Biden says Steyer spending heavily to influence black voters

Former Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday that billionaire Tom Steyer's heavy spending aimed at courting the black vote for South Carolina's upcoming presidential primary has cut into Biden's support among African American voters there.

Biden is leading polls in South Carolina, ahead of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), but Steyer has made gains in recent weeks and touts support from the state's African American community. On Sunday, Steyer qualified to participate in Tuesday's Democratic debate in South Carolina. He did not qualify for last week's debate in Nevada.

According to a CBS News Battleground Tracker poll released Sunday, Biden was 28% of South Carolina Democrats' first choice for president. Sanders trailed, with 23%, followed by Steyer, with 18%, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), with 12%. Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, was the first choice of 10% of the voters, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), had 4%.

The poll also showed that Biden's support among black voters had fallen since November, when he was the first choice of 54% of black Democratic primary voters. His support dipped to 35% of voters. Steyer's numbers rose from 2% to 24% during that period, and Sanders' numbers increased from 17 to 23%.

"You have Steyer spending hundreds of million, tens of thousands of dollars, millions of dollars out campaigning there, so I think a lot's happening in terms of the amount of money being spent by billionaires to try to cut into the African American vote. I think that has a lot to do with it," Biden said in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS' "Face The Nation."

Biden said he planned to "go all the way through this thing."

"I said I'm gonna do well there, and I'll do well there, and I'll do well beyond there as well," he said. "I think we're going to go on to Super Tuesday and do very well."

But asked if he could stop Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt), who is the front-runner in the Democratic primary, Biden told host Margaret Brennan: "I told you I'm not going to play this game with you. I don't know. It's not about who I stop. It's about why I'm running."

On Saturday, Sanders won the Democratic caucus in Nevada, and Biden finished in second place, according to preliminary results. 

Steyer, addressing criticism that he was "paying some people off" for support, told "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace that "people are doing work as organizers on our campaign, and we're paying them. The NAACP came out and described what people are criticizing us as making racist remarks." 

He said he is doing well among black voters because he is "very willing to talk about race ... I believe there is a substantial racial subtext in virtually every policy area in the United States."

Steyer predicted he would do well in the South Carolina primary on Saturday, but acknowledged that he would have to finish in the top three to remain viable in the Democratic primary. 

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, speaking with the Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC, addressed his relationship with the African American community. Bloomberg, who is not on the ballot in South Carolina, said that as mayor he worked to reduce crime. But in an apparent reference to the controversial stop-and-frisk policy, Bloomberg said: "It got out of control. I made a mistake, I've fixed the mistake. I've apologized for it and asked for forgiveness, and I'm doing other things that will help the community. I can't go re-write history."

Asked whether he would release women from binding nondisclosure agreements at his company — a question that flummoxed Bloomberg at last week's debate — he told Sharpton: "I will talk about it between now and then," referring to Tuesday's debate. "I want to keep you in suspense."

Last week, Bloomberg said he'd release three women from confidentiality agreements that prohibit them from speaking about sexual harassment or discrimination suits they filed against him over the past 30 years.

Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), speaking about the prospects of candidates on NBC's "Meet the Press," said his state's voters "thought that Joe Biden could have done more to engage on during the debates, thought he could have done more to say why he would be deserving, so I think he suffered from that. He didn't do enough, but I do believe that a lot of that had to do with other candidates" in the race.

He continued, "South Carolina has a demographic that lends itself well to Democratic voters, especially. So, I think if you can win South Carolina decisively, I think it will set the stage for Super Tuesday and you will become the odds-on favorite."

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.