January 1, Biden Sweeps the South, Wins Big on Super Tuesday

This Day in History | 1952

Ronald Reagan marries Nancy Davis. 

Good morning Middle Americans, 

As Owen Wilson would say, “wow. Joe Biden had a massive night on Super Tuesday, far exceeding expectations. He won Texas, Minnesota, and Massachusetts. Hardly anyone predicted that. As for the rest, Bernie Sanders is very much still in it. He won California and remains in second place in the delegate count. But a weakness was exposed, and it should have been predictable to any political scientist. Young people don’t vote. Meanwhile, Mike Bloomberg is huddling up with his staff today in New York. The former New York City Mayor spent Super Tuesday in West Palm Beach and $500 million dollars on his campaign so far, and all he has to show for it is 4 delegates from American Samoa. Actually he has 44 delegates, but still.  We are also looking for Elizabeth Warren to drop out, if not today soon. Not only will she get serious pressure from the establishment wing of the Democratic party, but the far-left will also starting leaning hard on her to back Bernie Sanders. 

This morning we also have an update on the Nashville tornado and which areas of the city were hit hardest.  Plus the coronavirus continues to march across the globe. President Trump is meeting with airline industry execs, as people start canceling travel plans and the economic impact of the pandemic is also starting to make American businesses struggle. 

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-Fraser Dixon

Joe Biden Wins Texas Primary, Topping off Remarkable Super Tuesday Surge

(The Guardian) -One of America’s most enthusiastic political commentators has swung in with his early-morning take on the Super Tuesday results.

Donald Trump continued with his attempts to make the case that the Democratic establishment is ganging up to deny Bernie Sanders the nomination – a suspicion shared by many of Sanders’ supporters.

In my view Trump needs to be careful how far he goes portraying Bernie as a valiant outsider. If Sanders becomes the nominee, Trump may find he has lost his edge as the one candidate intent on smashing the system.

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Many Young Voters Sat out Super Tuesday, Contributing to Bernie Sanders’ Losses

(USA Today) – Young voters cheer Bernie Sanders’ anti-establishment message. They turn out in throngs at his rallies. And they form the core of his grassroots efforts to win the Democratic presidential nomination.

But their fiery passion did not translate into the robust turnout he needed on Super Tuesday to win a number of key states, notably in the South where a strong showing by former Vice President Joe Biden has made the nomination contest a two-man race.

Exit polls for five southern states that Biden won – Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia – found that young voters did not show up at the polls in the numbers they did in 2016.

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Bloomberg Considering Dropping out after Biden Rout

(Politico) – Mike Bloomberg is weighing dropping out as early as Wednesday after losing a string of Super Tuesday states where he invested a fortune in advertising, according to several people familiar with his plans.

While the multi-billionaire former New York City mayor was on track to win delegates, he was roundly beaten by Joe Biden, on whose collapse Bloomberg had been counting.

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Elizabeth Warren Vows Not To Quit After Super Tuesday: “I Am In This Fight!”

(AP) -The future of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign was in serious doubt after she finished a surprisingly weak third in Tuesday’s Democratic primary in her home state of Massachusetts.

The disappointing result in the state she represents and a decidedly underwhelming showing in other Super Tuesday contests — she had built an impressive campaign infrastructure stretching across much of the country — marked a striking collapse for the onetime darling of progressives who was known for having a plan for nearly everything.

On top of mediocre showings in the first four contests — she never finished higher than third place — Warren trailed significantly in the delegate count. Tuesday’s results could speed her exit from the race.

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Nashville Tornado Survivor: ‘I Thought this Was the End’

(The Tennessean) -At 12:55 a.m. Tuesday, a storm rolling through the Nashville area produced a tornado that left destruction in its path. By 3 a.m., the Nashville Fire Department reported over 40 reports of collapsed buildings. Across the Midstate, two dozen were killed in the severe weather with most of the fatalities coming from Putnam County.

At 5:10 a.m., NWS Nashville tweeted “Nashville….your severe threat is over.” The storms had passed through the area, yet the true extent of the damage would become apparent after the sun rose.

Here is a look at what happened in each of the hardest hit areas.

Coronavirus: Race to Increase Testing as Coronavirus Spreads in U.S. and Elsewhere

(CBS News) – The coronavirus that emerged late last year and spread from central China was in almost 80 countries Wednesday morning, with outbreaks growing fast in South Korea, Italy, Iran and the United States. At least nine people have died of the COVID-19 disease in the U.S., all of them in Washington state and most of them from a single nursing home in the Seattle area.

Experts were clearly still struggling to get a firm grasp on how easily the disease spreads and how deadly it is, with the head of the World Health Organization saying the data available as of Tuesday suggested it could be more lethal, but less easily transmitted than previously thought. But epidemiologists have stressed there’s still too little data to draw firm conclusions.

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