As Buttigieg leaves race, Biden seeks to capitalize on first primary win as Super Tuesday looms

Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg's reported withdrawal from the presidential race Sunday shook up the dynamics of the Democratic primary season just two days before Super Tuesday, when 14 states are to hold their nominating contests.

Buttigieg, who at 38 was the first openly gay, major candidate for president, attracted support from moderate voters, but failed to gain traction with broad swaths of minorities. News Sunday of his imminent departure came less than 24 hours after he finished in fourth place in South Carolina, trounced by former Vice President Joe Biden.

Buttigieg had bested Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to win the Iowa caucuses by a razor-thin margin, before placing second in New Hampshire, and then third last week in Nevada, which has many Hispanic Democratic voters.

His exit from the race comes as moderate Democrats face pressure to knock down the momentum Sanders has built up heading into Super Tuesday.

Earlier Sunday, Biden sought to capitalize on his win in South Carolina Saturday night, arguing delegate leader Sanders would fail to unify the party. But Sanders rejected arguments that he could drag down other Democrats in down-ballot races and said he inspired a "grassroots movement" needed to energize Democratic turnout.

During interviews on Sunday morning talk shows, Biden said Sanders would doom Democrats' chances for wins in Senate, House, and local legislative races. Dismissing the large rallies Sanders has held, Biden pointed to his 30-point margin of victory over Sanders the day before in South Carolina as a sign of strength and electability.

"Enthusiasm does not necessarily translate into votes," Biden said on CNN's "State of the Union." "The idea that there's a direct correlation between the number of people at a rally and the number of people who turn out, we had the largest turnout in South Carolina."

But Sanders, appearing on ABC's "This Week," said: "Which candidate can reach out and bring new people into the political process, who can create the excitement and energy for young people to come in? I think that’s our campaign."

Asked whether Sanders could lead Democrats to a "big loss," Biden said on "Meet the Press," "I do."

"I think Bernie Sanders' position on a number of the issues, even in the Democratic Party, are going to be very — are very controversial," he said. 

He said on CNN, "people aren’t looking for a revolution in my view. They're looking for results. They're looking for getting things done, and Bernie doesn’t have a very good track record of getting things done in the United States Congress, the United States Senate, and much of what he’s proposing is very, very much pie-in-the-sky.”

Sanders on Saturday, and again Sunday, continued to paint Biden as part of "old-fashioned politics" who will fail to excite voters to turn out to support him. Sanders said on ABC's "This Week" that his campaign had "the strongest grassroots movement."

Sanders said, however, the candidates would back one another at the conclusion of the race. "It is my view that every Democratic candidate for president, no matter who wins this nominating process — clearly, I hope it’s me — we're going to come together because we all understand that Donald Trump is the greatest threat to this country, in the modern history of this country. That he's a fraud, that he’s a liar, that he’s undermining American democracy."

Sanders leads the delegate count with 56 pledged delegates. Biden trails with 48, and  Buttigieg had 26, according to The Associated Press. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has eight delegates, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) has seven.

Sanders praised the former vice president, saying "I have known Joe Biden for a very long time, he's a decent guy. I have no doubt that if I win, Joe will be there. If Joe ends up winning, I will be there."

Earlier in the day Buttigieg appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" and praised Biden's performance in South Carolina. "Nothing can take away from Vice President Biden's commanding victory, and I congratulate him on that."

Foreshadowing his reported decision later Sunday, he said: "We do a lot of math on this campaign. And so we'll be assessing at every turn not only what the right answer is for the campaign, but making sure that every step we take is in the best interest of the party and that goal of making sure we defeat Donald Trump because our country can't take four more years of this." 

Also Sunday, Biden and Sanders sparred on the subject of whether the candidate who has the most votes, but not a majority of the votes needs to clinch the nomination, should be made the nominee when the party convention convenes in July.

“You don't change the rules in the middle of the game,” Biden said.

But Sanders said on "This Week," that to contest the nomination, "people will say, why — you are rejecting the candidate."

Biden, on CNN, said he was looking beyond Super Tuesday. "Super Tuesday is not the end, it’s only the beginning," he told host Jake Tapper.

By Scott Eidler

scott.eidler@newsday.com@ScottEidler

Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.