Say after President Nicolas Maduro last month named a committee to restructure the OPEC nations oil industry Venezuela's oil sector is struggling under sanctions designed to force majeure Rose ouster as well as years of mismanagement corruption and declining cash flow nearly 50 people have been rescued following the collapse of a hotel used as a coronavirus quarantine facility and Guang Jo eastern China state media said 67 people were initially trapped when the building crumbled c.c.t.v. Said that 48 people have been rescued but no deaths have been reported video from the site showed rescue workers scrambling over piles of twisted metal and rubble taking injured people to ambulances the cause of the collapse is not known Lebanon's prime minister said Saturday the government will suspend payment of a 1200000000 dollar loan marking the crisis hit country's 1st ever default on its sovereign debt prime minister Hasan made the announcement in a televised address to the Lebanese people saying the country will seek to restructure its massive debt the $1200000000.00 euro bond matures on Monday the 6 week old government is grappling with a severe financial and economic crisis that has led to months of protest and up ended trust in the Lebanese banking system the race for the Democratic presidential nomination is down to 2 and former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders spent Saturday on the campaign trail in the Midwest A.P.'s Ben Thomas has more. There are Bernie Sanders like the make up of the crowd that showed up for his rally in Dearborn Michigan I got inspired because I talked to groups like this I look around this room and I see people coming from so many different backgrounds it's beautiful. This is what other go looks like at its best Meanwhile Joe Biden was campaigning in St Louis you know Senator Sanders likes to say you'll need a record turnout if you don't trump he's right and we're the campaign's going to do that record turnout in Michigan both hold primaries on Tuesday I'm Ben Thomas for more on these stories be sure to visit our Web site v.o.a. News dot com I'm David Berg away news. This is Encounter on v.o.a. Here's Carol Castillo. Welcome to Encounter on The Voice of America on this edition of the program fall out from the Democratic primary in South Carolina and Super Tuesday the collection of Democratic contests in 14 states that a lot approximately one 3rd of the delegates Hello again I'm Carol Castiel having won South Carolina with a large margin and 10 of the 14 Super Tuesday primaries Vice President Joe Biden made an extraordinary comeback that even the most jaded of pundits could not have predicted when we were at these microphones just a few weeks ago the former vice president had garnered 4th place in Iowa and 5th place in the New Hampshire primary it looked like self described democratic socialist Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was going to be the front runner in a Democratic Party that he often vilifies then along came South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn the 3rd ranking Democrat in the u.s. House of Representatives the legendary African-American lawmaker forcefully endorsed Joe Biden several days before the make or break primary in his home state and rallied black voters in South Carolina and beyond to back Biden African-Americans are the backbone of the Democratic Party his endorsement citing Biden's electability and impact on what we called down ballot races for members of Congress marked a turning point in Biden's presidential bid leading to massive wins in South Carolina and across the South on Super Tuesday in the Super Tuesday contest Joe Biden won most of the Southern states and unexpectedly a number of northeastern states he triumphed in Virginia North Carolina Alabama Tennessee Oklahoma Arkansas Minnesota Massachusetts Texas and Maine Senator Bernie Sanders won his home state of Vermont as well as Colorado and Utah he is also leading in delegate rich California. Shortly after the South Carolina primary moderate Democrats Mayor Pete booted judge and Senator Amy Klobuchar announced the suspension of their campaigns and threw their weight behind Joe Biden then despite his tens of millions of dollars in advertising and a formidable campaign infrastructure former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg dropped out of the race after Super Tuesday revealed that he had no pathway to the nomination Reportedly Mr Bloomberg will bring his formidable financial and organizational resources to bear to bolster Joe Biden and try to defeat Donald Trump and by Thursday of this week Senator Elizabeth Warren the only remaining viable Democratic candidate in a field that started with more than 20 an ounce that she too will exit the race clearing the way for a Sanders Biden showdown Well joining us to discuss the fallout from the Super Tuesday primary contests are our favorite political analysts Gianforte a director of the Democracy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center and Jim Kessler senior vice president for policy at 3rd Way and both gentlemen join me here at the v.o.a. Broadcast Center in Washington welcome back to the program thank you Carol great to be here well Jim Kasler let's start with you the last time we were at these microphones you said for Joe Biden to resurrect his campaign he would have to win South Carolina and you also said that the moderate lay needed to be winnow down because that was a big disadvantage Well here we are after Super Tuesday he not only won big in South Carolina but also he did so during Super Tuesday and the moderate lane is now his because of the others who just dropped out what's your reaction it's been an extraordinary couple weeks in the Democratic primary we went from a situation where there was really no clarity whatsoever you had Bernie Sanders leading and he is a late comer to the Democratic Party is a democratic socialist he doesn't even call himself a Democrat who are the front runner Joe Biden stumbling badly and you had 4 moderates in the race competing for votes and resources and one. Of the Michael Bloomberg who's worth more money than most countries so everything was aligning poorly for Joe Biden and then suddenly everything started to align correctly form the 1st thing that happened was that