More Biden campaign gaffes

– Joe Biden’s White House bid has been rocked by a series of verbal slip-ups days before South Carolina’s Democratic primary, a make-or-break contest, as the former vice-president struggles to reverse his campaign’s slide.

Eclipsed by a surging Bernie Sanders, Biden suggested to supporters on Monday that he was campaigning “for the US Senate” – where he served for 36 years, until a decade ago. Biden also blundered by saying he had negotiated the 2015 Paris climate accord with China’s Deng Xiaoping, who died in 1997.

Biden, 77, is known for his verbal stumbles. While they may not be disqualifying – last year he mixed up then-prime minister Theresa May with Margaret Thatcher – they are providing ammunition for critics

Washington

who question his mental acuity.

In the latest gaffes at a Democratic Party dinner in Charleston, South Carolina, Biden asked the attendees, many of them African Americans who support his bid, for help in making him the nominee.

“I’m a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate. Look me over. If you like what you see, help me out.”

Several US media reported that he added: “If not, you can vote for the other Biden”, although a review of the video does not conclusively show him saying his name. No other Bidens are in the race.

At a second event, he claimed to have worked on the Paris climate accord with a Chinese leader who died 19 years before the deal was signed.

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