Biden Has Wide Lead in S.C. Poll Two Days Before Primary Image Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. at a rally in Conway, S.C., on Thursday. Credit... Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times Follow our live coverage of the 2020 South Carolina primary. Joseph R. Biden Jr., the former vice president, finally seems to have some momentum behind him. A new poll showed him with a wide lead in South Carolina, where he needs a victory on Saturday if he is going to revive his candidacy before Super Tuesday. The candidates may struggle to break through a news cycle dominated by the spread of the coronavirus. Michael R. Bloomberg, the former New York mayor, is airing commercials nationwide presenting himself as best equipped to deal with a public health crisis.

As Democrats contemplated the possibility of a brokered convention, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said she would stay in the race if no one won a majority of delegates — an indication that she would keep battling Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is poised to build on his delegate lead on Super Tuesday.

The hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer is challenging Mr. Biden for support from black voters in South Carolina. For Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., and Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, time is running short to prove they can win over people of color.

Feb. 27, 2020, 11:36 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 11:36 p.m. ET Photo: Jacket activism at Biden rally. Image Credit... Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times Kathleen McHugh wears a “November is Coming” jacket at a Joseph R. Biden Jr. rally in Conway, S.C.

Feb. 27, 2020, 11:27 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 11:27 p.m. ET By ‘One of the reasons I resent Bernie.’ CONWAY, S.C. — Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Thursday night lashed Senator Bernie Sanders, one of his chief rivals, over reports that Mr. Sanders considered mounting a primary challenge to President Barack Obama in 2012. “I fundamentally disagree with that,” Mr. Biden added, saying that is “one of the reasons I resent Bernie.” Mr. Biden spoke to a lively audience gathered in a gym-like space at Coastal Carolina University on Thursday night, hitting a wide range of issues including touting his ties to the civil rights movement, combating climate change and swiping at Mr. Sanders’s calls for revolution. He was also asked by an attendee about work in South Africa. Mr. Biden has previously, repeatedly, claimed that he was arrested there while seeking to visit the anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela in prison — a story his campaign eventually indicated was not true. On Thursday, he again said that Mr. Mandela thanked him after his release — on previous occasions he has suggested Mr. Mandela thanked him for getting arrested trying to see him — but did not mention an arrest. And as he occasionally does, he went on a long digression about domestic violence in the context of discussing his work on the Violence Against Women Act, which he championed. He talked about the kind of abuse that was tolerated against women in England centuries ago — “England, not Zambizia, Zambia or any other, England” — and spoke indignantly of the opposition he said he faced to the bill. “Women’s groups didn’t support it initially, because they thought it was going to cut into choice, they thought it was going to steal the show on gender equality — I mean, excuse me, gender preference,” he said, describing his struggle to find initial support. He went on to reference his advocacy for shelters for abused women. “The mainstream press said Biden’s setting up indoctrination centers for women to learn to become feminists.” Read more

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Feb. 27, 2020, 11:06 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 11:06 p.m. ET By Warren gets new super PAC help in Super Tuesday states. A super PAC supporting Senator Elizabeth Warren announced late Thursday that it was spending $9 million in new ads in three Super Tuesday states — California, Texas and Massachusetts — in what is the biggest ad buy of the cycle for a 2020 Democrat. Ms. Warren had previously opposed super PACs but chose not to disavow this group, Persist PAC, after it was formed earlier this month. The group has previously announced spending $3.25 million on Super Tuesday in addition to $1 million each in Nevada and South Carolina. You can read more here:

Feb. 27, 2020, 10:58 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 10:58 p.m. ET By Bernie Sanders is challenging the Iowa results. Again. Image Senator Bernie Sanders during a rally in Richmond, Va., on Thursday Credit... Parker Michels-Boyce for The New York Times Remember how we said earlier that the Iowa caucuses might finally be over? They’re not. We’re very sorry. Just a few hours after the Iowa Democratic Party announced that it had completed the recounts requested by Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg, and that Mr. Buttigieg had held on to his narrow lead in state delegate equivalents, Mr. Sanders’s campaign basically demanded to speak to the I.D.P.’s manager. Jeff Weaver, a senior adviser to Mr. Sanders, told Politico that the campaign had filed an “implementation challenge” with the Democratic National Committee “stating that the Iowa Democratic Party conducted its recanvass and recount in a way that violated their delegate selection plan.” Chris Meagher, a spokesman for Mr. Buttigieg, said: “Yet again, these results confirm Pete won the Iowa caucuses. Pete was the only candidate that was able to form a broad-based coalition across the state and across ideological differences.” The dispute is over one national delegate of the nearly 2,000 needed to win the nomination. Read more