was the 1st debate that Mike Bloomberg participated in it was right before the South Carolina primary he was a disaster and Elizabeth Warren frankly eviscerated I'm in this debate and suddenly a bunch of Democrats who were wondering which of these moderates should I choose all said at once across the country it's going to be Joe Biden and the 1st place was South Carolina which voted this past Saturday and he got a huge victory and then it went to Super Tuesday and he got votes that really nobody could have imagined in places that no one thought could happen he is now in command in this race it's not over Bernie Sanders can come back but Joe Biden now is really in a commanding position so I'd like to get your take John 40 a add or subtract to what Jim Kasler said I think there was also a lot of worry in the Democratic Party about the rise of Bernie Sanders a self described democratic socialist who passes the Democratic establishment not so much for the ideology he espouses but also because he would be a very bad general election candidate and almost ensure a trump victory but let me get you to weigh in on what we've just seen what I think what you say is right although these races are not all about rationality they involve many forces especially with a large field and so I think you know the couple of big moves that Joe Biden really did better South Carolina than expected we always expected him to do well with the black vote but he consolidated it in a very large way and then secondly the dropping out of people to judge and Amy Klobuchar I think even with the dynamic of the race people didn't expect that it was only a couple days after South Carolina and had they not done that you know Biden would have done better but Bernie Sanders probably would have still had the majority of delegates on Super Tuesday so today I do agree with Jim that Joe Biden is sitting in a very good position a leading position. We still have a couple of things out there other than of California our system there counts incredibly slowly that's a state that Bernie Sanders is probably why I'm here and leading the late vote may come in a little bit more for Biden but perhaps Bernie Sanders get some more delegates from there and then a week after Super Tuesday another set of states smaller set if Bernie Sanders is going to come back he's going to need to come back in places like Michigan in the Midwest and should he do that the delegate count is not so large in Joe Biden's favor but really he is the favorite today if the dynamic continues as it is today Joe Biden will continue towards the nomination back to you Jim Kasler Bernie Sanders is strong as John 40 said in California he seems to be relatively strong with young voters ironically and he evidently is doing well with the Latino community and of course we know that Biden is very strong in the African-American community with older voters with working class whites with suburban women which are critical for the coalition but what does Biden have to do to break into and try to woo some of these Sander's voters how do you see him doing with the Latino community explain to me how you see the demographics I think Joe Biden will do fine with Latino voters in the general election who do very very well Sanders is doing very well with Latino voters really for one reason he had a lot more money than any of the other candidates in the race and he has been advertising in campaigning to Latino voters in California in how Arizonans in Texas and in Nevada while Joe Biden did not have enough money to do so so Joe Biden just was resourced in California by margin of 15 to one by Bernie Sanders I think once resources even out Joe Biden will do just as well as Bernie Sanders he will target those voters he wants regulator's Yes Joe Biden clearly has some problems with the younger voters though that is not a advertising problem and I think that should Joe Biden win the nomination when it comes time to pick a vice president and he's going to have to check some boxes there on diversity in one of them places where there needs to be diversity is in terms of age. I think it will be a young nominated will pick a nominee who's a person of color and a nominee who is a woman so I think that's how he's going to try and overcome some of the places where he's got some gaps so how do you see the match up Gianforte a and some weaknesses on Biden side with respect to these communities and how Sanders is going to play going forward I mean I guess anybody who tells you you can have a lot of free stuff young people in particular you know free college and free health care that is appealing but it's not necessarily very realistic I guess what I would say is boy I do think Biden has the advantage the place that we should look at the Midwest the Midwest really has not weighed in on this campaign yet Michigan comes next week as well as Missouri and this is a place where arguably Bernie Sanders could do well he did well in against Hillary Clinton and has some appeal among white working class voters there less educated college white voters and so we'll see I mean the polls seem to have moved a little bit in favor of Joe Biden there but that's the mystery region we know that Joe Biden is going to do well in the remaining southern states which have very large African-American populations pretty sender's going to do pretty well in the West I think he'll actually do better in the northeast then he has Elizabeth Warren leaving the race will help him there the states that Joe Biden won in the Northeast were heavily because Lisbeth Warren took votes from him in Massachusetts and Maine and even in Minnesota so I think the Midwest for Bernie Sanders if he wants to come back he's got to have a strong showing there then it makes it more of a race other than that I think Joe Biden is the nominee speaking of Elizabeth Warren where do you think her voters are likely to go Jim Kasler some say well she's pretty much alive with Bernie Sanders but I don't think it's that simple she even says I'm in a 3rd line I'm neither on the moderate part of the Democratic Party but I don't necessarily describe myself as a democratic socialist Yeah I think her votes are going to split about evenly between Sanders and Biden the votes that she has already lost in the past like she was much higher in the polls