Down The Middle News: Latest In Politics: What We Can Expect Next In Democratic Presidential Race

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The Democratic race for the presidential nomination shifted on its axis this week. Earlier than Tremendous Tuesday, Bernie Sanders was within the lead, but it surely was Joe Biden who gained 10 of 14 states. Massive Tuesday is subsequent. Six states maintain primaries. And NPR’s senior editor and correspondent Ron Elving joins us. Ron, thanks a lot for being with us.

RON ELVING, BYLINE: Good to be with you, Scott.

SIMON: Boy, quite a bit has modified. And I do not know anybody who predicted it. Joe Biden now appears to be barely forward within the race. In spite of everything these crowded debates onstage, it appears to now be down to 2 main candidates.

ELVING: You consider that final crowded debate stage – 5 of these seven persons are gone. And once we talked final week, Scott – once I talked to you from South Carolina – we thought Biden was going to win there, however we had no thought he was going to blow the doorways off, win by practically 30 factors, recover from 1 / 4 of one million votes and knock out Tom Steyer, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar on the spot. After which, as you say, Joe Biden astounded everybody by profitable these 10 of 14 states on Tremendous Tuesday, profitable in states the place he had scarcely campaigned, ending a good second in California with out working any tv advertisements in California. So now now we have two white males born within the first half of the final century. So apparently, the underside line on that entire, OK, boomer factor was, OK, boomer, step apart and let somebody extra mature have a time period.

SIMON: Earlier than we go into subsequent week, as we all know it, a variety of consultants appear to have gotten issues mistaken. So did candidates. So did their high-priced consultants. Did we be taught you could spend hundreds of thousands on advertisements, and it will get you model recognition like peanut butter however not essentially votes?

ELVING: Now, you may be speaking about Mike Bloomberg right here, Scott.

SIMON: Possibly.

ELVING: He spent greater than $500 million and gained solely American Samoa. Now, you understand, it is a particular second whenever you first meet a punchline you may be utilizing for the remainder of your life.

SIMON: (Laughter).

ELVING: Irrespective of how properly you promote your peanut butter, you continue to should put some good peanut butter within the jar, or persons are going to return to Skippy or another model they know.

SIMON: And did we be taught that it doesn’t matter what polls present about completely different demographics, they do not all the time materialize as votes?

ELVING: You realize, they do not all the time. Polls say that voters underneath 30 love Bernie Sanders, however the outcomes say voters underneath 30 did not present up in ample numbers to make the distinction for him – not simply in South Carolina however throughout Tremendous Tuesday. And alternatively, probably the most steadfast voters within the Democratic coalition, black voters – and particularly older black ladies – do present up and did present up. And that is largely why Biden is the brand new frontrunner.

SIMON: What are you going to look at for this Tuesday?

ELVING: Properly, we received six states. Two fairly small ones in North Dakota and Idaho, the place Sanders ought to do properly. Mississippi with its massive black inhabitants shall be large for Biden. After which three states with large cities, Michigan, Missouri and Washington, good floor for Sanders in 2016. He gained 2 out of three, just about tied in Missouri. However these are additionally states the place the Democratic officeholders appear to be coalescing at this level behind Biden.

SIMON: The coronavirus outbreak – a number of criticism over how the Trump administration is dealing with it and misinforming the general public.

ELVING: That is the largest wild card that is been thrown into an American political season because the collapse of Wall Avenue in September of 2008. And also you keep in mind, that occasion reversed the momentum in that race and established and opened the door for then-Senator Barack Obama to develop into President Obama. So the polls circled fairly rapidly then, and Obama by no means trailed after that. Within the current state of affairs, President Trump has resolved to powerful it out, insists the disaster is both not as unhealthy because it seems to be or insisting it is not going to harm him. However he has already needed to push out his chief of employees, his – we now have his fourth in three years and two months. And he is additionally gotten sideways with a few of his personal prime well being officers. So this may very well be the problem the place the president’s freewheeling type and his reliance on saying, belief me – I am a really steady genius – or my uncle was a scientist at MIT – doesn’t have its standard success. The president appeared bulletproof simply a few months in the past after impeachment, however should you’re within the Trump camp proper now, there are some causes to be anxious.

SIMON: NPR senior editor and correspondent Ron Elving. Thanks a lot for being with us, Ron.

ELVING: Thanks, Scott. Transcript offered by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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