Democrat Joe Biden gains ground with key endorsements ahead of 'Super Tuesday'

Joe Biden appeared to be surging ahead in the heated Democratic presidential race with the ex-US vice president picking up three key endorsements from former rivals on the eve of the "Super Tuesday" primaries, the most important day in the 2020 White House race.

Senator Amy Klobuchar and former mayor from Indiana Pete Buttigieg not only announced that they were dropping out of the race but also endorsed 77-year-old Biden's bid to challenge President Donald Trump, a Republican, in the November 3 election.

Former US congressman Beto O'Rourke, who dropped out of the race last November, also backed Biden.

Democratic moderates have been urging party leaders to urgently unite to stop Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, from becoming the party's nominee to take on President Trump.

Now Biden's two major rivals are Sanders, 78, who is widely popular among the young Democratic base and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, 78, who entered the race early this year. Since Bloomberg is spending millions from his own pocket in the race, he is considered to be a strong contender for the Democratic Party's nomination.

The "Super Tuesday", or March 3 presidential primaries, would be held in as many as 15 states including Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia.

For the Democratic Party, the results of the "Super Tuesday" would allocate 1,357 of the 3,979 pledged delegates for the Democratic National Convention in Wisconsin later this summer, which would select its nominee who would challenge President Trump in the presidential elections in November.

Biden, who so far has won only the South Carolina primary, has 54 pledged delegates in his kitty. Sanders has won the primaries in New Hampshire and Nevada and was tied with Buttigieg in the Iowa Caucus. He is leading the pledged delegate count with 58.

On Monday, Biden also picked up endorsements from former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice.

Sanders, according to many political analysts, still have an edge in the race given his mass popularity in a state like California which sends 415 pledged delegates. He seems poised for a big victory in California, The Hill newspaper reported.

A candidate should have 1,991 delegates to win the party's nomination