and she went down those early votes mostly went to Sanders the votes that she has left some of them are with her for. Purely illogical reasons and I think some of those will drift toward Sanders others are looking for a very strong woman to top the ticket while Sanders has a gender problem you know there is a real gender gap in the Sanders vote that Biden did 12 points better than Sanders among women so you're going to see I think a lot of women voters particularly suburban women voters who were with Warren going towards Biden let me just say one more thing about the vote those who are undecided this election is a lot about what race you are where you live and how would you are so if you are one supporter who's 30 years old you'll probably go to Sanders because he's winning younger voters if you're a one supporter who lives in the suburbs you're probably going to go to Biden and if you're a person of color if you're African-American you're probably going to go to Biden tell so John 48 where do you think Elizabeth Warren's voters would go we hear about Bernie Bros so I guess that also underscores a potential gender gap for him but we'll see to the extent women will go for Biden or the younger women is Jim cast aside might vote for him I mean how do you see it well look it is too simplistic to say that all of Elizabeth Warren's 4 is going to go one place or another I think Jim probably a little too optimistic that the vote will split evenly I think Bernie Sanders will get more of that support but of course you also have Michael Bloomberg dropping out of the race and most of that support is going to go to Joe Biden and that but was a slightly bigger vote I do think in key areas again in the northeast also in Minnesota those are places a little bit more and did pretty well and Bernie Sanders would have probably won those states if she had not been in the race at that time so I think Bernie gets a little bump from Elizabeth Warren but the overall math is not so great for Bernie because of Bloomberg also dropping out and he's going to have to do well there and really some other strengths other places we'll have more in just a moment but 1st you're listening to Encounter on The Voice of America our guests are John 40 a director of the Democracy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center from whom you just heard and Jim Kasler senior vice president for policy at 3rd Way we're discussing. Former Vice President Joe Biden's victories on Super Tuesday have changed the shape of the race this is a reminder that our encounter podcast is available on our website at v.o.a. News dot com slash encounter You may also follow us on Twitter or connect with us on Facebook at Carol Castiel v.o.a. Here's a shout out to valued Facebook fan from Nigeria Yusuf if you want to hear your name and home country on the air please send an e-mail to encounter at v.o.a. News dot com or like us and leave a comment on our Facebook page well that try to scuttle about the Democratic race for president back to you Jim Kasler speaking of Michael Bloomberg and the fact that he has a lot of money and resources it sounds like he is going to leverage them to benefit Joe Biden do you have any reason to believe that that won't happen and how much of a difference will that make I have every reason to believe that Michael Bloomberg will spend a lot of money to help Joe Biden and to defeat Donald Trump I don't think Mike Bloomberg was as wedded to running for president as maybe he needed to be if he was going to get into this race but he does have some very passionate beliefs about climate change about education about guns he's been very involved in philanthropy in the United States and throughout the world and I know a lot of his people actually and I've talked to them on many occasions their goal really is to defeat Donald Trump and I think they're perfectly happy now to take a secondary role I'm going to get John 40 to weigh in but one follow up question to you what about Bernie Sanders we see the moderates uniting incredibly you know close sharp blow to judge now Michael Bloomberg either on the eve of a right after Super Tuesday throwing their weight and indorsements behind Biden but what about Bernie Sanders if he does come up short at the end of the day what do you think he will mobilize his people it's almost like a cult it seems to some of us they are very rigid about their support of Bernie Sanders I just was wondering how you think that part of the party can unify around a strong candidate to. To defeat Donald Trump that's really an open question and you know there's still a lot left to this primary race but the next few weeks if Bernie Sanders doesn't really have a good couple of weeks like it's over for him the map does not look great for him there's some states like Florida and Georgia that are going to give delegate halls to Biden the question is will he do what he did in 2016 which was he sort of pretended to help Hillary Clinton but really didn't do much or will he push all the chips in and really trying to help Joe Biden I am optimistic that he will be a more positive influence on this race for Democrats than he was last time for a couple of reasons one is I think he has a personal finance for Joe Biden that he did not have for Hillary Clinton they've known each other for decades Number 2 is people thought that Donald Trump could not get elected president while he did so the idea of a 2nd term is really too dangerous to think of and then 3rd is I think he'll probably extract some demands from Biden and get some things I don't know what but some things that he wants and we'll be able to claim some sort of victory back to you John 48 so that 2 part question 1st Michael Bloomberg any reason to doubt that he wouldn't mobilize his fermentable machine behind Joe Biden and what extent that will make a difference and then the question of Bernie Sanders if he doesn't succeed in getting the delegates needed for the nomination will he take back some of his criticisms or at least rally around Biden should he become the nominee and then try to rev up his base his supporters to back the candidate So 1st a tactical point Michael Bloomberg even though our campaign finance laws are a relatively loose and generous about how you can spend your money he cannot literally give his money