With six new states voting this Tuesday, Bernie Sanders needs some good news out of one of them to grab some of the momentum back from Joe Biden.
In 10 days’ time, Biden has turned around his entire campaign – winning South Carolina, beating Sanders in 10 of 14 states on ‘Super Tuesday’ and getting a flurry of endorsements – including from ex-rivals Michael Bloomberg, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker.
With Biden cementing his frontrunner status, Sanders needs something to change the narrative and he’s hoping Michigan – like the state did in 2016 – will give him that opportunity.
AND THEN THERE WERE TWO: Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders battle on the ballot in six states as part of ‘Super Tuesday 2.’ Sanders needs to do well in one of them to turn the momentum around, while if Biden can crush Sanders in Michigan, it could be game over for the democratic socialist
Joe Biden (center left) has amassed a number of big endorsements since his South Carolina primary win 10 days ago including those from Kamala Harris (left), Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (center right) and Cory Booker. Harris and Booker, both U.S. senators, already had dropped out of the presidential race
On ‘Super Tuesday 2’ Democratic voters from six states: Washington, Idaho, North Dakota, Missouri, Mississippi and Michigan head to the polls. Michigan is the biggest delegate prize of the night with 125 at stake
Bernie Sanders (right), pointing a finger at Fox News Channel’s Martha MacCallum (left) and Bret Baier (center), has been dedicating the last few days to campaigning in Michigan. He participated in a Fox News Town Hall in Detroit Monday night
Joe Biden knows that stopping Bernie Sanders in Michigan means the nomination could be his. Here he’s photographed touring a Fiat Chrysler plant in Detroit Tuesday as voters in the state head to the polls
Bernie Sanders also held a coronavirus public health roundtable in Detroit, Michigan on Monday as he focused heavily on the state. Sanders won it by just 1.4 per cent in 2016, after being down 21.4 points in the polls to Hillary Clinton
In 2016, Sanders was down by an average of 21.4 points to Hillary Clinton in Michigan polls when his suprise win – by just 1.4 per cent – poured new energy into his campaign.
In 2020, the Real Clear Politics polling average shows Sanders down by 22.4 points to Biden in Michigan.
That hasn’t deterred Sanders, who’s spent the last few days in the state.
On Friday, he held a Detroit rally with Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who represents the city in Congress and is one of the four members of the so-called Democratic ‘squad.’
On Saturday, he held a town hall on ‘racial and economic justice’ in Flint, Michigan, known for its water troubles.
On Sunday, he was joined on the campaign trail again by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another member of the ‘squad.’ They rallied together in Ann Arbor, the home of the University of Michigan.
Then on Monday in Detroit, Sanders held a coronavirus town hall with public health experts, among other events.
Talking to Chris Cuomo on CNN Monday night, Sanders predicted he could win the state again. He also argued that his large, loud crowd meant he would be best positioned to take on President Trump in the general election.
‘Does anyone really believe, let me throw it out to you, you know this stuff, that a campain like Joe’s, which is frankly the same-old, same-old establishment politics, supported by the wealthy, and they got all the governors and senators supporting them, does anybody really think that that is going to be the campaign of excitement and energy that’s going to grow the base that we need to defeat Trump?’ Sanders mused. ‘I don’t think so.’
But Democrats, in an almost unprecedented way, have gotten behind Biden.
And the former vice president is aware that if he wins Michigan, he’s basically ended the race for Sanders.
On Monday night, he held his own Detroit rally where he held hands with Harris and Booker – who made their endorsements official – and the state’s governor, the up-and-coming Gretchen Whitmer.
But the rally wasn’t without drama, as a group of anti-NAFTA protesters heckled the vice president.
He told his crowd the ‘Bernie Bros are here.’
Another larger group of pro-Green New Deal activists – a concept Sanders supports – – also showed up. Politico reported that Biden’s senior adviser Symone Sanders, who was Bernie Sanders’ 2016 press secretary, got hit in the head with an iPad and knocked down. She wasn’t injured.
Symone Sanders also wrestled a Vegan activist off the stage at Biden’s ‘Super Tuesday’ primary night event in Los Angeles, California last week. It wasn’t personal to Biden, as protesters from the same group interrupted an Elizabeth Warren event in Los Angeles the night before.
Biden also got into a back-and-forth with Michigan voters Tuesday morning as he toured a Fiat Chrysler plant in Detroit. ‘You’re full of s*** man,’ Biden told a plant worker who accused him of ‘actively trying to end our Second Amendment right,’ according to video of the incident from CBS News. He told another worker to ‘shush’ as he explained his point.
Beyond Michigan, ‘Super Tuesday 2,’ as it’s been nicknamed, will include votes from Missouri, Mississippi, Idaho, North Dakota and Washington state.
While not a lot of polling has been conducted in Washington, Sanders’ campaign could get a boost there.
However, he won’t have the same advantage he did in 2016, as Washington is holding a primary Tuesday instead of a caucus.
Four years ago when Democrats caucused for their presidential pick, Sanders won overwhelmingly – 72.7 per cent to Clinton’s 27.1 per cent.
Now in the state, Biden has had a slight lead in polls taken this month, while Sanders was leading in February surveys.
Also, just like on Super Tuesday when Sanders eventually won the biggest delegate prize – California – the narrative for the night had already been set, that Biden was the big winner.
Additionally, Washington state also has mail-in balloting, which means results could be slow to come in.
A big outstanding question mark for ‘Super Tuesday 2’ is where Warren’s voters will find a home.
President Trump – trying to sow discord among the Democrats – blamed Warren for Sanders’ underwhelming Super Tuesday showing. ‘Our modern day Pocahontas won’t go down in history as a winner, but she may very well go down as the all time great SPOILER!’ Trump tweeted Wednesday.
The president suggested that while moderates like Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg, who dropped out and endorsed Biden before Super Tuesday, cleared the way for the former veep, Warren paid no such courtesy to Sanders, a fellow progressive.
So far she hasn’t gotten behind either Sanders nor Biden.
On Tuesday, Sanders surrogates continued to press the point.
‘I deeply respect @Ewarren,’ tweeted New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, one of the only ex-2020 hopefuls to have endorsed Sanders. ‘Our nation + our party are better + more progressive because of her leadership. Now our progressive movement needs her more than ever.’
‘Senator, if the shoe was on the other foot @BernieSanders would have endorsed you already. Please join us!’ de Blasio wrote.
As the votes come in Tuesday night, Biden and Sanders are already looking ahead.
They’re both holding campaign events Tuesday night in Cleveland, Ohio.
Voters in Ohio – along with Arizona, Florida and Illinois – head to the polls in a week.
And the two remaining mainstream candidates – as Tulsi Gabbard is still technically in the race – will debate each other in Phoenix, Arizona Sunday night.