The Daily - The Latest: Joe Biden Takes Command

Episode Date: March 11, 2020

Last night was a make-or-break moment for Senator Bernie Sanders, who needed a comeback from a loss to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the Super Tuesday primaries. After Mr. Sanders lost the primary in Michigan, a state he won in an upset in 2016, we ask: Is Mr. Biden now the presumptive Democratic nominee for president? And if not, what is Mr. Sanders’s path forward? “The Latest,” from the team behind “The Daily,” brings you the most important developments on today’s biggest news stories.

The 2020 race to the Democratic nomination is now essentially down to a two-man contest between former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders. There are six states holding primary elections today. Out of those six states, Michigan holding the most delegates, 125. Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Idaho, Washington State, you will be heard. North Dakota, Idaho, Washington State, you will be heard. On Tuesday, there is going to be a very, very important primary here in Michigan. Michigan could be a make or break moment for Sanders.

Do you see it that way? Sure. Absolutely. Yep. And Michigan, I'm counting on you in a big way. Hey, it's Alex Burns in New York. We've just had another big election night and another major breakthrough for Joe Biden. The Democratic primary campaign moved to six new states on Tuesday.

And the question was whether Biden would keep the momentum he gained on Super Tuesday or whether Bernie Sanders would make a comeback of his own, most of all in Michigan, where Sanders won a stunning upset against Hillary Clinton four years ago. It is 9 p.m. on the East Coast and polls are now closed just about in the battle. As results rolled in, it became clear that it was Biden's night. He won and he won decisively in Michigan. NBC News can now project that Joe Biden is going to win the state of Michigan. In Missouri. With some breaking news, ABC News can now project Joe Biden will win the Missouri Democratic primary here. This is a huge win.

And in Mississippi. CBS News projects former Vice President Joe Biden will win the primary in Mississippi. He won on the strength of a multiracial coalition that has propelled his national resurgence over the last three weeks. A coalition that has combined some of the Democratic Party's most loyal voters, including African-Americans and women, with newer arrivals, including moderate white voters who have fled Donald Trump's Republican Party. including moderate white voters who have fled Donald Trump's Republican Party. At this point, Biden's political campaign has come full circle, from frontrunner to underdog to frontrunner again,

and now very likely the future Democratic presidential nominee. But the latest is that Sanders' political base from 2016, the one that made him such a powerful challenger to Hillary Clinton, has really broken apart. Here's the situation. If you take a powerful challenger to Hillary Clinton, has really broken apart. Here's the situation. If you take a look at all these states, Bernie Sanders barely lost Missouri last time. He only was down one delegate when Missouri was done. That's not going to be the case tonight. He looks like he's going to lose it in a very big way. He lost Mississippi in a very big way. The other three states are going to be very close. He blew out Hillary Clinton by 40 points in each of those three states. are going to be very close. He blew out Hillary Clinton by 40 points in each of those three states.

And so he still has strong support from young people and very liberal voters, but his support from working class white voters and rural whites really evaporated on Tuesday. Joe Biden is leading among white voters in the state. That's where Bernie Sanders won in 2016. Kalamazoo, home of Western Michigan, basically all in right now. Here's Bernie Sanders barely hanging on, a one-point margin. Again, four years ago, this was a landslide. This was — Sanders had argued that he could drive up turnout among progressives and again win over rural Midwesterners, as he did in 2016.

But that didn't happen. SEN. KATHLEEN MCCORMACK, A working-class vote, a blue-collar vote, and as we've been talking about all night, that was really the vote that that propelled him to victory four years ago in Michigan. And to see Joe Biden come in and start to eat away at the Sanders voters, white working class voters included, is a devastating blow to Bernie Sanders campaign. In fact, Biden routed Sanders across the countryside in Michigan and Missouri. Michigan and Missouri. So we're starting to see a bigger picture here of Democratic primary voters kind of starting to really align behind Joe Biden.

And you saw in our exit polling, too, the things that they care about are electability. So Sanders' struggle is not just about losing specific states. It's about seeing his theory of how to build a progressive majority put to the test and so far seeing it fail. It really undercuts Sanders' claim that only a candidate like him, who trumpets far-reaching change, a political revolution, can energize the voters Democrats need to win. So now it's up to Joe Biden to show he can excite the voters who Bernie Sanders did bring into the party.

And I want to thank Bernie Sanders and his supporters for their tireless energy and their passion. You heard Biden deliver a plea for unity on Tuesday night and tell Sanders voters we share a common goal. They shared a common goal of defeating Donald Trump. We need you. We want you. There's a place in our campaign for each of you. But it's an open question whether young people will ever embrace Biden the way they have embraced Sanders, the way they continue to embrace Sanders. And if Biden is nominated, how much help Bernie Sanders might give him. But winning means, winning means uniting America, not sowing more division and anger. It means having a president who not only knows how to fight,

but knows how to heal. So that's the latest.