to Joe Biden or work directly with Joe Biden now he certainly can run a campaign that favors Democrats that broadly helps the Democratic Party without working with Joe Biden directly and I expect that he will do that now will he spend as much money on that campaign as he did on his own he spent $500000000.00. Or more to a lot of American Samoa yes much less which is nearly the g.d.p. Nul g.d.p. Of American Samoa So that's a lot of money so I think he will be helpful now look there are other billionaires out there that raised a well funded system but for a candidate for a Democratic Party which is on the outs which is not the party in the White House to have someone who might be helpful financially in the time before Joe Biden can really get going raising money if he ends up being the nominee that's a helpful thing on Bernie Sanders again I think Jim's probably a little more optimistic than I am I think if this race closes up a little bit Bernie Sanders could be pretty bitter if he loses he certainly has things that he has supporters will point to about states that he did well and that didn't report quickly California ends up being this case in a different situation where Sanders might have won the day of delegates we might not have known about it for a long time California all of the consolidation behind Joe Biden which seems like the party is just looking down at kind of outsiders of Bernie Sanders I think those might factor in but if the race goes pretty quickly and he's not a candidate I think he'll be unhappy kind of mildly helpful but won't cause trouble but I don't actually see him coming in and being actively supportive of a Biden nomination more neutral if things go the way that they look like they're going to go with Biden winning I do think that the Elizabeth Warren non endorsement of Bernie Sanders is really significant in terms of whether this party is going to unify because it is a logical he she is much closer to Sanders than to Joe Biden they have the exact same health care plan for example and their tax plans are very similar She is signaling number one I don't think that Bernie Sanders is going to win and number 2 we better get behind Joe Biden and she's not ready to say I'm with Joe But I think it's a very strong signal there so that when Bernie Sanders does say well this election was rigged the person who 1st started talking about a rigged system is a little bit more and she'll say no it wasn't it was fair that's a very good point and John 40 I think another factor for many do. Kratz are the so-called down ballot races and the importance of having someone at the top of the ticket who will help to retain those seats in the House of Representatives that many Democrats one defeated Republicans and they need someone who's a moderate and somebody like Bernie Sanders many analysts say could hurt their chances I agree with you about the value of having somebody uniting the ticket of the top again I think for voters broadly being electable or broadly $1000000000.00 Trump is in their minds thinking that far down the road I think it's probably not the 1st thing on their minds but it is a good thing if the party unifies behind Joe Biden if he's the nominee he's a stronger nominee then the Bernie Sanders that is also helpful for these down ballot races but broadly speaking it's good for the congressional majorities as well well let's take a look at the g.o.p. Interim strategy going forward how do you think he's weak calculating his campaign in view of the Biden victories he looks more likely to be his opponent in the general election at least so far than Bernie Sanders someone who many say he would like to have competed against because once again Bernie Sanders is unlikely to win in a general election but how do you think he in the Republican Party are calculating what you think their strategy will be going forward so this was not a great night for Donald Trump for the Super Tuesday or for the g.o.p. They really wanted Bernie Sanders I mean Sanders would have been a terrible candidate for Democrats he definitely would have lost to Donald Trump and he'd be a disaster at the top of the ticket especially once the Trump team spent a half a $1000000000.00 educating voters on Sanders record in promises and what would happen with taxes and they don't want Joe Biden I mean that's what the whole impeachment was about it was about a plan that was hatched inside the White House to try and deny Biden the nomination by getting Ukraine to conduct some phony investigations so they see Biden as someone who can take a bunch of voters the Trump guy particularly white working class voters who are a bit disaffected with the Democratic Party these tend to be more men than. Women although there are definitely some women in these areas of the country that would flip back and Biden will be very strong in the suburbs and 2018 the midterm elections the Democrats did so well and it was really a suburban led revolt against Republicans so of course Donald Trump is the incumbent that is very good position to have he's more likely to win reelection than not at this point Biden is the strongest candidate the Democrats could have and I think we're going to see a dog fight from here on in so Biden is probably the strongest candidate on the Democrat side for President Trump in addition to that right now President Trump used to tout the stock market as if that was the best measure of the economy that's sung quite a bit then he has been accused of mishandling this coronavirus So he's got a lot of let's call them you know shortcomings and challenges how do you see the Republican Party Mr Trump going forward you know should Biden consolidate and look like a very formidable opponent in the general election well I agreed 10 days ago Don Trump was on top of the world he was at its highest level of approval rating definitely high for him the nominee looked like Bernie Sanders the economy was plowing along certainly we have now a different front runner in the Democratic race Joe Biden but we also have the corona virus which is not absolutely clear that it will hurt or help Donald Trump or whether it will be a temporary phenomenon or will be something the last so it's something that is a crisis kind of foreign policy crisis that we know that might come up but it's certainly not the kind