Call to rally Democrats around single rival to Sanders

MODERATE Democratic presidential hopefuls are facing mounting calls to drop out and rally around a single challenger amid fears that splitting the centrist vote is helping Bernie Sanders win the nomination.

Mr Sanders, the Vermont senator who calls himself a democratic socialist, won more support in the first three states to vote than any other candidate seeking to take on Donald Trump.

However, half a dozen of his rivals are vowing not just to compete in the next state, South Carolina, on Saturday, but also to carry on until “Super Tuesday” next week, when 14 states vote.

They include Joe Biden, the former vice president, Pete Buttigieg, a former mayor, senators Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, and billionaires Mike Bloomberg and Tom Steyer. The refusal of weaker candidates to drop out has triggered fears the vote will be split among those opposing Mr Sanders.

Chris Coons, the Democrat senator for Delaware, who backs Mr Biden, was among those calling for candidates to consider quitting. “Some folks need to look hard at whether they are viable and contributing to a positive path forward for our party,” he was quoted in The New York Times as saying.

After Super Tuesday, on March 3, a third of all the delegates available in the race – the number of which ultimately determines the winner – will have been divided up between the hopefuls.

Should Mr Sanders have a strong lead by then, he could be uncatchable, meaning a politician pledging “political revolution” and vowing to take on the billionaire class would become the Democratic presidential nominee.

On Sunday, Mr Sanders, 78, told 60 Minutes not all parts of communist Fidel Castro’s Cuba deserved to be condemned. “We’re very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba but you know, it’s unfair to simply say everything is bad,” he said. “When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing?”