{"id":2454932,"date":"2020-02-24T11:09:22","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T18:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=321451"},"modified":"2020-02-24T11:09:22","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T18:09:22","slug":"after-win-in-nevada-moderates-try-to-slow-sanders-momentum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/after-win-in-nevada-moderates-try-to-slow-sanders-momentum\/","title":{"rendered":"After win in Nevada, moderates try to slow Sanders\u2019 momentum"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during a campaign event on Feb. 23, 2020, in Austin, Texas.<\/strong>
Nick Wagner\/Austin American-Statesman via AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

CHARLESTON, S.C. \u2014 Bernie Sanders\u2019 commanding Nevada caucus victory made him a top target for his Democratic rivals and a growing source of anxiety for establishment Democrats worried that the nomination of an avowed democratic socialist could cost the party in November.<\/p>\n

The win solidified Sanders\u2019 front-runner status as the race turned to Saturday\u2019s presidential primary in South Carolina. The Vermont senator was trounced in the state by more than 40 percentage points in 2016, but he is hoping that his success in diverse Nevada will prove to black voters in South Carolina that his campaign has broad appeal.<\/p>\n

Any momentum that Sanders gains in South Carolina could be devastating to former Vice President Joe Biden, who is looking to the state for a commanding victory that can keep his candidacy alive through Super Tuesday. The March 3 contests will unfold in 14 states and award one-third of the delegates needed for the Democratic nomination.<\/p>\n

With time running short, moderate Democrats grew increasingly nervous Sunday that Sanders\u2019 call for a political \u201crevolution\u201d would drive voters away from the party, both in the matchup against President Donald Trump and in House and Senate races.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it would be a real burden for us in these states or congressional districts that we have to do well in,\u201d South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, the House majority whip and the top-ranking black Democrat in Congress, said Sunday on ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prominent Democrats expect Clyburn will endorse Biden this week. The congressman said he\u2019ll back a candidate on Wednesday \u2014 after the next Democratic debate \u2014 and pointed to the impact a Sanders nomination would have on House districts Democrats flipped to take control of the House in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn those districts, it\u2019s going to be tough to hold on to these jobs if you have to make the case for accepting a self-proclaimed democratic socialist,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sanders\u2019 campaign argued he will bring in new and infrequent voters \u2014 largely progressives, young people and voters of color \u2014 who have been alienated from the process and seek a drastic overhaul of Washington, not merely trying to oust Trump.<\/p>\n

He successfully relied on that coalition Saturday to dominate his Democratic rivals in Nevada, pulling far ahead of Biden, the second-place finisher, and Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who came in third. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren landed in fourth, while Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and California billionaire Tom Steyer were in a close race for fifth as the Nevada Democratic Party continued to tabulate results.<\/p>\n

Sanders celebrated the win in Texas, a top Super Tuesday prize and a state that Democrats see trending their way thanks to a growing Hispanic population and opposition to Trump in the suburbs.<\/p>\n

Sounding like a candidate who had already secured the nomination, Sanders told thousands of cheering supporters who filled a basketball arena on the campus of the University of Houston that he would win in the state both next month and next fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf working people and young people of this city, black and white and Latino, gay or straight, if our people stand together, come out to vote, we\u2019re going to win here in Texas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sanders was announcing a plan to provide universal, government-funded child care until age 3 and universal pre-kindergarten programs after that. In an interview with \u201c60 Minutes\u201d that aired Sunday night, he said he\u2019d pay for it using part of the proceeds from his previously announced wealth tax, which would be levied annually on fortunes worth more than $32 million.<\/p>\n

Sanders\u2019 new status was clear as most of his rivals sharpened their focus on him.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Buttigieg ripped Sanders\u2019 for his massive and often combative online following, saying the nominee\u2019s job \u201cis to call people into our tent, not to call them names online.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to a crowd of thousands gathered in a high school football field in Arlington, Virginia, Buttigieg said Democrats should nominate someone who will focus on \u201cmobilizing, not polarizing the American majority.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitics will be fierce sometimes, but it is not just combat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But some Democrats were worried that the new focus on Sanders may be too little, too late. For months, as several Democrats jockeyed to become the chief alternative to Sanders, they largely attacked each other on debate stages and in ads while taking relatively few punches at the Vermont senator.<\/p>\n

Indeed, even after Sanders\u2019 strong finish in Nevada, Warren avoided launching a direct hit at Sanders even when asked directly whether a Sanders nomination would be a risk for the Democratic Party. The Massachusetts senator is aligned with Sanders on a number of key policies and competing with the Vermont senator for many of the same progressive voters.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters in Denver, Warren instead continued her attacks on rival Mike Bloomberg, calling him the \u201criskiest candidate standing on that stage because of his history of hiding his taxes, his history of harassment of women and his history of defending racist policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bloomberg, for his part, asked to delay a CNN town hall that was planned for Monday until Wednesday. The move will allow the billionaire former New York mayor to spend more time preparing for this week\u2019s debate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe country can\u2019t afford to let Bernie Sanders skate by another debate without a focus on his extreme record,\u201d said Bloomberg spokesperson Galia Slayen. \u201cMike is preparing for Tuesday\u2019s crucial debate, and looks forward to taking part in CNN\u2019s town hall on Wednesday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Party leaders have been reluctant to appear to be putting their thumb on the scale, so as not to rile Sanders voters and further divide the party. It was not clear Sunday that there was any new strategy to try to knock Sanders off course or consolidate support behind a single moderate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe gotta hope that some of these candidates develop political skills quickly,\u201d said James Carville, a Democratic strategist and one of the noisiest anti-Sanders voices in the party. \u201cThe risk in losing the election is deep and profound. We just gotta pray.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan Pfeiffer, a former adviser to former President Barack Obama, said if no candidates drop out before Super Tuesday and the moderates continue to split the delegate, Sanders likely has a lock on the nomination.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just simple math,\u201d Pfeiffer said, noting that he\u2019s not advocating that any candidates drop out to stop Sanders, and that he doesn\u2019t ascribe to the belief among some Democrats that Sanders can\u2019t win.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach of these campaigns have a legitimate rationale for staying in the race,\u201d he said of Sanders\u2019 opponents.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, those Sanders opponents pledged to stay in the race through South Carolina, and several signaled they would stay in through Super Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Klobuchar rallied supporters near the North Dakota-Minnesota border, speaking to voters in her home state, which votes on March 3, followed by North Dakota on March 10. Warren campaigned in Colorado, also a Super Tuesday state.<\/p>\n

Biden was in South Carolina, the state his campaign hoped would revive his candidacy after poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire and only modest improvement in Nevada. The former vice president resisted predicting victory in South Carolina and said he isn\u2019t banking on Clyburn\u2019s endorsement, a blessing that could help Biden shore up support with the black voters his campaign has long argued will be the springboard to a nomination. Clyburn said Sunday he had heard from Democrats disappointed in Biden\u2019s debate performances.<\/p>\n

Democrats will debate on Tuesday in Charleston, South Carolina. Steyer said Sunday he has qualified for that debate, after missing the mark for the stage in Nevada.<\/p>\n

Jaffe reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver, Will Weissert in Houston, Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento, California, and Bill Barrow in Charleston, South Carolina, contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during a campaign event on Feb. 23, 2020, in Austin, Texas.Nick Wagner\/Austin American-Statesman via AP CHARLESTON, S.C. \u2014 Bernie Sanders\u2019 commanding Nevada caucus victory made him a top target for his Democratic rivals and a growing source of anxiety for establishment Democrats worried that the nomination of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2454932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 13:55:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2454932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}