Barack Obama and Joe Biden teamed up again this week.
Presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden has had a big start to his week. On Monday, Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed Biden’s candidacy, just five days after ending (the modern parlance is “suspending”) his own presidential campaign. Sanders, whom we have criticized in the past, deserves kudos for ending his campaign and endorsing Biden before the Democratic National Convention, if any, takes place. In 2016, even though Sanders was similarly all but eliminated from a mathematical standpoint by Hillary Clinton at this point, he kept his campaign going through the convention, which led to a lot of ugliness and divisive attacks that arguably hurt Clinton in the general election against Donald Trump. This time around, although Sanders regrettably is asking supporters still to vote for him in the remaining primaries so that he can amass more delegates and possibly gain more liberal concessions from Biden, at least Democratic voters, office holders, and other officials can now make the shift toward the general election campaign against Trump.
Also on Monday, the Wisconsin election results from last week came in, with a very large win for Biden over Sanders in the Democratic presidential primary. That is a big change from 2016, when Sanders beat Hillary Clinton decisively in Wisconsin. This is also further evidence of Joe Biden’s appeal in the crucial Midwest battleground states. Additionally, Democratic Wisconsin Supreme Court judicial candidate Jill Karofsky upset the incumbent, Republican Daniel Kelly, for a big win that shifts the court one seat closer to the Democrats. This is a huge red flag for the Republicans in November, including in all-important Wisconsin, and thus a good sign for Biden and the Democrats.
On Tuesday, Biden scored the most important endorsement of them all, that of President Barack Obama. The 12-minute endorsement video by Obama could not have been more complimentary of Biden’s record, his abilities, and his fundamental decency on behalf of middle-class Americans.
Tuesday also saw the release of two new polls that gave Biden more good news. In Arizona, one new poll indicates that Biden leads Trump by nine points. This is another remarkable show of Biden’s strength, given that, going all the way back to 1952, the Democratic presidential candidate has only won Arizona once. Likewise, a new poll from Virginia shows Biden ahead of Trump by 10 points, 51-41, further demonstrating Biden’s strength in many different parts of the country.
And then this morning, Biden received the endorsement of Elizabeth Warren. According to Warren, “In this moment of crisis, it’s more important than ever that the next president restores Americans’ faith in good, effective government.” Biden also received the endorsements of U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Gary Peters of Michigan today.
While it is unfortunate that Trump’s tragic mishandling of the Coronavirus emergency likely has boosted Biden’s approval, at least a growing number of voters seem to realize that, once again, it is the Republicans who get us into disasters, and the Democrats who must come to our rescue.
Photo by Image Editor, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/15jVhy