of certainty and just sitting on a great economy that we had before I do think that the Trump White House would have liked to run against Bernie Sanders better than Joe Biden but I don't think they think of Joe Biden as a candidate that is the strongest candidate that they could have faced and while I do think he potentially appeals to some of the voters in the Midwest which again was the key swing region you look at Joe Biden the Trump campaign is talking about him as another version of Hillary Clinton now Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but is a very establishment figure and while Joe Biden has a history in some ways from. Unsling Yeah and from Delaware he also will be tagged as someone who voted for the Iraq war is pro NAFTA pro free trade is pro-immigration some things that I think Donald Trump is using against Democrats to appeal to these white working class voters the gritty centers would have been overall much weaker candidate but in some of those areas Bernie Sanders would have had some likenesses to Donald Trump So look I think it's not something that the Republican Party says oh I can't believe it's Joe Biden we can't beat him but certainly Bernie Sanders would have been an easier opponent and as we close there's no question that Joe Biden is often gaffe prone and anything can happen nonetheless a friend of mine who's from Pennsylvania my home state said that after hearing Biden after Super Tuesday said he's going to go down very well in Pennsylvania that is a state that Mr Trump 12016 which is normally a blue state but going forward the upcoming contests in Michigan State of Washington Idaho North Dakota do they favor Biden or Sanders how do you see it going forward in the next week so the next week has some states that I think are good Bernie States Washington should be a Bernie state Michigan is going to be the real fight and Michigan was the place where Bernie really ignited his candidacy against Hillary Clinton post Super Tuesday if Biden has a good showing in Michigan which is very possible the race is really going to proceed towards a finish because then you get to the week after and it's Florida and then after that there's Georgia the map really starts to tilt towards Biden So I think the last gasp for Bernie Sanders possibly could be this Michigan primary on the 10th well you get the last word John 48 but to what extent do you think some of these surrogates like Pete but a judge and Amy clovers Shar could they help Joe Biden in Michigan Well I think they're dropping out of the race was very significant at the time and that was a Porton factor for Super Tuesday in general circuits don't help you very much at all so you've got to be on your own so I'm not worried about that and I agree with Jim Michigan is the place I would watch Bernie Sanders is going to do well in some of these western states like Washington but Michigan and to some extent Missouri which I. On the ballot next week Bernie Sanders has to show strength in the Midwest if he does it's a race again because there are other Midwest states coming behind it which have significant populations but if he does not show some strength in Michigan I think we can say that the race is continuing as it is now with Joe Biden as the very likely winner and of course we will be bringing you all that news and the weeks ahead but for now that's just about all the time we have on this edition of encounter I'd like to thank my guests Gianforte He's the director of the Democracy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center and Jim Kessler senior vice president for policy at 3rd Way gentlemen once again thanks for a terrific conversation thank you encounter was produced in Washington thanks to Kim Lewis for booking our guests our engineer was just in Thwaites I'm Carol Castillo join me again next week for another encounter on the Voice of America. a special edition of plugged in I'm Jim alone filling in for Greg have ancestors it was a night of high drama for the Democratic Party and a huge comeback for Joe Biden a Democratic field that began last year with more than 2 dozen contenders now appears down to only 2 Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders We begin with the latest in what remains a developing story primary votes in some states are still being counted but the biggest take away after Super Tuesday was the resurgence of Joe Biden and what is now a 2 man race between the former vice president and Senator Sanders So to help us on pack these Super Tuesday results we have a 0 a reporter standing by and 2 of the Keystone states that voted on Tuesday Elizabeth Lee joins us from the southwestern state of California where more than 400 delegates are in play and Carolyn presumably ends. Texas were 228 delegates will be divvied up among the qualifying candidates let's begin now with the always Carolyn presuming who's been covering primary voters in the Lone Star State she joins us from Fort Worth Carol and you had quite a race down there in Texas. Absolutely it was much closer than anyone thought it proved the pundits wrong and actually prove the polls wrong too and from when I spoke with the voters it's attributed to 2 things Joe Biden surge wind because of these huge win in South Carolina the Saturday before Super Tuesday and 2 because of the rally he held here in Dallas now his 1st rally was with one of his rivals former South Bend Indiana Mayor Pete moody Gedge and then in the hour he showed up at another rally with another rival it was Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar shark both judge and club which are endorsed Biden So a lot of their voters went over to the Biden camp and when clubbish are introduced Biden she said this is a candidate who will put our country back together to heal and that was mirrored by a lot of the voters that I talked to they said that they want to get back to politics as usual they don't really want to see reform they want someone with a track record and hence they were voting for Joe Biden but you know Jim Biden has some issues that he has to deal with and one is the younger vote at that at that rally with Khloe Bashar I spoke with 3 people at the front of the line and actually the line of wrapped around a Dallas ballroom several times so there were a lot of people coming out to see Biden