Feb. 27, 2020, 10:27 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 10:27 p.m. ET By ‘It was embarrassing.’ Arkansas voters said the Democratic debate was irritating. BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Michael R. Bloomberg’s supporters are no fans of the Democratic debates. That’s probably a good thing given his debut on the debate stage last week was widely panned, even by him. In interviews with Bloomberg fans on Thursday as he campaigned in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, several brought up their distaste for the televised spectacles unprompted. In the crowd of more than 1,000 that watched the former New York mayor speak in Bentonville, Ark., people expressed exhaustion, concern and outright disgust at the prime time debates, which have been going on now for eight months. They said they found them too rancorous, irritating, divisive and devoid of substance. “It was embarrassing,” said Kim Poland, a speech therapist from Bella Vista, Ark. “All that talking over each other, all the fighting. It’s just not good for anything and it doesn’t help the Democrats at all.” Ms. Poland came to hear Mr. Bloomberg speak in nearby Bentonville with her 17-year-old daughter, Kamden, who will turn 18 before Election Day in November and wanted to see a presidential candidate in person. “I’m trying to learn from them,” Kamden said. “But they’re just standing there yelling at each other. You can’t understand anything they’re saying.” She and her mother turned off the debate after only a few minutes. Priscilla Willis, a retired freelance writer who lives in Fayetteville, said she hadn’t watched a debate in months. “I think they’re a waste of time,” Ms. Willis said. “It’s ridiculous. All it is is fighting. And people turn it on and that’s all they see. They’re just hurting each other.” Though these women form a small sample, their concerns point to a larger issue that the Democratic Party is facing as its presidential primary continues on with no end in sight. As pressure grows on candidates to bow out of the race — and few appear ready to do so — the infighting seems only likely to get worse. And as long as there are still candidates in the race, there will be a push by the television networks to schedule more debates. And that can probably only mean more brawling in front of millions of potential voters. Read more

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Feb. 27, 2020, 9:37 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 9:37 p.m. ET By Warren says Democrats need a nominee ‘who has a track record of getting things done.’ Image Supporters cheer as Senator Elizabeth Warren holds a town hall meeting in San Antonio, Texas on Thursday. Credit... Ruth Fremson/The New York Times SAN ANTONIO — Elizabeth Warren is sharpening her attacks on her longtime ally and perhaps biggest rival in the presidential race: Bernie Sanders. After the housing crash in 2008, both the liberal senators wanted to crack down on the big banks that helped cause the economic downturn, Ms. Warren said. But she was the one who “dug in and came up with a good idea,” she said, citing her proposal to start the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “If we want to keep faith with the people who get out there this time and march with us, fight along with us, make this happen, we better have a presidential nominee who has a track record of getting things done,” she told nearly 2,000 voters gathered for an outside rally in San Antonio on a cool Thursday evening. The nearly yearlong de facto nonaggression pact between the two liberal rivals in the race effectively ended on the debate stage this week, when Ms. Warren drew a strong contrast with Mr. Sanders. It’s a shift born of necessity: Since the start of voting this month, Ms. Warren has struggled to gain traction in the race, as Mr. Sanders has surged. In San Antonio, Ms. Warren was introduced by former Housing secretary Julián Castro, a hometown hero who endorsed her campaign shortly after ending his presidential bid. In his opening remarks, he, too, took aim at Mr. Sanders. “I’m progressive. I bet a lot of y’all are progressive, too,” he said. “But there a progressive ideas and progressive results and only Elizabeth Warren can claim both of those in this race.” Read more

