The Note: Eyes turn to Warren and Bloomberg as two-way race takes hold

Super Tuesday reorders the race but doesn’t come close to locking anything down.

By
Rick Klein
 and
MaryAlice Parks
March 4, 2020, 6:02 AM ET
7 min read

The TAKE with Rick Klein

This is now a two-way race for the Democratic nomination. It happens to still have four major candidates.

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s huge Super Tuesday reorders the race but doesn’t come close to locking anything down. Sen. Bernie Sanders and the progressive movement now regroup, with an intriguing series of states up next, even as California votes still roll in.

But some of the most important next moves belong to candidates whose relevance to the race was all-but erased by this round of voting.

Both Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg signaled that they were counting on a contested convention. Both have to cope with embarrassing showings Tuesday as well as the reality that either Biden or Sanders is likely to get to 1,991 before the Democratic National Convention in July.

Who gets there and how can depend on Warren and Bloomberg, though. Do either or both endorse? Do they turn rhetorical and financial firepower on a disfavored candidate? Stay in the race for motives that will be increasingly questioned?

A field of 20-plus went down to a final four with head-spinning speed. How things go to two could determine who the last person standing is.

The RUNDOWN with MaryAlice Parks

In six states that Joe Biden won Tuesday night, a majority of Democratic voters in exit polls said they supported Bernie Sanders’ signature proposal: a Medicare for all, single-payer health insurance program.

Look at the numbers:Virginia: 52 percent support;North Carolina: 55 percent support;Oklahoma: 53 percent support;Tennessee: 53 percent support;Minnesota: 62 percent support;and Texas: 64 support.

Big picture, moderates may have coalesced but progressive ideas still have traction.

Sanders’ will undoubtedly zero in on this trend. His team has long argued he is winning on the issues. It’s a reminder that voters can carry a lot in their heads at the same time and that their votes on any given day are complicated.

There is evidence in many states voters ultimately picked Biden, because of a gut sense that he would be a safer bet in a general election. That does not mean they stand with him on all the issues. Biden will be pressed on this divide and challenged about whether he can speak to what Democratic voters are saying about policy ideas and their lived experienced with health care and the Affordable Care Act in the US.

In some ways, facts like this flips the script on what is needed to unite the Democratic Party too. So much of that conversation has focused on Sanders and his tendency to fight with the party establishment.

As Biden reassumes his role as frontrunner, not only will he have to again contend with the large reality that many Democratic voters – even ones who like him greatly – have shown signs of wanting some new ideas, not just old ones.

The TIP with Kendall Karson

The name of the game in the presidential primary is delegates, and despite Biden starting the night as an underdog on the rise since South Carolina, Super Tuesday may wind up vaulting the former vice president to the top of the leaderboard in the category that will ultimately decide which candidate takes on President Trump in November.

Biden ended Tuesday night with a delegate advantage over Sanders, 371-301, and a lead in the popular vote, 4,367,001 to Sanders' 3,527,478, but it wasn't just a trove of delegates from a populous state that delivered him a successful night.

Biden's delegate sweep was fueled by decisive margins across the south, in states like Alabama, North Carolina and Virginia where he was expected to win, and won big, along with upsets in Massachusetts, Minnesota, and delegate-rich Texas, and by encroaching on Sanders' 2016 territory in Oklahoma.

The vote in California might still be outstanding, but Biden cut into whatever edge Sanders is expected to clinch from the most delegate-rich state of Super Tuesday. And he now emerges from the single biggest day of voting a dominant force, emboldened by his victories to further make the case that he is the candidate who can win anywhere.

THE PLAYLIST

ABC News' "Start Here" podcast. Wednesday morning's special edition of "Start Here" features a full breakdown of Super Tuesday results with our powerhouse political team and our partners at FiveThirtyEight. http://apple.co/2HPocUL

ABC News' "Powerhouse Politics" podcast. David Plouffe, author of the new book, "A Citizen's Guide to Beating Donald Trump," and who served as the campaign manager for President Barack Obama's primary and general election victories in 2008, talks with ABC News Political Director Rick Klein and Deputy Political Director MaryAlice Parks on the podcast. https://apple.co/2RgxmLL

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

  • President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the Latino Coalition Legislative Summit at the JW Marriott in Washington at 1:50 p.m. Later, he participates in the presentation of the Boy Scouts' Report to the Nation at the White House at 3 p.m.
  • Vice President Mike Pence participates in Coronavirus briefings with CEOs from Long Term, Post-Acute and Palliative Care Provider, Airline, and Diagnostic Lab at the White House throughout the morning. Later, he delivers remarks to the House GOP Conference at the Capitiol at 2 p.m. Afterwards, he speaks to the House Democratic Caucus at 2:30 p.m. He then comes back to the White House to lead a meeting with the Coronavirus Task Force at 4:30 p.m.
  • The Supreme Court hears oral arguments in June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo, the first major abortion case heard during the Trump administration at 10 a.m.
  • Former Vice President Joe Biden delivers remarks in Los Angeles. Later, he attends a Biden for President finance event.

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    • Download the ABC News app and select "The Note" as an item of interest to receive the day's sharpest political analysis.

    The Note is a daily ABC News feature that highlights the key political moments of the day ahead. Please check back tomorrow for the latest.