and to hear Biden but the 3 at the top of the lying were college freshman and I said to them well wait a 2nd where is everybody else where is everybody from your dorm floor where is that all your buddies and they said well they're voting for sander. And I said why are you and they said well you know we know that not everything is free healthcare for all and free college we know that there has to be a catch there and so they said we face reality and that's why we're going with Biden on the other hand Biden does have an issue too he's not getting the African-American vote here in Texas I spoke with a couple African-American voters yesterday at a polling location one man rode the bus and he said he didn't care how long he waited he was going to put in his boat his vote for Biden he said because President Obama chose Biden and he said that was a man who had good judgment and that's why I'm voting for Biden who can win and we're all not around you're on the ground in Iraq and Carolyn you were on the ground in the final days there could you actually feel it shifting from Bernie Sanders to Biden. Absolutely because it was those endorsements that were key the people that had previously supported former South Bend their people to judge and Amy club which are the senator from Minnesota they were switching over to the Biden camp and you could feel the excitement in the room to during the rallies the night before Super Tuesday what were Democrats looking the people you talk to what are they looking for in a candidate to take on President Trump in November what was their number one priority. That's it though you said it they want somebody who can beat President Trump That's their number one mission I spoke to somebody who wouldn't tell me who you voted for but he said to me no socialist is ever going to be beat anyone in this country and that being of course a reverent reference to self described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders So just briefly Carolyn around what is it in fact a close race but this latest surged. From Biden starting in South Carolina last Saturday really seem to have turned the tide in Texas a key state in terms of the Democratic primary. Absolutely we are definitely a key state here with 228 delegates up for grabs everyone who wanted to crisscross Texas everyone wanted to get there about here did you get it and you did it and you know Texas came out in full force right did you get a sense they did not occur to turnout here. Did you get a sense that Democratic voters were engaged and turned out in strong numbers in this primary. Absolutely I didn't have anyone that I talked to say to me I'm going to decide in the voting booth or I decided in the voting that they are in you walk into the polling place they are going to vote for it they were and they had already made up their minds and it didn't come out in full force you know 4 years ago in 2016 for the Democratic primary here in Texas one and a half 1000000 people voted we had more than 2000000 vote on Super Tuesday this year all right Carolyn presumably in 4 worth saying so much for that ballots are still being counted in California which is by far the largest of the 14 Super Tuesday states $415.00 delegates will be awarded proportionally to candidates to reach the required threshold of at least 15 percent of the votes it appears right now that Sanders is leading in California we're joined by via ways Elizabeth ladies been covering that primary race she's with us from our bureau in Los Angeles Elizabeth Bernie Sanders had a big night in California so I guess that's the sort of silver lining in an otherwise big night for Joe Biden. That's right Bernie Sanders has been the front runner in California and continues to be popular here and there are many reason why that implicates 1st of all very familiar with California. And the people who live here know him very well he campaigned here in 2016 very popular then and from that experience he's really is a movement here in California and this time his strategy is also just really tackling the grassroots he has a lot of volunteers who knocked on doors for him phone bank for him they are passionate about Bernie Sanders and they say that he is the movement those who support him are largely millennial voters young voters and many Latino voters really favor Bernie Sanders and they say they like his message of universal health care college free college tuition and they also fail that they feel that the establishment of the traditional Democratic Party failed them and they're holding the party accountable for Donald Trump being in the White House so they say they want to change they want something different and they feel that Bernie Sanders is that answer now as we heard from Carolyn in Texas Elizabeth we had a late surge for Biden in Texas did you sense any sort of last minute sort of support in California for Joe Biden. In those that I spoke to at the polls yesterday all worried mostly Sanders supporters in a few Warren supporters now California is known to be a more progressive state perhaps more progressive than the middle of the country or the south of the country so mainly sander supporters not so much Biden but again there are some moderates in California and I spoke to a couple who say they like Sanders ideas but they think it's too Pine this guy they don't think it's realistic and for those people they are undecided but they could be swayed towards vote. For a more moderate candidate like you're buying Yeah I was going to ask you about that in 2016 Democrats had trouble patching up the differences in their party and the Sanders voters you talk to would they be willing to support the nominee it's Joe Biden down the line. At the end of the day what they all have in common all the Democrat here including Sanders supporters is that they want somebody other than in the White House though they thought yet if Biden becomes the nominee for the Democratic Party they will vote for him or whoever becomes the nominee because they don't like the current system they think it's broken and they believe the Democrats will be the answer to fixing that broken system and finally did you did you get a sense of how energized Democratic voters were Amine if California is unusual a lot of people do vote early by mail and you're going to be counting