Feb. 27, 2020, 9:09 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 9:09 p.m. ET By Sanders again lashes the media. Image Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally in Spartanberg, SC Thursday. Credit... Erin Schaff/The New York Times SPARTANBURG, S.C. — In the last days before the South Carolina primary on Saturday, Bernie Sanders, for the second day in a row, criticized the media. At a rally in Richmond, Va., Mr. Sanders bashed what he called the “so-called debate on CBS” that occurred on Tuesday. “That debate was not really a serious discussion about serious issues,” he said. “That is reality TV type stuff.” “What real politics is about, you know, it’s not attacking somebody, it’s not a three-second zinger, and it’s not all that stuff,” he said, adding, “It’s about looking at the real issues facing real people. Not gotcha questions, not terrible attacks, not personal attacks.” Later, at a rally in Spartanburg, S.C., Mr. Sanders lashed the broadcast network again, characterizing the debate as “more of a food fight.” On Wednesday, he had similarly denounced the news media, even as he defended The New York Times, which was sued by President Trump’s re-election campaign. It was a striking departure for Mr. Sanders, who often criticizes the media but had seemed to be espousing a unity message after his commanding win in Nevada. That did not last, however, and he has spent recent days railing against the establishment and the media. Read more

Feb. 27, 2020, 8:54 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 8:54 p.m. ET By Klobuchar notes the possibility of brokered convention. Image Senator Amy Klobuchar at a Fox News Channel town hall event on Thursday in Raleigh, N.C. Credit... Grant Halverson/Getty Images Count Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota as another candidate potentially willing to go to a brokered convention if no Democratic candidate receives enough delegates to win the nomination outright. Ms. Klobuchar pointed to the delegate nomination rules when asked about the possibility of a brokered convention, and whether she would fight for one if Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont did not get a majority of the delegates. “There’s rules in the convention,” she said at a town hall, hosted by Fox News. “He may be the nominee. There’s rules about how that works from ballot to ballot to ballot. That’s why you set out rules. You can’t change rules in the middle of the game.” The question came right after a voter in the audience, who was supporting Michael R. Bloomberg, asked Ms. Klobuchar if it was time for moderates to “consolidate” behind one candidate. “That’s a nice verb,” Ms. Klobuchar said, before noting, as she has before, that the early states represent only 3 percent of the vote and that she wants to see more Americans cast their ballots. The town hall was in North Carolina, where Ms. Klobuchar had just held a rally, and is one of the states to vote on Super Tuesday. She was also bullish on another Super Tuesday state, her home state of Minnesota: “I should win my state, I think I’m 10 points ahead there.” The town hall began with a question about the coronavirus, and Ms. Klobuchar faulted the Trump administration for poor planning for any pandemic, including past cuts to government agencies and for not requesting enough money to deal with the current crisis. She also cited a report that all information about the coronavirus was to be run through the office of Vice President Mike Pence. “I believe in not silencing health professionals,” she said. “I’m concerned there’s some reports about that out there.” Read more

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Feb. 27, 2020, 8:42 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 8:42 p.m. ET By At a Biden event, Michelle Obama’s name brings cheers. CONWAY, S.C. — Joseph R. Biden Jr., a former vice president himself, was asked on Thursday about considering former first lady Michelle Obama as a running mate. The question earned some of the loudest applause of his event here in Conway Thursday evening. “I’d do that in a heartbeat if I thought there was any chance” that she would do it, Mr. Biden said, before going on to say that he believed the Obamas found life outside the White House “somewhat liberating.” He also stressed the close ties between his grandchildren and the Obama daughters — and, as he has been doing in the past few days, invoked reporting that one of his chief rivals, Senator Bernie Sanders, considered mounting a primary challenge against President Obama.

Feb. 27, 2020, 8:28 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 8:28 p.m. ET By Iowa is sort of, maybe, actually over. It took nearly a month and might have damaged the entire caucus system, but Iowa is actually over. Sort of. Maybe? The Iowa Democratic Party just released the results of the partial recounts Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders requested, and the numbers did not significantly change. The delegate count, according to the party, remains as it was: 14 for Mr. Buttigieg and 12 for Mr. Sanders. But The Associated Press — whose count is 13 to 12 because it has not awarded the final delegate that goes to the statewide winner — says it still won’t call the race because of “remaining concerns about whether the results as reported by the party are fully accurate.” It is waiting until Saturday, when the Iowa Democratic Party will take a formal vote to certify the results. The recounts — which involved a review of preference cards completed by individual caucusgoers in 23 precincts — followed a recanvass earlier this month, in which party officials reviewed precinct leaders’ math. The recanvass almost erased Mr. Buttigieg’s lead. The recount went in the opposite direction, but the gap is still extraordinarily narrow: 562.954 state delegate equivalents for Mr. Buttigieg to 562.021 for Mr. Sanders. Read more

