Biden, Bernie's Super Tuesday brawl to shape Democratic race

Millions of voters from Maine to California headed to the polls on Super Tuesday, the delegate-rich prize in the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination that's shaping up as a contest between two starkly different visions for the party's future as it hurtles toward a November rematch with President Donald Trump.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has energized liberals and young voters, sought to pull away from the rest of the field, while former vice president Joe Biden hoped to ride a wave of momentum and endorsements to cement himself as the standard-bearer for the party's moderate wing.

The two men, riding atop a rapidly shrinking Democratic field, have assembled coalitions of disparate demographics and political beliefs, and the day could help shape whether the nomination fight will stretch until the party's convention this summer in Milwaukee.

But the 14 coast-to-coast contests seemed certain to provide several other twists and turns, including the first test of billionaire Mike Bloomberg's massive spending in the Democratic race.

Bloomberg skipped the first four states, banking on more than half a billion dollars in advertising and ground operations in an unorthodox and untested method of securing support from moderates who may have bailed on Biden before the vice president revived his flagging campaign.

The former New York City mayor and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren loomed as spoilers as the candidates jockeyed to cross the voting threshold to secure delegates that could prolong the nominating battle.

The Democratic race has shifted dramatically over the past three days as Biden capitalized on his commanding South Carolina victory to persuade anxious establishment allies to rally behind his campaign.

Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg abruptly ended their campaigns and endorsed Biden.

Another former competitor, former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, publicly backed Biden while a new wave of mayors, lawmakers and donors said they would support the former vice president.

Biden's new supporters fanned out on morning television to praise him Klobuchar on NBC's Today show.

O'Rourke on MSNBC's Morning Joe" but another, perhaps more powerful voice was also deployed to support his candidacy: that of former President Barack Obama.

Obama has steadfastly declined to offer any endorsement during the primary process, but a super PAC supporting Biden organized calls featuring audio from a past speech in which Obama calls his former vice president a statesman, leader who sees clearly the challenges facing America in a changing world.

Amanda Loveday of Unite the Country PAC says the call is running through Tuesday in Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Several candidates in the race have run television ads featuring positive sentiments from Obama, although he has endorsed none.

A spokeswoman for Obama said the robocall from Biden's super PAC did not amount to an endorsement and the former president's office was not aware that the group planned to use the old audio.

Sanders and his closest advisers pushed back against the shift of party establishment and donor class toward Biden.

Campaigning in Minnesota, Sanders sought to beat back Biden's momentum with a welcoming message to Klobuchar and Buttigieg supporters.

To all of Amy and Pete's millions of supporters, the door is open. Come on in," Sanders said. We all share the understanding that together we are going to beat Donald Trump.

And Trump himself, revelling in his role as pundit-in-chief, weigh in on the contest to choose his general election opponent.

He followed up a screed at a North Carolina rally the night before in which he delivered broadsides against all of the candidates with tweets Tuesday morning focused on Bloomberg, claiming the billionaire could never recover from his incompetent debate performances."