Rivals no more, US Senator Amy Klobuchar and former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg on Monday united behind former US vice president Joe Biden’s presidential bid as the Democratic Party’s moderate wing scrambled to boost him just hours before voting began across a series of high-stakes “Super Tuesday” states.
Klobuchar formally suspended her campaign and endorsed Biden on Monday, a day after Buttigieg announced his formal exit.
Buttigieg planned to announce his support for Biden later on Monday at a rally in Dallas, Texas, that Klobuchar also planned to attend, said two people familiar with the decision who were not authorized to speak publicly.
The fast-moving developments came on the eve of Super Tuesday, when 14 states, one US territory and Democrats abroad cast ballots in the party’s turbulent nomination fight.
Klobuchar and Buttigieg became the second and third Democrats to abandon their presidential bids since Biden scored a resounding victory in South Carolina, his first of the roller-coaster nomination fight.
A shrinking group of other Democrats vowed to press on, potentially toward a contested convention.
The fast-moving developments came at a key crossroads in the Democratic Party’s turbulent primary season. Super Tuesday offers almost 10 times as many delegates in a single day than have been awarded over the first month.
Fiery progressive US Senator Bernie Sanders remained the undisputed front-runner.
However, the rest of the field was decidedly unsettled, even after Biden’s South Carolina blowout and the departures of Klobuchar, Buttigieg and billionaire activist Tom Steyer.
Former New York City mayor billionaire Mike Bloomberg in particular could create problems for Biden’s establishment appeal.
Bloomberg, who was to appear on a 2020 ballot for the first time yesterday, has invested more than US$500 million into his presidential bid and racked up many high-profile endorsements of his own.
Yet Biden appeared to have the momentum on the eve of Super Tuesday after his South Carolina victory.
The Biden campaign reported back-to-back days of US$5 million fundraising hauls, by far the best 48-hour stretch of his campaign.
Biden on Sunday night touted the threshold on a call with donors, one person on the call said.
The campaign highlighted several new endorsements. Perhaps the most powerful endorsement would come from former US president Barack Obama, who has a relationship with most of the candidates and has talked with several in the past few weeks as primary voting has begun.
He spoke with Biden after his South Carolina victory, but still has no plans to endorse in the primary at this point.
Yet a stream of new Biden backers stepped forward in the run-up to yesterday, including former US senator Harry Reid.
“I believe Biden is best able to defeat [US President] Donald Trump and enact the policies we all care about,” the former US Senate majority leader said.
Biden’s growing collection of endorsers also features US Senator Barbara Boxer, US Representative Jennifer Wexton, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, former US senator Blanche Lincoln and US Representative Gil Cisneros.
US Representative Don Beyer, the first member of the US Congress to endorse Buttigieg, said that he planned to endorse Biden and expected Buttigieg to as well.
“I do think it’s the most logical,” Beyer said of a Biden endorsement, given his echo of his call for civility, a mantra of the Buttigieg campaign. “I think Joe is the next best possibility.”
Meanwhile, Biden pledged to improve his campaign operation, his fundraising haul — and even his own performance — in an interview on ABC’s This Week.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
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