Feb. 27, 2020, 7:36 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 7:36 p.m. ET Getting a food tour in San Antonio. Image Credit... Ruth Fremson/The New York Times Senator Elizabeth Warren was accompanied on Thursday by Julián Castro, a former presidential candidate and housing secretary, as she visited Mi Tierra Cafe y Panaderia in San Antonio. Mr. Castro, a former mayor of San Antonio, has been campaigning for Ms. Warren.

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Feb. 27, 2020, 7:02 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 7:02 p.m. ET By Democrats thrive in the shadow of a Whole Foods. Here’s why that may be trouble. It’s no secret that Democratic primary voters prize “electability” in November. But for all the clamor about progressive versus moderate choices, the obstacles to pulling voters toward Democrats — particularly in the battleground states — could prove more cultural than ideological. Last summer, Elizabeth Warren electrified huge crowds at rallies in Austin, New York and Seattle. Besides her populist pitch for “big structural change,” the events had another thing in common: Each stop was less than a mile from a Whole Foods Market, a Lululemon Athletica and an Urban Outfitters. These high-end retailers and brands, popular with urban millennials and affluent suburbanites alike, are increasingly correlated with which neighborhoods are trending Democrat. The drawback for Democrats? Just 34 percent of U.S. voters — and only 29 percent of battleground-state voters — live within five miles of at least one such upmarket retailer, and the Democrats’ brand is stagnant or in decline everywhere else. Read more

Feb. 27, 2020, 6:42 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 6:42 p.m. ET By Bloomberg’s claim of persuading lawmakers to legalize gay marriage is ‘demonstrably false,’ Cuomo says. Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, offered what seemed like a potent example of his ability to get things done during two high-profile appearances this week. At the debate on Tuesday and at a CNN town hall event on Wednesday, he took credit for getting the New York State Senate to vote to legalize same-sex marriage when the chamber was under Republican control. But that recitation of history drew a rebuke on Thursday from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, who spearheaded the effort to legalize same-sex marriage in the state in 2011. “In campaigns, people say a lot of things,” Mr. Cuomo said at a news conference in New York City. “You should not say something that is demonstrably false on an immediate basis, right? And that is just demonstrably false.” Mr. Bloomberg was a vocal supporter of legalizing same-sex marriage in 2011 when New York lawmakers considered it, and he traveled to Albany to lobby for it. But taking full credit for passing the marriage bill — or even the bulk of the credit — overstates the role that he played. Many people were involved in pushing for passage, but Mr. Cuomo, not Mr. Bloomberg, was at the center of the effort. Four Republican state senators voted for the bill, which passed 33 to 29. Mr. Cuomo offered praise for the senators on Thursday, adding: “Mike Bloomberg had nothing to do with it. They did it out of conscience.” The Bloomberg campaign chose not to engage on Thursday in a debate with Mr. Cuomo after the governor’s comments. “When marriage equality became law in New York State, Mike Bloomberg repeatedly expressed his appreciation and thanks to Governor Cuomo for his leadership, and he continues to feel that way,” a spokeswoman for the campaign, Julie Wood, said. In his retellings this week, Mr. Bloomberg left out an inconvenient piece of history for someone now running in a Democratic primary: During his time as mayor, he was a huge donor to Senate Republicans in Albany, providing them with financial support as they tried to keep Democrats out of power. Jesse McKinley contributed reporting. Read more

