Biden and Sanders win key endorsements as next voting round nears

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ANN ARBOR, United States, March 9, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Democratic presidential
hopefuls Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders secured crucial endorsements Sunday
from prominent black supporters just days ahead of the first round of voting
to pit them in a head-to-head contest.

Senator Kamala Harris, a former Democratic candidate herself, endorsed
Biden, while Sanders won the backing of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson as
the rival candidates competed for African American support — a key
demographic in the fight for the party’s nomination.

Voters in six states go to the polls Tuesday, a week after the “Super
Tuesday” elections dramatically reversed the two men’s fortunes, snatching
the frontrunner’s title from Sanders and revitalizing Biden, who now holds a
lead in delegates to the nominating convention.

Biden did well on Super Tuesday in Southern states with large black
populations, states similar to Mississippi, which votes Tuesday. And in
Missouri, a Midwestern state also voting Tuesday, one recent poll gives him a
22-point lead.

That makes Michigan, the day’s biggest prize, an almost must-win for
Sanders. A survey in that north-central state last week gave Biden a six-
point advantage.

“Joe has been there for Michigan when our back was against the wall,”
Governor Gretchen Whitmer told AFP Sunday, during an appearance at a majority
black church in Detroit.

Michigan’s critically suffering auto industry received a major boost in
2008 from a massive intervention under the administration of Barack Obama and
Biden.

But Whitmer predicted a close race on Tuesday; Sanders has a large
organization in Michigan with considerable union support.

Also voting Tuesday are Idaho, North Dakota and Washington state.

– Sanders focuses on Michigan –

Sanders, desperate to kickstart his campaign after losing 10 of the 14
Super Tuesday states, has canceled plans to speak in Mississippi, Missouri
and Illinois in order to focus on Michigan.

Jackson endorsed Sanders at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, repaying the
self-described democratic socialist for having supported his 1988 bid for the
White House.

“I stand with Bernie Sanders today because he stood with me,” Jackson said.
“I stand with him because he stands with you.”

“Sanders has a better chance at beating Trump than Biden does,” Sara Long,
25, told AFP as she stood in line for the rally.

“I think that a lot of his views are more progressive, and they’re what
this generation is looking for,” she said.

Sanders touted Jackson’s endorsement, telling supporters at the rally in
Ann Arbor, Michigan, that he was “one of the true heroes of modern America.”

Sanders called on his supporters to come out in force on Tuesday. “If you
get your friends in the political process, there’s no stopping us,” he said.

Biden’s Super Tuesday surge brought an influx of donations — $22 million
in the past few days, his campaign said in a statement Sunday.

It said $12 million would be spent on hiring new staff and launching a
major media campaign in battleground states.

Harris said she was backing Biden, a centrist who touts his ability to work
with Republicans, because she believes he can best unify the country going
into the crucial November elections against Donald Trump.

“I am with great enthusiasm going to endorse Joe Biden for president of the
United States,” she said in a videotaped statement posted on Twitter.

Eight other former Democratic candidates — including Pete Buttigieg, Amy
Klobuchar and Beto O’Rourke — had earlier endorsed Biden.

He later tweeted his thanks to Harris, saying, “You’ve spent your whole
career fighting for folks who’ve been written off and left behind.”

The endorsement was something of a reversal; Harris had sharply chastised
Biden in a televised debate last June over his warm words for past
segregationist senators and his opposition in the 1970s to busing to
integrate US schools.

But many African American leaders have since swung behind Biden, helping to
resurrect his once flagging campaign.

– Blacks’ ‘best chance’ –

Sanders has had trouble attracting black voters — Biden won more than four
black votes in South Carolina for each one favoring Sanders — making the
endorsement from Jackson all the more significant.

Jackson questioned whether moderate policies would benefit African
Americans.

“A people far behind cannot catch up choosing the most moderate path,” said
Jackson.

“The most progressive social and economic path gives us the best chance to
catch up, and Senator Bernie Sanders represents the most progressive path.
That’s why I choose to endorse him today.”