Two-person race? Moderates and Sanders say not so fast

COLUMBUS, Ohio — For months, the Democratic presidential race has seemed to move inexorably toward a confrontation between former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. As Warren gathered financial support and strength in the polls, Biden steadily slid on both fronts while the rest of the Democratic field stagnated with voters. A jumbled primary appeared on the verge of becoming a contest between two front-runners.

But the debate in central Ohio on Tuesday night showed that the rest of the Democratic pack was not ready to yield.

From the moderate wing of the party, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota are now confronting Warren directly on her policy views and challenging Biden implicitly for his status as the party’s dominant centrist. From the left, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has returned to the race with force after a heart attack that shook his candidacy, collecting valuable endorsements from prominent left-wing women in Congress, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

Buttigieg and Klobuchar, in assailing Warren by name, and Sanders, in rolling out endorsements from the most coveted figures in progressive politics, are acknowledging the same urgency about halting the drift toward a two-person primary.

But that task could be easier because of what may ultimately prove to be this week’s most consequential development: Biden, who raised $6.3 million on the day he entered the race in April, revealed Tuesday that he has run through so much money that he has less than $9 million left. That is far less than what the two leading liberals in the race, Sanders and Warren, as well as Buttigieg, have on hand.

Biden insisted Wednesday that he was “confident” in his financial position and was not contemplating any changes to his campaign because of money. But between Biden’s apparent weakness, the sudden onslaught against Warren and signs of new relevance from Sanders, there is now at least enough uncertainty in the race to encourage even long-shot candidates to persist.

“People have been saying the race was going to solidify into Biden-versus-Warren,” said Paul Begala, a longtime Democratic strategist. “I think instead it has become more fluid than ever.”

Biden and Warren, of course, continue to loom over their rivals and it is unlikely that the debate will prompt an immediate change in fortunes for either candidate. On Wednesday, Biden attempted to reassert himself by taking on Warren in more caustic terms at an event in Ohio. He called it “absolutely ridiculous” that Warren had not been clearer about how she would pay for a “Medicare for All” system and challenged her to be “candid and honest” about it.

At the moment, Warren appears to have an upper hand in most of the early voting states, along with a powerful campaign war chest stocked with a reservoir of online donors, while Biden still holds a slight lead in national polls and the conviction among many older Democrats that he would be the safest nominee to challenge President Donald Trump.

Yet both Biden and Warren have vulnerabilities that their underdog opponents are now determined to exploit: His poll numbers have dropped steadily since the start of the summer and his campaign is in the midst of a financial crunch. And Warren must still allay Democratic concerns about her strength as a general-election candidate and strike a delicate balance between locking down liberal voters who also like Sanders while growing her support among moderates and racial minorities.