Joe Biden’s plea to African-Americans to keep campaign alive

Joe Biden has pleaded for the vote of African-Americans in next week’s crucial South Carolina primary.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden at the Royal Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston. Picture: AP

Joe Biden has pleaded for the vote of African-Americans in next week’s crucial South Carolina primary as he seeks to keep his campaign alive despite the rise and rise of Democrat frontrunner Bernie Sanders.

His comments came as Democrat candidates ramped up their attacks on Senator Sanders amid fears that his big win in Nevada could give him unstoppable ­momentum at a critical stage of the Democrat presidential race.

The South Carolina primary on Sunday (AEDT) is followed three days later, on March 3, by the Super Tuesday contest involving 14 states. If Senator Sanders wins the delegate-rich Super Tuesday states such as California and Texas, as polls suggest, he will become the unbackable favourite for the Democrat nomination to challenge Donald Trump in November’s presidential election.

Mr Biden, who revived his flagging campaign with a second-place finish in Nevada on Sunday, is relying on a victory in South Carolina where he enjoys strong support from African-Americans who comprise 60 per cent of that state’s primary voters.

The former vice-president has stated previously he would win the state, but his support has fallen since his poor performances in Iowa and New Hampshire, with a new CBS poll showing him leading South Carolina only narrowly with 28 per cent support followed by Senator Sanders on 23 per cent.

They are followed by billionaire Tom Steyer on 18 per cent, Elizabeth Warren on 12 per cent, Pete Buttigieg on 10 per cent and Amy Klobuchar on 4 per cent.

Speaking at a Baptist church in Charleston, Mr Biden told African-Americans they had the power to determine who won the Democrat nomination.

“The African-American community in South Carolina can make a judgment about who the next president of the United States is going to be,” he said.

“That’s not an exaggeration. Literally, literally, you’re able to do this, because you have in your hands the power, unlike any time in a long time, to determine who the next Democratic nominee will be.

“You can own this election. You’re entitled to own it. It’s yours to determine, and I hope you just look me over.”

Moderate Democrats were coming to terms with Senator Sanders’ crushing victory in the Nevada caucus where he won 46.6 per cent of the vote from Mr Biden on 19.2 per cent, Mr Buttigieg on 15.4 per cent, Senator Warren on 10.3 per cent and Senator Klobuchar on 4.5 per cent.

Entrance polls showed that the self-described democratic socialist won almost every demographic segment, including voters aged 17 to 64, white voters, Hispanic voters and first-time caucus voters.

After her poor showing in Nevada, Senator Klobuchar has changed her stump speech to ­attack Senator Sanders more ­directly, implying that the Democrats would also be at risk of losing control of the House of Representatives to Republicans if he was the nominee.

“I want someone heading up the ticket who is going to lead our party so we win not just the presidency, but the House of Representatives as well as the US Senate,” Senator Klobuchar said.

Mr Buttigieg led the attacks on Senator Sanders, saying his “revolution has the tenor of combat, division and polarisation, a vision where whoever wins the day, nothing will change the toxic tone of our politics”.

Mr Trump congratulated Senator Sanders, but warned that mainstream Democrats might try to deny him the nomination.

“I think it was a great win for Bernie Sanders. I hope they treat him fairly,” the President said. “Frankly, I don’t care who I run against. I just hope they treat him fairly. I hope it’s not going to be a rigged deal, because there’s a lot of bad things going on.”

Vice-President Mike Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short said Mr Trump would welcome fighting the election against Senator Sanders because it would provide a “stark contrast” between the President economic record and the policies of Senator Sanders who “continues to embrace socialism”.

Mr Steyer, who did not qualify for last week’s bruising Democrat debate, has qualified for the next debate on Wednesday (AEDT) after receiving 18 per cent in a poll of South Carolina voters.

He will be joined by the same six candidates who contested last week’s debate: senators Sanders, Warren and Klobuchar, Mr Biden, Mr Buttigieg and Mike Bloomberg, whose debut debate performance last week was widely criticised. Mr Bloomberg will not contest South Carolina but will be a candidate on Super Tuesday.

Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia