Crunch time for Democrats in Nevada
WESTERN STATE IS THIRD CONTEST IN RACE FOR DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION
From glitzy Las Vegas casinos to dusty desert crossroads, Nevada Democrats voted yesterday for who should challenge President Donald Trump in November’s election, with leftist firebrand Bernie Sanders riding high in the saddle.
The western state, home to three million people, is the third contest in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Nevada’s vote may serve to entrench Senator Sanders’s status as front-runner before the deluge of “Super Tuesday” on March 3, when people in 14 states troop to the ballot box.
Or it could provide a muchneeded boost for one of the moderate candidates desperate to halt his rise.
The Democratic race is entering an urgent phase. Any momentum from results in Nevada, and then South Carolina, which votes on February 29, could prove decisive, while poor showings are almost certain to close the door on some campaigns.
Leaders
Of the eight contenders still seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, Sanders leads in polling in Nevada and nationally by about a dozen points over second-placed Biden.
Recently Sanders has been largely unchecked by his opponents, who have focused more on blunting the advance of campaign newcomer Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former
The Democratic race is entering an urgent phase. Any momentum from results in Nevada, and then South Carolina, which votes on February 29, could prove decisive.
mayor of New York who has poured more than $360 million from his personal fortune into campaign advertising.
But with Bloomberg unconventionally sitting out the four contests before Super Tuesday, Nevada is a fierce battleground for the other candidates.
Its diverse Democratic electorate, one third of whom are Hispanic, may well bolster the fortunes of moderates like South Bend, Indiana’s former mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar, two ambitious contenders who to date have struggled to win over minority voters. The race’s other centrist, Biden, is desperate to right a listing ship.
His front-runner status collapsed after humiliating performances in the first contests, in Iowa and New Hampshire. A third straight poor showing could spell disaster.
“We need your help to bring us across the finish line,” Biden tweeted to Nevadans late Friday.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, whose campaign has stagnated, hopes her standout performance in Wednesday’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas — where she eviscerated Bloomberg over women’s misconduct claims against him — will earn some respect from Nevadans.