those votes for the next several days but do you sense the Democratic voters are energized not only for the primary but for the upcoming general election in November. Yet they are definitely energized people were waiting in line for 2 to 4 hours yesterday to cast their vote people are excited and there are people because as you mentioned who voted early because the polls have been the voting centers have been open for more than a week and some even 24 hours a day and those who voted for any close our people to judge their vote than if they voted before super to well before the 2 dropped out suspended their race well it didn't really count so they are really looking forward to the general election when they can again make their vote count they are excited I spoke to some college students and they finally feel like perhaps their vote will count. Will matter and also minority in both one of the. Main thing Captain thanked me more minority about this time than 4 years ago but there is definitely energy here in California all right the always Elizabeth Lee in Los Angeles thanks very much. Since President Trump is running virtually unopposed for a 2nd term Super Tuesday is a foregone conclusion for the Republican Party but for Democratic candidates who want to beat him in November Super Tuesday was a game changer it's the single largest primary voting day 14 states representing 40 percent of the u.s. Population deciding which candidate moves closer to the winning number required to receive the nomination to explain the Super Tuesday math and the role delegates have in choosing a presidential nominee Here's plugins mil or Sega. Most Super Tuesday voters marked a ballot for specific presidential candidates but those votes actually went to a slate of delegates who had pledged to vote for that candidate at the Democratic Party's nominating convention in the summer the delegates are allocated to each state in proportion to its population on Super Tuesday more than one 3rd of Democratic convention delegates were at stake ranging from $415.00 delegates in California there's 16 in Vermont now candidates win pledged delegates in proportion to the votes they get from each state but they must reach a 15 percent threshold in order to win a portion of those delegates with $3979.00 total delegates and Democratic convention a candidate needs a majority 1991 to win the party's nomination if no one reaches that magic number on the convention's 1st ballot unpledged delegates a group of 771 party leaders called superdelegates will step in and those superdelegates who can endorse any candidate of their choice have the power to sway the nomination potentially subverting the candidate with the most support which could divide Democrats in effect the general election in November for plugged in I mean are saying it. Democrats have been building toward Super Tuesday since July of 2017 when a little known congressman from Maryland John Delaney 1st announced his intention to run for president but that was just a start old told a total of $28.00 Democrats would jostle for attention votes and campaign contributions but here we are just a day after Super Tuesday only 4 candidates remain in what is now essentially a 2 man race plugged in Steve redish takes a look at where the remaining candidates stand. Trying very hard we are very much alive. All but written off by many political pundits Joe Biden won 10 of the 14 Super Tuesday primaries ensuring the race for Democratic presidential nomination will not be a run away thank you all very much let's go on to the White House thank you Bernie Sanders won for Super Tuesday states but was able to keep its status as a front runner for the nomination it is now a 2 man race Biden in Sanders personified the battle between the liberal versus moderate split within the Democratic Party the u.s. Senator from Vermont is a self described democratic socialist if elected he promises significant tax hikes on wealthy Americans reshaping the u.s. Health care system to eliminate private health insurance and a cut u.s. Defense spending bringing u.s. Troops home from post $911.00 deployments Biden is considered a centrist within the Democratic Party he too would raise taxes on the rich but not to Sanders level on health care Biden wants to build on the existing Affordable Care Act passed during the Obama administration and keep private insurance Biden also favors for defense spending Biden has run for president before. In the 1980 s. And 2008 and was Barack Obama's vice president this is the 2nd try for Sanders to win the presidential nomination losing to Hillary Clinton in 2016 in a bitter campaign to other Democrats Lizabeth Warren and Michael Bloomberg competed in the Super Tuesday primaries but trailed Biden and Sanders in the delegate count another Democrat Tulsa Gabbert is also running but far back in the pack Steve redish v.o.a. News. So how much has the political landscape changed as the Democratic race turned into a war between the progressive versus the establishment wing of the party and where does the party go from here well to help us answer these questions and more we're joined by 2 experts with keen insights on the state of American politics Penny Lee is a Democratic strategist who served dad served as a political advisor to former u.s. Senator Harry Reid She's the former executive director for the Democratic Governors Association and David Barker a professor of Government at American University here in Washington and director of the University Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies he's also an expert in political psychology and voting behavior Well thank you both very much for being here I want to get some quick takes on where we are the day after Super Tuesday Penny let me start with you it would I would say that what we saw last night was momentum slash Joe my momentum is there kind of out the money and out out be them a movement and you saw just an unbelievable turnaround in the last 72 hours or $24.00 from South Carolina moving on in into Super Tuesday and he saw a real reverse I mean it was stunning Joe Biden winning in places like Virginia without any infrastructure whatsoever I mean not in office hadn't spent a dime on Monday he saw a record crowds though turnout and saw them turn out for Joe Biden So you saw a real it is