Democratic strategists may have asked Klobuchar and Buttigieg to bow out with an eye on the midterms, says expert
Former vice president Joe Biden had a remarkable Super Tuesday on March 3 as he carried the momentum of the South Carolina Primary on February 29 into the mega day to win at least seven states. From Virginia, North Carolina to Alabama, Biden won one state after another, pushing Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who was leading till the day, to the second position.
The 77-year-old Biden’s campaign received a major boost after his rivals Tom Steyer, Pete Buttigieg, and Amy Klobuchar dropped out from the presidential race within a few days of each other after he swept South Carolina. Buttigieg, Klobuchar and another former candidate Beto O’Rourke endorsed Biden to imply that the party’s moderate votes were consolidated behind Biden and the socialist Sanders’ momentum was broken.
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The quick exits gave rise to the speculation that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was at play behind the scenes to ensure that the moderate voices were split no more to give Sanders an advantage.
Speaking to MEA WorldWide (MEAW), John Dinan of Politics and International Affairs at the Wake Forest University, North Carolina, said, “It is reasonable to assume that some conversations have taken place between Democratic Party officials and strategists and several of the presidential candidates whose campaigns were faltering, such as Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg, for the purpose of encouraging these candidates to drop out of the race sooner rather than later, with an eye for consolidating support for Joe Biden and making it more difficult for Bernie Sanders to win the nomination.”
'Dems worried that Sanders nomination will hurt them in state elections too'
He added that the Democratic strategists were worried that if Sanders goes on to bag the nomination, the party could fail to deliver in the congressional and state elections besides losing to President Donald Trump. “This concern about a Sanders nomination among Democratic officials and strategists has been evident during the last several weeks especially, as he did well in the first three contests and seemed poised to be a clear frontrunner, and these early state results likely led to a lot of strategizing among Democratic officials about how to avoid a Sanders nomination.”
Dinan said Buttigieg and Klobuchar could sense that they did not have a realistic chance of winning the nomination. He added that they might have made a decision to drop out after Super Tuesday but talks with party officials and strategists may have seen him doing it earlier so that Biden benefits in the Super Tuesday contests.