Feb. 27, 2020, 6:25 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 6:25 p.m. ET By Buttigieg, recovering from his own illness, discusses unequal medical care. Image Pete Buttigieg attended a discussion about health care disparities at the Nicholtown Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, S.C., on Thursday. Credit... Travis Dove for The New York Times GREENVILLE, S.C. — Two days before the South Carolina primary, Pete Buttigieg’s first campaign stop of the day was a round-table discussion with nine African-American community leaders and three dozen members of the press. Mr. Buttigieg’s campaign has gone to great lengths to show him interacting with black South Carolinians. On Thursday afternoon, that strategy took Mr. Buttigieg to the Nicholtown Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, where his voice revealed remnants of the illness that knocked him off the campaign trail on Wednesday. “Excuse me, I’m having my own health problems,” Mr. Buttigieg said after a brief coughing fit interrupted a monologue about health inequalities in black communities. In the talk, Mr. Buttigieg didn’t so much campaign for president as continue to introduce himself to the community leaders. He delivered a riff, which he had said before in previous South Carolina stops, about how racial and gender biases have leapt from humans to technology. “The question of how bias gets passed down, I think is a really important one,” he said. “There’s a lot of evidence that without intention — in other words, without being intentional about reversing bias — the more things get automated, the more it can perpetuate those biases.” Mr. Buttigieg, who speaks seven languages, told his guests: “If you go into Google Translate and you type in the sentence, ‘She is a doctor and he is a nurse,’ and you translate it into Turkish, which doesn’t have any gender pronouns, and then you open up a new window and you translate it back, it comes back, ‘He is a doctor and she is a nurse.’” Intrigued, a reporter tried it out. And it worked, almost. For me, Google Translate spat out: “He is a doctor and he is a nurse.” Read more

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Feb. 27, 2020, 6:06 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 6:06 p.m. ET By Sanders assails Trump in Virginia, then explains how he will defeat him. Image Senator Bernie Sanders told supporters in Richmond, Va., on Thursday that he stands the best chance of beating President Trump. Credit... Parker Michels-Boyce for The New York Times Senator Bernie Sanders attacked President Trump at a campaign rally on Thursday, calling out what he labeled a series of lies and making the case that he stands a better chance of winning in November than his rivals Michael R. Bloomberg and Joseph R. Biden Jr. do. In a nearly hourlong speech in Richmond, Va., Mr. Sanders returned to one of his frequent critiques of Mr. Trump, calling him a “pathological liar” and a “fraud” who has broken promises on health care, taxes, government programs and more. He then argued that he would defeat Mr. Trump because of progressive, grass-roots support, specifically from new voters and young voters; he promised the latter group would “play a more profound role in this election than in any election in history.” “There are a lot of working people” who are working several jobs and asking “does anybody care about what’s going on in my life?” Mr. Sanders said. “Well, we do care,” he said. “We’re going to bring them into the political process.” Mr. Sanders also renewed his attack on Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign spending and specifically criticized Mr. Biden, arguing that he would not create excitement or add voters to the Democratic electorate because of votes and stances he had taken earlier in his political career. Mr. Sanders asserted that after his success in the early-voting states, the political establishment had become “very nervous.” “Let us have the largest voter turnout in the history of the Virginia primary,” he said. “Let us win here in Virginia. Let us win the Democratic nomination. Let us defeat Donald Trump.” Read more

Feb. 27, 2020, 5:47 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 5:47 p.m. ET By Bloomberg says he will be on ‘60 Minutes’ on Sunday. Image Michael R. Bloomberg supporters in Oklahoma City on Thursday. Credit... Brittainy Newman/The New York Times OKLAHOMA CITY — Michael R. Bloomberg let slip on Thursday that he had recorded an interview with “60 Minutes,” one of the country’s most-watched television news programs, which last week spoke with Bernie Sanders. At the time Mr. Bloomberg spoke, at a rally in Oklahoma City, CBS had not yet announced his appearance. Mr. Bloomberg revealed details about the interview that the network would typically reveal itself, including that it will air on Sunday, and that it was shot at the home where he grew up in Medford, Mass., outside Boston. A “60 Minutes” interview is one of the biggest media platforms available to a politician, and is often where presidential candidates go when they are facing a critical juncture in their campaigns. Mr. Sanders sat down with the show as he was poised to win a pivotal victory in the Nevada caucuses, which cemented his status as the Democratic front-runner. In 2007, Barack Obama appeared on the program before announcing his history-making presidential campaign. Politicians have also sought out “60 Minutes” at low points in their careers. Bill Clinton used the program in 1992, for example, to address revelations from Gennifer Flowers that the two had carried on a lengthy affair. Hillary Clinton sat at his side during the interview, which ran shortly before the New Hampshire primary. Mr. Clinton’s unexpected second-place finish in New Hampshire helped resurrect his campaign and put him on the path to the presidency. Read more

