Democrats concentrate on Super Tuesday even as S. Carolina looms
Bernie Sanders will swing through NEW YORK, Virginia and Massachusetts in the coming days. Elizabeth Warren can make stops in Texas and Arkansas. Amy Klobuchar will maintain Tennessee and Virginia.The SC primary is merely two days away, however the race is quickly going national as applicants pivot to the 14 states that vote on Tuesday.
The move is partly recognition of Joe Biden's strength in South Carolina, with most of the concentrate on the margin of his victory and who might can be found in second place. But it is also an effort to utilize the a huge selection of delegates on the line in the "Super Tuesday" contests. In regards to a third of the delegates had a need to secure the Democratic nomination will be up for grabs.
The tight turnaround between Saturday's primary in South Carolina and the contests that follow on Tuesday is creating a hectic stretch for campaigns."What happens in SC does matter, mostly because of what the coverage is going to be over the three days before Super Tuesday.
If someone seems out of your running, they're going to lose value," said Achim Bergmann, a Democratic strategist whose firm works in a number of Super Tuesday states. "It's a hardcore deal for the prospects who are perceived to be at the low rungs right now to figure out where they can get some juice."
NY billionaire Mike Bloomberg has sought to bypass the traditional early voting states including SC to focus exclusively on the Super Tuesday states. But even he had to balance the competing demands as he qualified for Tuesday's debate in Charleston. He returned to New York following the debate only to return to South Carolina the next day to seem at a CNN town hall.
Bloomberg will be in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and NEW YORK - all Super Tuesday states - over another several days.The strains on some individuals are evident. Pete Buttigieg hopscotched from Nevada on Saturday to Colorado and SC by Sunday morning. Then hit Virginia before time for South Carolina.
But a good meticulously crafted schedule can break apart. Buttigieg decided to swing right down to Florida, which votes later in March, for three private fundraisers Wednesday. He abruptly canceled the events and a public campaign stop in the Miami area as a result of illness. His aides said he previously flu-like symptoms.
Buttigieg met with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and did media interviews in Washington, D.C., before returning to SC on Thursday for another round of campaigning.Jim Messina, a high aide on both of Barack Obama's presidential campaigns, said Buttigieg is in a bind when it comes to the South Carolina-Super Tuesday dance.
"It is a big deal" for his campaign if Buttigieg doesn't perform in SC, he said, because "more persons like me are likely to say on TV he can't get the minority vote, and that is not beneficial to his narrative."
Indeed, strategists in key Super Tuesday states say voters there are watching to see what happens in SC before they constitute their minds."Anybody who defies expectations and does much better than you anticipate, it just builds a more robust narrative for them," said Matt Angle, a Texas Democratic strategist.
Texas supplies the second-biggest delegate pot on Super Tuesday, with 228 pledged delegates, and Buttigieg and Biden are anticipated to campaign there after South Carolina votes. But other candidates, including Sanders, Warren and Bloomberg, have all made stops there this week.
Biden wasn't doing much outside SC, where his flagging campaign is seeking its first win of the primary season. Likewise, billionaire Tom Steyer has essentially hunkered down in the state, while Bloomberg, who participated in the debate, has all but ignored the first four contests and instead will campaign across a small number of Southern states that vote in a few days.
Buttigieg was not alone in trying to stir fundraising events into the mix. Klobuchar held a fundraiser in Charleston on Monday and was to duck out Thursday for just one in North Carolina and another Friday in Tennessee, along with campaign events in both states over the two-day stretch.
And Sanders had plans to dash up to NEW YORK, a conveniently situated March 3 primary state, on Wednesday and again Thursday, when he also plans to cross into Virginia. While other individuals are making their final pitches in South Carolina, Sanders was also scheduled to create two campaign stops in Massachusetts, home turf for Warren and a critical Super Tuesday state.
"It's an extremely difficult time, logistically, to attempt to balance all of this," acknowledged Sanders adviser Jeff Weaver. "Suddenly, now you have contests all over the country, and prospects have to do the best they can."
Weaver underscored the stakes for prospects who go to Super Tuesday unprepared to compete, noting that in 2016, Hillary Clinton's delegate lead coming out of the day's contests was tough to overcome.But also for a lot of the field, the Super Tuesday fight isn't only about racking up delegates - it's about survival.
"Candidates who just haven't moved by Super Tuesday - 41% of the delegates have died. You're not really going to have a chance at the nomination. Your money's likely to dry up rapidly," Messina said. "I believe you'll immediately after see many of these also-ran candidates out of this race."
