joining me now the new york times editorial member and msnbc contributor mara gay. in miami, nbc news political reporter maria vitaly. and in washington mike memoli, our expert on all things biden. mike, let me start with you. the timing on this was so interesting. biden steps in to a trefrs involving race as he and the entire democratic field go to south carolina where 60% of the democratic electorate will be black. what is your assessment of how this weekend went for joe biden. listen, steve, i think it was interesting. not just do you have the controversy over comments about seg ra gasists but also the reversal on the hyde amendment and across the street joe biden needing to court african-american voters in this important state and also speaking at a planned parenthood event where both of these
prolonged for him. it s interesting too, we see this in poll after poll, over 45 biden is cleaning up. under 45, a lot more doubts among democratic voters. maria, you were in south carolina and that was where all of the action, jim clyburn, highest-ranking democrat in the state, world famous fish fry. 21 candidates there. set the scene for us. absolutely. we were there, hot and sticky and same thing in miami, ahead of the pack. it s going to be crowded this week but it was packed in south carolina this weekend. take a listen. let s not flounder! let s get out there and kick some bass. s this the jim clyburn fish fry, the democrat right fish fry in campaigning. so glad to be in south carolina! several democrats took smaller portions on stage. that was the shortest speech