Feb. 27, 2020, 5:33 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 5:33 p.m. ET By Service union plans a get-out-the-vote drive across the country. The Service Employees International Union said on Thursday that it would pour $150 million into a turnout drive this year that would focus on voters in low-turnout areas and minorities. In what would be its largest-ever voter-engagement campaign, the union will target six million voters for face-to-face contact across 40 states, with particular attention on Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. It also plans to send text messages to 20 million potential voters, and will invest in both local and national elections. “S.E.I.U. members and working people who are trying to organize a union recognize this is a make-or-break moment for our country,” the union’s president, Mary Kay Henry, said in a statement. In the 2018 midterm elections, the service employees’ union mobilized workers and nonwhite voters, particularly in the Midwest, through a 14-month initiative. In announcing its plans for 2020, the union cited Democratic victories in the Wisconsin and Michigan governors’ races as evidence that its 2018 efforts had paid off. The 2020 push includes a plan to turn out union members in high numbers on Election Day, as well as involving them in broader get-out-the-vote efforts. The union is planning to target Hispanic voters in Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin, and Asian-Pacific Islander voters in parts of Nevada and Pennsylvania. It will also work to drive turnout among Hmong and Somali immigrant communities in Minnesota. The effort will primarily rely on door-to-door canvassing and other forms of direct engagement, as well as online advertising. Read more

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Feb. 27, 2020, 5:17 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 5:17 p.m. ET By Biden stops for some Carolina barbecue. Image Joseph R. Biden Jr. ordering at Scott’s Bar-B-Que in Hemingway, S.C. Credit... Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times HEMINGWAY, S.C. — Joseph R. Biden Jr. stopped very briefly for barbecue on Thursday, visiting a restaurant that displayed pictures of Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, among other political dignitaries. Mr. Biden ordered 17 barbecue sandwiches for himself and his staff at the restaurant, Scott’s Bar-B-Que. He greeted patrons, took pictures and gave hugs before getting back on his campaign bus. Ellen M. Nesmith of Nesmith, S.C., praised his experience and his work with President Barack Obama, saying Mr. Biden’s background reassured her of his ability to handle any health care challenges. “He’s more for the people,” Ms. Nesmith, 64, said. “Especially with the health crisis about to hit the U.S. with coronavirus, if it becomes an epidemic in the U.S., there’s going to be a lot of people who don’t have health care.” Read more

Feb. 27, 2020, 5:01 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020, 5:01 p.m. ET By School choice activists miss a candidate and make their pitch to his wife. NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — If, while in South Carolina, you spy a brigade of people dressed completely in black who appear to be on a serious mission, don’t worry: It’s probably the Powerful Parent Network. The group descended on South Carolina this week as part of what it is calling a freedom ride for education equity in schools. Its members hope to meet with all the presidential candidates — if necessary, by disrupting their meetings. On Thursday, they arrived at a North Charleston strip mall with plans to confront Tom Steyer at an appearance there, but they were too late. Mr. Steyer had already left the event, a fish fry. Wearing black T-shirts with “Powerful Parent Network” in white letters, the group, which consists of about a dozen people from across the country, instead found Mr. Steyer’s wife, Kat Taylor, as she was leaving the fish fry and gave her information about their agenda. “We’re parents from all over and we’re basically fighting for education of all kids,” said Krystal Barnett of St. Louis, one of the group of about 12 standing in the parking lot. “We want to make sure that all kids have high performing schools.” “Our children are trapped in failing schools,” she continued. “They’re not reading and doing basic life skills on level. We want him to know that this is a right-now issue. And we need them to know that the status quo of throwing money at schools is not working.” Ms. Taylor, more or less surrounded by the group, seemed sympathetic to their cause. “Absolutely we stand with you and we support you and we will engage with you,” she told them. “Because we need new and different people in charge. It’s time for a commission on race because we have told the American history story inaccurately, not only what has happened in the past but what is happening right now in terms of discrimination in the banking system, in housing, in education, everything.” Members of the Powerful Parent Network, traveling in a bus that they call a rolling classroom, said they might be headed over to Mr. Steyer’s hotel nearby. Read more