to keep the ma-

jority, he said. “It’s going to

be tough to hold on to these

jobs if you have to make the

case for accepting a self-pro-

claimed democratic social-

ist.”

Some of Biden’s old-fash-

ioned political skills of bipar-

tisanship and relationship

building may be less power-

ful amid today’s fierce poli-

tics of a more-liberal Demo-

cratic Party preoccupied

with beating President

Trump and now on course to

nominating a fiery candi-

date like Sanders.

“It’s breaking my heart,”

said Biden supporter Jo-

anne Letendre, 71. “It’s like

he doesn’t want to yell and

scream. But in a world that

yells and screams, he needs

to defend himself.”

Marlon Kimpson, a

South Carolina state sen-

ator backing Biden, said vot-

ers in South Carolina — a

state that kept Thurmond

and Hollings in office for a

combined 87 years — have a

tendency to favor politicians

they know well.

“When voters go to vote

for Biden, they don’t have to

struggle to pronounce his

name, they don’t have to

struggle to put a name to the

face,” Kimpson said. “They

know Joe Biden.”

Kimpson said he is telling

moderate voters to consider

voting for Biden rather than

other lower-polling moder-

ates such as Buttigieg and

Klobuchar.

“Moderate South Car-

olina voters need to ask

themselves whether a vote

for a candidate that is

polling in single digits is a

vote for Bernie Sanders,”

Kimpson said.

Old-fashioned virtues

and Biden’s decades of expe-

rience are still attracting

voters such as Cornell John-

son of Moncks Corner, S.C.,

who is unfazed by Biden’s

early-state losses.

“He has a moral com-

pass,” said Johnson as he

waited at the brewery for

Biden’s sister to speak. “It’s

not always the swift that

wins. It’s endurance. Not

quitting.”

Biden, trailing, puts his chips on S.C.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS,taking the stage at Valley High School in Santa Ana last week, appears to have

won more than twice as much of the vote in the Nevada caucuses as did former Vice President Joe Biden.

Allen J. SchabenLos Angeles Times

BIDENsaid at Royal Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, S.C., that

he won’t take black voters’ support for granted. The state’s primary is Saturday.

Matt RourkeAssociated Press

‘When voters go

to vote for Biden,

they don’t have

to struggle to

pronounce his

name, they don’t

have to struggle

to put a name to

the face. They

know Joe Biden.’

— Marlon Kimpson,

South Carolina state senator

[South Carolina,from A1]

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