From Newsmax

Joe Biden decisively won Michigan’s Democrat presidential primary Tuesday, seizing a key battleground state that helped propel Bernie Sanders’ insurgent candidacy four years ago. The former vice president’s victory there, as well as in Missouri, Mississippi, and Idaho,  dealt a serious blow to Sanders and substantially widened Biden’s path to the nomination.

“Just over a week ago, many declared that this candidacy was dead. Now we’re very much alive,” Biden said at a small event in Philadelphia before campaign staffers after a planned rally in Cleveland was cancelled over coronavirus concerns. Sanders also cancelled his planned rally, but did not speak at all after a disappointing showing. 

Biden, who performed poorly in early states, called his Super Tuesday rally a week ago, followed by Tuesday’s showing “a comeback for the soul of the nation.”

“This campaign is taking off and I believe we’re going to do well from this point on,” he said, adding he will take nothing for granted, and will continue fighting for every vote in every state.

Still, he urged Sanders supporters to join him.

“We need you, we want you, there’s a place in our campaign for each of you,” Biden said. “I want to thank Bernie Sanders and the supporters for their tireless energy and passion. We share a common goal. Together we’ll defeat Donald Trump. We’ll defeat him together. We’ll bring this nation together.”

Biden again showed strength Tuesday with working-class voters and African Americans, who are vital to winning the nomination.

Sanders was declared winner in North Dakota’s caucuses on Monday morning, leaving only Washington state undecided.

Washington’s primary was too early to call, and because all votes there are cast by mail or by dropping them off in a ballot box, many ballots were marked for candidates who have since dropped out of the race.

According to an Associated Press analysis, Biden picked up at least 153 new delegates: 53 in Michigan, 40 in Missouri, 29 in Mississippi, five in North Dakota, 17 in Washington, and nine in Idaho on Tuesday. Sanders got 89: 35 in Michigan, 23 in Missouri, two in Mississippi, seven in Idaho, five in North Dakota, and 17 in Washington.

Michigan offered one-third of the 352 delegates at stake on Tuesday and will be a pivotal general election state. Sanders had been looking to repeat his upset narrow win in the state four years ago to revive his candidacy after losing 10 of the 14 states that voted on Super Tuesday. But Biden’s advantage with minority voters and his ability to appeal to the state’s blue collar workforce was too strong.

Next week the focus turns to four states with a total of 577 delegates: Illinois, Ohio, Florida, and Arizona. The outcome of those contests could be decisive in the nomination battle.

The coronavirus is looming over the race, and its longterm impact on the presidential campaigns is unclear. Sanders and Biden both canceled planned rallies in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday and said they were evaluating future events.

In Missouri, polling places were relocated from spots where older people gather, like assisted living facilities. In Washington, officials urged voters not to lick the envelopes of their mail-in ballots and election workers are wearing gloves to open them. Extra cleaning was under way at Michigan polling places.

“I have used more hand sanitizer in the last two weeks than I have used in my entire life,” Sanders, 78, said on CNN after shaking hands with supporters outside a polling location in Dearborn Heights, Michigan.

Trump said over the weekend that he would continue holding campaign rallies with thousands of supporters regardless of the threat of the virus. He planned an event in the Wisconsin Center, which holds thousands of people on March 19.

Also unclear was the impact of the turmoil in financial markets, which have been whipsawed over the past two days, and the economic disruption caused by closings and cancellations across the country.

Preliminary exit polls reported by ABC News showed that voters in Missouri, Washington and Michigan overwhelmingly trust Biden over Sanders to handle a major crisis.

Delegates were still being counted in Tuesday’s contests, but Biden led Sanders by more than 100 delegates. Officials in March 3 states like California, Colorado and Utah were also still counting. He had a total of 756 of the 1,991 delegates needed to claim the nomination at the party convention in July. Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard is still campaigning for the nomination but is far behind with only two delegates.

The candidates focused most of their attention on Michigan, the heart of the U.S. auto industry, which holds strategic importance for both parties in November; It was one of the previously Democratic-leaning manufacturing centers that Trump won in 2016, but only by the scant margin of 10,700 votes out of more than 4.7 million cast.

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