amazing to see if Isaac shut. And you the voter present that preference wasn't just a very short time David your take That's right so while in the last 72 hours or so this dramatic shift in Biden's favor it's also kind of interest saying that after all these debates and all these different things that have happened over the course of the past year and a half we are essentially where we thought we would be if you would have asked somebody 3 years ago who will be vying for the nomination on the Democratic side they would have said probably Biden versus Sanders and Biden would be the front runner and that's where we are and I would say at this point Biden's odds of getting the nomination are about 3 in 4 wow that's high in fact let's hear from Joe Biden he was in California last night at a victory celebration commenting after his big night. Let behind this year your campaign. We're just a few days ago in the past the pundits who declared a campaign. Issue we're. Going to go to Super Tuesday after. We have seen this dramatic turnaround in the race it's only been a few days it seems as though Biden's victory in South Carolina really changed the dimension of the race let's talk about Bernie Sanders for because this race is not over at all and David what is your take on this sander strategy now from here on out west to look similar to what he did in 26 team you know we've got an insurgent wing of the Democratic Party against him a stablish man Wing and Senator percents that insurgent wing they have a lot of enthusiasm they have a lot of money they have a lot of people and so that's what it's going to be from this point on I think there are significant reasons to suspect that he ultimately is not going to do as well as he did in 2016 for one thing. The fear and loathing of Joe Biden is less than it was of Hillary Clinton as a substantial portion of Sandor supported $26.00 team was really more anti Hillary Bennett was pro Sanders and the fear and loathing of the current incumbent president is much much greater than that man who has of the former president and so this is part of what's fueling Biden's comeback and that's going back and tenure and certainly we heard last night from Bernie Sanders at his celebration in Vermont that he's not going anywhere and he certainly had an energized crowd Let's hear a little bit from Bernie Sanders last night. You know. It's a funny thing 31 years ago today we won the mill you were raised in Burlington Vermont was born with raised against. Your want to everybody said it couldn't be done was and when we began this race for the presidency everybody's. It couldn't be done was the what's in the mind hard to tell you were the absolute competent we're going to win the Democratic nominee should be the law and we're going to defeat the most dangerous president in their history how this country was Bernie Sanders in Vermont last night. We also had some news on Wednesday about Michael Bloomberg he's ending his campaign he's endorsing Joe Biden I guess it's just keep coming in for Joe Biden at this point and look I mean what comes with Mike Bloomberg is also an incredible infrastructure behind it I have gone up to the campaign headquarters and seen all that they are been doing and are staying committed until November which is unprecedented so to have not only that personal endorsement but to then have it and complete infrastructure behind them really will I think said Joe Biden are on a true path to victory I mean David if you're a Biden fan and you can't believe the good fortune that seems to be coming his way that's right given the the tension in the party and it stems from 4 years ago with Clinton in Sanders the other any risks here about exacerbating you know the strains where it looks like everyone's consolidating 4 By think that by his surrogates need to be careful about the language that they use and the tack that they take think they're then to be careful not to start acting overconfident or or gloat or talking down to Sanders supporters and particular I think they need to make some efforts to I would actually frankly the void going negative even when Sanders is going negative on him I would try to be a unifier try to praise Bernie and try to praise the movement praise the energy and the idealism and try to to do. Either best you know there's another debate coming up on the 15th important states are going to come after that this time it's going to be a 2 person debate so you know Biden has another chance to blow it and a serious thing twist back and the opposite direction so that'll be fun to watch you know speaking of people weighing in of the Democratic race we're hearing a lot from President Trump he's got some opinions in fact he was talking about it at the White House just the other day. Well I think there's no question the establishment the Democrat establishment has tried to take it away from Bertie said before you got better by so that's the president likes to fan the flames about this a majority or are pretty slim odds of him having a reasonably significant plurality and then picking up those delegates from Bloomberg from blue to judge in the few delegates that closure have that should be enough to put him over the top without any superdelegates having to get involved and that is critical for the party not be income plea at war with itself heading a little bit but I think that work we're going to see is a nastier more personal campaign on the part of the Trump camp Trump team we're going to see a lot more supposedly corrupt Joe a lot more references to Ukraine they're going to try to turn that into Hillary's e-mails and you know for his base right for that roughly 45 percent of the country are about right at this point it will probably work right and so we can expect a pretty personal campaign in the fall well I want to thank both of you a Democratic strategist Penny Lee and political scientist David Barker 1st sorting this out it's been a big few days here in American politics and we really appreciate your gods thank you very much and that's all the time we have for today stay plugged in by liking us on Facebook at Voice of America or follow us on You Tube and on Greg his Facebook page I'm Jim alone Thanks for watching and thanks as always for being plugged in. 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