US election: Amy Klobuchar ends Democratic presidential campaign, will endorse rival Joe Biden
Amy Klobuchar calls time on her Democratic campaign and plans to endorse rival Joe Biden along with Pete Buttigieg.
A resurgent Joe Biden will contest the Super Tuesday primaries with the backing of former rivals Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg in a dramatic joint bid to counter the rise of Bernie Sanders.
The decision by both Senator Klobuchar and Mr Buttigieg to drop out of the contest and back Mr Biden ahead of the most important day of the Democratic presidential race will help the former vice-president win over moderate voters in the race against the frontrunner, Senator Sanders.
It reflects growing alarm among Democrat party leaders that Senator Sanders, the most left-wing frontrunner of the modern era, could surge to an unbeatable lead in the Super Tuesday contests (Wednesday, Australian time).
Polls show the 78-year-old socialist senator winning many of the 14 states that will contest Super Tuesday, with comfortable leads in the large, delegate-rich states of California and Texas.
Mr Biden is hoping for a bounce in support after his landslide win over Senator Sanders in the South Carolina primary on Sunday (AEDT).
In a conspicuous display of unity, Mr Biden was joined at a rally in Dallas by Mr Buttigieg and Senator Klobuchar.
“It is up to us, all of us, to put our country back together, to heal this country and then to build something even greater. I believe we can do this together, and that is why today I am ending my campaign and endorsing Joe Biden for president,” Senator Klobuchar said.
“(Biden) can bring our country together and build that coalition of our fired-up Democratic base, and it is fired up, as well as independents and moderate Republicans, because we do not in our party want to just eke by a victory — we want to win big. And Joe Biden can do that.”
Mr Buttigieg said Mr Biden would be a leader who would draw out the best in all Americans. “We need a politics that’s about decency, a politics that brings back dignity. That’s what Joe Biden has been practising his entire life,” he said.
Speaking earlier, Mr Biden warned that many Democrats did not want to be associated with the big-spending, high-taxing radical agenda of Senator Sanders.
“I think there’s an awful lot of people who are running for office who don’t want to run with Bernie at the top of the ticket as a self-proclaimed socialist,” he said.
“The country is hungry — hungry, hungry, hungry — to be united. Most Americans, they don’t want a promise of a revolution, they want a guarantee of results. Democrats want a nominee who’s a Democrat.”
Senator Sanders, campaigning in Utah, said he was not surprised that “establishment politicians” were not supporting his campaign.
“Look, we are taking on the establishment and I fully understand — no great surprise to me — that establishment politicians are not going to endorse us.”
The Vermont senator also hit back at claims by Mr Biden and other moderates that he was too radical to defeat Donald Trump.
“Take a look at the last 75 national polls — 70 of them have us beating Trump,” he said.
Senator Sanders’s campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, said: “The establishment is nervous not because we can’t beat Trump but because we will. And when we do, the Democratic Party will again be a party of the working class.”
The RealClear Politics average of polls shows Senator Sanders with a big lead in California on 34.7 per cent from Mr Biden on 18 per cent, Elizabeth Warren on 15.3 per cent and billionaire Mike Bloomberg on 13 per cent.
In Texas, Senator Sanders also leads with 30.3 per cent to Mr Biden on 24.3 per cent, Mr Bloomberg on 16.7 per cent and Senator Warren on 14.7 per cent.
The Super Tuesday contests are a major test for Mr Bloomberg, who has spent more than $US400m on an advertising campaign but who is entering the primary contest only now after skipping the first four states.
Mr Bloomberg said he had no intention of quitting the race, as Mr Buttigieg and Senator Klobuchar had done.
“I felt sorry for them, but I’m in it to win it. I’ve won three elections so far,” said the former three-time New York mayor.
Mr Bloomberg attacked Senator Sanders’s left-wing agenda, saying “he is not electable … He won’t even keep all the moderates on the Democratic side. Some will go over to Trump … the public doesn’t want that kind of change.”
Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia
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