Joe Biden storms in to battle Bernie Sanders

Joe Biden’s campaign for president is surging after a stronger-than-­expected performance against Bernie Sanders on Super Tuesday.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden warms up his supporters at a primary election night campaign rally in Los Angeles. Picture: AP

Joe Biden’s campaign for president is surging after a stronger-than-­expected performance against Bernie Sanders in the Super Tuesday Democrat primaries.

The outcome stymied Senator Sanders hopes of a sweeping victory that would have all but guaranteed the democratic socialist the nomination to challenge Donald Trump in November’s presidential election.

However, Senator Sanders won the biggest prize, the ­delegate-rich state of California, and was only slightly behind in ­another large state, Texas, ensuring the contest between himself and the former vice-president would continue deep into the primary season.

Although Senator Sanders won California, which has 415 delegates, the final vote count there may not be known for several days.

The contests across 14 states produced disappointing results for New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who had poured an unprecedented $US400m ($606m) in advertising to make himself competitive. Mr Bloomberg failed to win a single state and was reportedly planning to reassess whether he should stay in the race.

It was also a disastrous day for liberal senator Elizabeth Warren, who did not come near winning a single state and who suffered the indignity of losing her home state of Massachusetts to Mr Biden.

Mr Biden, 77, swept the southern states on the back of strong support from African-Americans and posted surprise victories in states such as Minnesota and ­Massachusetts — two regions where he had been lagging in the polls and did not campaign.

“It’s a good night, it’s a good night and it seems to be getting even better. They don’t call it Super Tuesday for nothing,” Mr Biden said to jubilant supporters in Los Angeles as the results came in.

“Folks, things are looking awful good — for those who’ve been knocked down, counted out, this is your campaign.

“We’re very much alive — and make no mistake about it, this campaign will send Donald Trump packing.

“People are talking about a ­revolution. We started a movement,” Mr Biden said, recycling one of Senator Sanders’s signature lines.

Senator Sanders, 78, was also upbeat, saying he would win the party’s nomination at its convention in Milwaukee in July. “I can tell you with absolute confidence we are going to win the Democratic nomination and we are going to defeat the most dangerous president in the history of this country,” he said.

“We are going to defeat Trump ­because we are putting together a grassroots, multi-racial, multi-­generational movement … that speaks to working families of this country.”

Senator Sanders attacked Mr Biden without naming him over his support for the war in Iraq, his record on trade deals and social ­security and for his tractional style of campaign.

“You cannot beat Trump with the same old same old kind of politics,” Senator Sanders said. “What we need is a new politics that brings working class people into our political movement … which brings young people into our political movement.”

The results continue the extraordinary revival of Mr Biden’s campaign that began with his landslide victory in South Carolina last Sunday (AEDT) followed by the endorsement of two former rivals in Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar.

In February, Mr Biden’s campaign appeared doomed after poor performances in the first three states of Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada where he was a lacklustre performer drawing only small crowds.

 

Mr Bloomberg, who was contesting his first primaries, was competitive in several states ­including Tennessee, Texas and California but he won only one territory, American Samoa.

Despite reports he would reassess his campaign, Mr Bloomberg said he had no plans to pull out of the race. “In just three months, we’ve gone from 1 per cent in the polls to being a contender for the Democratic nomination for president,” he said.

The night began well for Mr Biden in his southern strongholds, where he won Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee on the back of strong support from African-American voters. He also won Oklahoma, Minnesota, Massachusetts and later Texas. He was leading in Maine.

Senator Sanders won California, Vermont, Colorado and Utah.

The Super Tuesday contests will elect 1344 delegates, one-third of all delegates at stake in the Democrat presidential race. To become the Democratic Party’s nominee, a candidate needs to win 50 per cent, or 1991, of the party’s delegates, by the convention.

Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia