“Super Tuesday” - the day when primaries are held in 14 states and in American Samoa (this is part of the Pacific archipelago - seven islands, some of which are uninhabited) fell on March 3 this year. And by the evening of this day, it became clear that the course of the election campaign of candidates from the US Democratic Party, which until then had developed quite predictably and even boring, made a sharp somersault, as if the script was written by much more experienced and skilled authors in their craft.
Prior to the primaries in South Carolina (February 29), the main hope of the democratic establishment of Joe Biden, many were ready to write off. He himself understood this. “Just a few days ago, the press and experts declared my campaign dead,” he admitted to his supporters in Los Angeles. - Then there was South Carolina, and they had to somehow explain it. They said to me: "Well, okay, when you get to the" Super Tuesday ", then everything will end." Well, maybe it’s all over for the other guy. ”
By “other guy,” Joe Biden was referring to his main rival, Bernie Sanders, a socialist senator from Vermont, about whose unexpectedly successful campaign I wrote last week. It was to him before the “Super Tuesday” that they predicted a crushing victory in most states, including giants such as California and Texas. Biden, after the tricks in Iowa and New Hampshire and the primaries in Nevada, looked so pale that journalists and political analysts were seriously discussing whether the new player on the field, multimillionaire Michael Bloomberg, would be able to compete with the obvious race favorite Bernie Sanders.
Super Tuesday changed everything.
On the eve of the race several candidates left. Firstly, Pete Buttidzhich (mayor of Pete), who had shown very good results, unexpectedly merged, pushing the arrival of the first homosexual president in the White House into the field of a vague future. Secondly, Senator Amy Klobushar refused to participate in further primaries, who, although she was not seriously considered as a candidate for the nomination, still had some chances to win - at least in her native state of Minnesota. Both Mayor Pete and Klobushar called on their supporters to vote for Joe Biden.
This, of course, was a dishonest game in relation to Sanders, because his main trump card before the “Super Tuesday” was the dispersal of the votes of the Democratic Party between several moderate candidates - Biden, Buttigic and Klobushar, to which Mini-Mike Bloomberg was to join. Refusing to fight further, the two moderates seriously strengthened Biden, while Sanders' only rival, left-leaning, Elizabeth Pocahontas Warren, as if nothing had happened, continued the race, although fewer people voted for her on “Super Tuesday” than for Bloomberg (she was unable to win even in her native Massachusetts).
By the way, the “great and terrible” Mini-Mike, who was waiting for the “Super Tuesday” to triumphantly break into the race, turned out to be her biggest loser: having invested half a billion dollars in the campaign (Trump even claims that all is $ 700 million, but it could be revenge for the fact that Bloomberg stubbornly refuses to consider him a billionaire, claiming that Trump significantly exaggerates the size of his fortune), he won primaries only in American Samoa and managed to enlist the support of only 45 delegates (out of 1338 whose votes were cast on March 3). Echidna journalists have already calculated that each delegate cost the former mayor of New York "only $ 11 million."
After the results of the “Super Tuesday” became known, Mini-Mike withdrew his candidacy under the malicious hooting of Trump on Twitter.
But who really won the “Super Tuesday” is the former US Vice President Joe Biden, who, according to the results of the primaries, received more delegates than the Socialist Senator (the calculation is still ongoing, but the overall picture is clear).
And the main sensation that really stirred the States was Biden's victory in Texas, where Sanders had a very strong position. In Texas, the Nutty Professor party machine worked at full capacity. Sanders hoped that non-white voters — Latinos and African Americans — would vote in large numbers for him. Sanders' headquarters spent $ 3.7 million on a Lone Star campaign - this, of course, is not Bloomberg’s scale, but a pretty decent amount. Especially compared to the pitiful $ 89 thousand that Joe Biden allocated for the Texas campaign.
However, as it became clear after the epic failure of the Mini-Mike, money in this race is far from everything.
The first reports from Texas inspired the Socialist Senator supporters: he received more than 30% of the vote. However, after lunch, the ratio began to change. After counting 91% of the ballots, it became clear that Sanders was gaining only 29.8% of the vote, and his rival Joe Biden - 33.4%.
By evening, it became completely clear that the former US vice president won Texas - the second superstate after California (California sends 415 delegates to the Congress of the Democratic Party, Texas - 228). Sanders has not yet lost, but received a powerful blow that seriously cast him aside from his main goal - party nomination.
But how did Biden win in Texas? In a state that is not liberal-progressive at all and in which Biden’s former boss, the first black US president, B.H. Obama, doesn’t enjoy such great authority?
Biden's victory was ensured by a combination of several factors.
Firstly, after the excellent results that Sanders showed at the first stage of the race, the democratic establishment really strained. It was still not enough that a socialist should become a candidate from the “donkeys” party, who first of all would disperse the entire apparatus, imprisoned for moderates and centrists, replacing it with left-wing enthusiasts from among the supporters of Alexandria Okasio-Cortes or Ilhan Omar!
These fears led party organizers and centrist candidates to agree on a containment strategy for Crazy Professor - and it was in Texas that the strategy worked best.
Here, not only Amy Klobushar and Mayor Pete spoke in support of Biden, but also forgotten at the federal level, but still very well-known throughout the state of Beto O'Rourke, who retired even before the primaries. On March 2, on the eve of the Super Tuesday, Beto O'Rourke, popular with Texas Hispanics, supported Biden at a campaign rally in Dallas, and this struck Sanders' main electoral base.
Supported by Sleepy Joe and the young leaders of the Democratic Party of Texas - Rafael Ankia, John Turner, Victoria Neve.
The very “advanced youth” that Bernie Sanders is betting on. Victoria Neve, for example, already a member of the Texas State House of Representatives, smoked weed and drank beer in a bar, crashed into a tree on the side of the road on her BMW. When the police pulled her out of the car, she shouted: “I love you! I will fight for you! I demand the Fifth Amendment! ” (A person accused of committing a crime has the right to a trial and should not be forced to testify against himself). It would seem that the ideal base for the Nutty Professor Sanders, who is known to advocate the legalization of marijuana. But no, party discipline was stronger.
One of the youngest black politicians in Texas, former National Football League player Colin Allred (not to be confused with basketball player Lance Colin Allred), also a member of the State House, also called for Biden to vote. Black voters already sympathized with Sleepy Joe (if only he worked as vice president with Obama himself!), But Allred’s passionate speech finally convinced them.
CNN columnist Paul Bigala, who was born in Texas, has already compared Biden’s victory in this state with the legendary battle of Alamo, which by coincidence also took place in late February - early March 1836, exactly 184 years ago. Then a handful of brave Texans held back the onslaught of the superior Mexican army for two weeks. “Each of them gave his life,” Bigala exclaims pathetically. - But, sacrificing himself, William Travis and his tiny squad of heroes created the conditions for the final victory of Sam Houston (commander of the Texas army. - K. B. ) over General Santa Anna (commander of the Mexicans. - K. B. ).
According to the columnist, Mayor Pete, Amy Klobushar, and Beto O'Rourke also sacrificed their ambitions to support Biden in Dallas. “Thus, they sent him on the path leading to victory. Of course, there is a long way to go, and Bernie Sanders is a formidable force. But Biden’s victory in Texas, backed by tremendous support from O'Rourke, Klobushar and Buttigic, indicates a strategy that will win the nomination in July and defeat Donald Trump in November. ”
“Super Tuesday” showed that Biden could really win the nomination - the general mood of the establishment of the Democratic Party is already quite obvious. For the “donkeys” party apparatus, the predictable Sleepy Joe is much more comfortable than Bernie’s dangerous troublemaker. But whether he can compete with Donald Trump is a big question. Do not forget that all this time the people of Trump are also not idle, and a lot of dirt on the Ukrainian corruption schemes of the Biden family grows every day. But the time when this compromising evidence will be put on public display has not yet come. In the meantime, Trump is waiting and watching the Democrats race, where now there are two favorites at a distance - Crazy Professor and Sleepy Joe, who suddenly turned into a Texas Ranger.
But is the 78-year-old Biden long enough for the cowboy fuse to last?
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.