Impact2020 Briefing: March 2, 2020
Welcome to your Impact2020 briefing for Monday, March 2. Of note today: The California and North Carolina primaries will go a long way towards determining whether the Democratic contest will end soon or drag on. Plus, we dissect how South Carolina fundamentally altered this race.
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On the Ground
The 800-pound gorilla
South Carolina reshuffled the Democratic presidential primary. California could decide it. The most delegate-rich state in the nation is set to vote on Tuesday, along with 13 other states across the country, although at least a million Californians have already voted by mail. Many of those voters may have picked someone who’s no longer in the race — Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar have now both dropped out.
California’s huge numbers of absentee ballots means the delegate totals are not likely to be clear until days or even weeks later, as Bryan Anderson and David Lightman write for The Sacramento Bee.
The frontrunner in the state, Bernie Sanders, “used his return to California on Sunday afternoon to argue that he’s better positioned than … Joe Biden to win a general election against Donald Trump,” Anderson reports.
Don’t forget North Carolina
Biden, Sanders and Michael Bloomberg are locked in a tight race in North Carolina, which has the third-most delegates at stake on Tuesday, the Charlotte Observer’s Jim Morrill and Lucille Sherman report.
Bloomberg campaigned in Wilmington and Raleigh over the weekend, casting himself as the candidate “with the record and the resources to defeat” Trump. Biden, who rallied supporters in Raleigh on Saturday, is hoping his dominating performance in the South Carolina primary will propel him to victory in its northern neighbor.
Sanders was in North Carolina earlier in the week, and like Biden, he appeared at a historically black college. “It’s just the latest example of the importance presidential campaigns have placed on HBCUs and on voters who care about the institutions, including students, administrators and a highly connected and engaged alumni base,” Brian Murphy, Kate Murphy and Alison Kuznitz write for The Raleigh News & Observer.
South Carolina post-mortem
The State’s Jamie Self and Maayan Schechter look at how Biden managed to exceed expectations in South Carolina, winning a decisive victory in Saturday’s primary that far outpaced even the polls that were most favorable to him heading into primary week. For once, it appears an endorsement actually mattered. “Exit polls showed that about 47% of Democratic voters said (Democratic Rep. Jim) Clyburn’s final week endorsement was a factor in their vote,” Self and Schechter write.
McClatchy Political Correspondents Alex Roarty, David Catanese and I have more takeaways from Biden’s momentum-altering win in South Carolina.
Go Beyond the Bubble
Download the latest episode of McClatchy’s Beyond the Bubble podcast, taped in South Carolina: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts
Trail Mix
Super Tuesday and beyond
Amy Klobuchar dropped out of the race Monday afternoon, less than 24 hours before her home state of Minnesota holds its primary, the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Patrick T. Condon reports.
Klobuchar is “expected to head to Dallas Monday night to throw her support behind” Biden, Anna M. Tinsley reports for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Democratic presidential candidates are talking tough against the oil and gas industries in Texas but “are also offering up programs they say will prevent the Texas economy from cratering,” the Houston Chronicle’s Jeremy Wallace reports.
Sanders told The San Francisco Chronicle’s Joe Garofoli and Anna Bauman that he won’t choose a running mate who doesn’t support his signature issue, Medicare for All.
After interviewing women across California, the Los Angeles Times’ Melanie Mason and Seema Mehta report that Bloomberg faces “an uphill climb” with the state’s female voters, “which could seriously undermine his candidacy.”
Biden declared his campaign “very much alive” during an appearance in Norfolk, Va. Sunday that featured “cameos from several of the state’s most prominent Democrats,” Justin Mattingly writes for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are locked in a statistical tie in Massachusetts per a new Boston Globe-Suffolk University poll ahead of Tuesday’s primary, the Globe’s Jess Bidgood reports.
Sanders was the only major Democratic candidate who did not appear in Selma, Ala. on Sunday for the 55th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday, when civil rights marchers were attacked on their way to Montgomery, Mike Cason writes for AL.com.
After a campaign stop in the military-heavy community of Clarksville, Tenn., Bloomberg told the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle’s Jennifer Babich he is in favor of continuing a U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan.
Biden’s campaign has begun running ads in Oklahoma and dispatched his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, to campaign in the state ahead of its primary vote Tuesday, The Oklahoman’s Chris Casteel reports.
The presidential primary in Florida “will kick up in intensity Monday as Republicans and Democrats in some of Florida’s largest metropolitan areas, including Miami-Dade County, begin voting in person,” David Smiley writes for the Miami Herald.
Battle for Congress
The Los Angeles-area congressional seat vacated by Democrat Katie Hill last year has attracted a swarm of candidates from both parties, creating a “free-for-all for the seat” in California’s jungle primary vote Tuesday, the Los Angeles Daily News’ Ryan Carter reports.
The Texas Tribune’s Abby Livingston and Patrick Svitek report that two of Texas’ hottest congressional primaries are pitting congressional clout against ideological purity.
2024 moves
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo received a standing ovation from thousands of conservative activists for a speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference “that could be a preview of a future presidential candidacy,” Bryan Lowry and Michael Wilner report for The Kansas City Star.
Number of The Day
175%
The increase in early in-person voting in Franklin County, Ohio, home to Columbus, from the 2016 primary to 2020. The Columbus Dispatch’s Darrel Rowland reports that “much of the big increase in registered Democrats comes from Franklin County voters previously not affiliated with a party.”
For Planning Purposes
March 2
Trump delivers remarks at a Keep America Great Rally in Charlotte, N.C.
Sanders holds a concert and rally with Rep. Ilhan Omar and Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats in St. Paul, Minn.
Biden holds a campaign event in Dallas, Texas.
Warren gives a speech in East Los Angeles, Calif.
Tulsi Gabbard holds a town hall in Austin, Texas.
March 3
Alabama, American Samoa, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia and Democrats Abroad hold their primary elections.
Fight The Power
Iconic hip-hop group Public Enemy kicked Flavor Flav out of the group after a dispute over an appearance at a Sanders rally in Los Angeles Sunday. “Thus, the most political rap group in history has been splintered over a political rally,” Cleveland.com’s Troy L. Smith writes.
This story was originally published March 2, 2020 at 2:55 PM.