The winner in South Carolina for Democrats is more than likely to be the nominee….
Hillary and Bill Clinton found THAT out the hard way in 2008….
Joe Biden has been a winner , with Barack Obama,
in the state twice…..
He’s going to try to make next years primary the third time and he starts off in VERY good shape less than a year out from the primary in t he state, which has a heavy black Democratic Party voter base like other Southern Democratic states…
South Carolina residents gave former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. a front-runner’s welcome Saturday afternoon, when his recently announced presidential campaign made its first stop in the early primary state that will play a critical role in determining the Democratic presidential nominee.
“We want Joe!” the crowd chanted, before Mr. Biden took the stage at a small community center gymnasium. He presented his campaign as the natural heir to the legacy of Barack Obama, who selected Mr. Biden to be his running mate more than a decade ago.
“I think you all get it better than anybody that this election is different than any presidential election in our lifetime,” Mr. Biden said. “Literally our democracy is at stake right now.”
“You’re going to be seeing a lot of me,” Mr. Biden told the crowd of 700. “Folks, above all else, we must defeat Donald Trump.”
The speech indicated how Mr. Biden will seek to bring his “working-class Joe” brand to a more diverse Democratic electorate, which is attempting to balance a pragmatic desire to beat President Trump with a strong tide of progressive energy animating the primary campaign. In the crowded Democratic field in which candidates are searching for ways to distinguish themselves, Mr. Biden is focusing on Mr. Trump, casting him as an outlier president in need of an emergency course correction.
Black voters play an outsize role in the Democratic electorate in South Carolina, and Mr. Biden’s high favorability ratings among that demographic are partly why he is considered the primary’s early front-runner. The Saturday rally, with a roughly 60 percent white crowd, opened with a performance from a local youth gospel choir and marching band. In his speech, Mr. Biden repeatedly emphasized his eight-year tenure as vice president to Mr. Obama, the country’s first black president.
“He’s a hell of a guy,” Mr. Biden said at one point.
“My buddy,” Mr. Biden said at another, before stopping himself. “My buddy? I shouldn’t be so casual. The president of the United States, Barack Obama.”
Mr. Biden has forged deep relationships in the South throughout his decades-long political career and arrived at the Hyatt Park gymnasium to whoops and cheers, a testament to how much good will remains even after he delayed his presidential announcement for months…..
Note…
Media stories about Biden and black voters will sometimes feature stuff about Biden’s past with Anita Hill and tough law enforcement legislation in the past…
Both subject will mean nothing to most of todays black voters….
image…NYTimes