The race for the Democratic nomination is restarted. Vermont independent senator Bernie Sanders' good beginnings, especially in Nevada, had made him irresistibly a favorite. Super Tuesday and its fourteen states, Tuesday, March 3, could therefore allow it to widen the gap on its opponents. He hoped to count for this on the strength of his political message, a solid organization, and on his army of small donors.
Seventy-two hours, however, changed everything. The triumph, on February 29, in South Carolina, of the former vice-president Joe Biden, whose campaign was in agony, indeed started a rally of the camp which defends more moderate positions than those of Bernie Sanders . In turn, the youngest in the race, Pete Buttigieg, and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar ended their candidacy and supported Joe Biden.
The result may have exceeded the expectations of the former vice president. The early evening was extremely profitable for him. While Bernie Sanders unsurprisingly won Vermont, his homeland, Joe Biden won hands down in Virginia and North Carolina, states richly endowed with delegates. Then the loyalty of the African-American electorate allowed it to quickly add Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Arkansas to its list of successes.
Polls leaving the ballot box, in particular that of the CNN channel, highlighted elements favorable to Joe Biden. A good part of the voters (37% in Virginia, 31% in North Carolina) have decided in the very last hours. The former vice-president was therefore able to compensate for his virtual absence from the airwaves by the image of a rallyer displayed in particular in Texas on Monday, during a meeting with Pete Buttigieg, then a joint meeting with Amy Klobuchar .
A useful voting reflex
Voters' motivations also worked in his favor. An absolute majority of the latter, in North Carolina as in Virginia, assured that beating Donald Trump in November is their priority, which is exactly the message conveyed by the former vice-president, unlike the " political revolution That Bernie Sanders places at the heart of his campaign.
Joe Biden’s resurgence was not limited to the African American electorate. Beaten flat in New Hampshire on February 10, he made an unexpected breakthrough in the neighboring state of Massachusetts, ahead of Bernie Sanders despite the proximity of Vermont, and especially Elizabeth Warren, elected from that state, plunging the campaign of the latter in the throes. A cruel setback after performances yet noted in democratic debates, including the last two in which she had attacked clinically the billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who entered the race late.
