Hours after Bloomberg exited race, Sanders still hadn’t heard about it

Bernie Sanders has accused Michael Bloomberg of trying to “buy” the White House and has decried the billionaire as an example of the corrupt influence of big money on elections.

But when a reporter at a news conference Wednesday afternoon asked the Vermont senator what he thought about Bloomberg’s decision four hours earlier to suspend his campaign and endorse Joe Biden, Sanders was genuinely surprised.

“First I heard about that,” Sanders said.

Bloomberg announced his exit shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday. Sanders spoke from Vermont shortly after 2 p.m.

“He’s certainly brought a lot of money to this race,” Sanders said about Bloomberg who spent $558 million on advertising alone in his brief run for the White House. “He’s certainly made a lot of television networks very, very wealthy and I’m sure they’re very disappointed that he’s leaving.”

Sanders disagreed with many of Bloomberg’s policies when he was mayor of New York City, including the controversial “stop and frisk” police program which targeted communities of color. But he said the decision to endorse Biden is part of a larger plan to stop the "revolution" Sanders has been advocating.

“This just confirms exactly what I said,” Sanders said at the news conference. “How do we stop Bernie Sanders. How do we stop a movement of working people and low-income people? How do we stop a multi-generational, multi-racial movement which is standing up for justice? And what you do is you get candidates out of the race to rally around Joe Biden.”

“Obviously, as the ninth wealthiest person in this country whose worth some $60 billion, I suspect we will see a lot of money coming into Biden’s campaign,” Sanders said about Bloomberg. “Probably a lot of negative ads attacking me.”

- Ledyard King

Joe Biden wins Maine, adding to his Super Tuesday victories

Former Vice President Joe Biden has won the Democratic presidential primary in Maine, adding to his list of Super Tuesday victories, according to the Associated Press.

The victory means Biden won ten of the 15 contests on Super Tuesday, when roughly a third of Democratic delegates were up for grabs. Biden also won Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Minnesota, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas.

With 96% of precincts reporting, Biden had 34.1% of the vote, edging Sen. Bernie Sanders, who had 32.9%, followed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren with 15.8.% and Michael Bloomberg with 12%.

Trump: Super Tuesday was a 'great comeback for Joe Biden'

President Donald Trump weighed in on the Democratic primary results last night during an unscheduled appearance at Vice President Mike Pence's White House meeting with airline executives to discuss coronavirus.

Before reporters were ushered out of the room, Trump remarked that no one had asked him about the election. As journalists lingered, Trump called Super Tuesday a "great comeback for Joe Biden." He noted former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg's exit this morning and subsequent endorsement of Biden, saying Bloomberg would "try and save face by putting money" behind the former vice president's campaign.

"One thing this whole thing has shown is you can’t buy an election. That’s a beautiful thing," Trump said, pointing to Bloomberg as well as billionaire Tom Steyer's failed bid.

Steyer, who dropped out after a disappointing finish in South Carolina on Saturday, spent nearly $200 million on national advertising, according to ad-tracking firm Advertising Analytics. Bloomberg spent a whopping $558 million during his 100-day run, the firm found.

“Sometimes you don’t have what it takes," Trump said of Bloomberg. "I said to him, It’s not that easy doing what I did.”

The president also took a shot at Sen. Elizabeth Warren after her lackluster performance on Tuesday night, echoing his morning tweets that she spoiled Sen. Bernie Sanders' lead by not dropping out.

“Elizabeth Warren was the single biggest factor in that election last night," he said, adding that Sanders would have won her home state of Massachusetts as well as Minnesota. "She was very selfish.”

– Courtney Subramanian and Michael Collins

'Bad news for Donald Trump'

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's campaign has come to an end and to some, that's bad news for the president.

"His departure is great news for Joe Biden and bad news for Donald Trump," Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, told USA TODAY.

“It sounds as though Bloomberg really is going to follow through on his pledge to spend a billion dollars or more on behalf of the eventual Democratic nominee,” Sabato said. “Without that, I don’t think Democrats would have a prayer of even coming close to what the Republicans are going to spend.”

On Monday, the Republican National Committee announced that the Republican National Committee, the Trump campaign and their joint committees raised more than $86 million in February, bringing the total raised since the start of 2019 to $607 million, with $225 million cash on hand remaining.

He continued, saying, “It’s just the opposite of 2016, which of course proves you don’t need more money to win. But, given the choice, you’d sure rather have more money.”

Sabato also said Bloomberg's departure was good news for Biden because "Bloomberg has made it clear that Bernie Sanders is public enemy No. 1. "

"If he’d stayed in, he’d be splitting that vote with Biden," Sabato said.

But Sabato cautioned that not all Bloomberg voters would suddenly become Biden backers.

"The followers of one candidate cannot be moved en masse to another, even with candidate A endorsing candidate B," he said. "I would agree that most of Bloomberg’s supporters would end up voting for Biden, but by no means will it be unanimous. "

– William Cummings

Ex-Michigan Gov. Granholm endorses Biden ahead of primary

Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm endorsed Joe Biden on Wednesday morning, a day after the former vice president strung together a series of stunning victories in Super Tuesday states.

Michigan holds its Democratic primary next Tuesday and, with 125 delegates to be awarded, it is the biggest prize among five states voting that day.

In making her announcement on CNN, Granholm — who worked with Biden on debate preparation — specifically cited his help during the 2008-2009 auto crisis, when General Motors and Chrysler were in danger of failing.

She said Biden was a key ally in the White House under President Barack Obama who lobbied for help to save GM and Chrysler, arguing that if they went under it could decimate the American auto industry.

Granholm's remarks, along with the fact that Biden mentioned the auto industry briefly in remarks on Tuesday night, makes it certain that he plans to campaign hard on the topic as he tries to beat U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in Michigan.

– Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press

With Bloomblerg out, what happens next?

Matt Dallek, a professor of political management at George Washington University said billionaire Michael Bloomberg's decision to drop out of the race Wednesday was not surprising after the results on Super Tuesday.

"I mean he's a pretty data-driven guy and the data was only pointing in one direction for him," Dallek said.

Dallek predicted Bloomberg's withdrawal could have two major impacts on the race.

First, Dallek said it was a fair assumption, based on Tuesday's results, that much of Bloomberg's support will go to Biden. He pointed to the apparent boost Biden got from the endorsements of former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., after those candidates dropped out after Biden's decisive win in South Carolina. Bloomberg announced Wednesday he too was endorsing Biden.

"It has got to feel to the Biden campaign that some of the core elements of the Democratic coalition are coalescing behind him," Dallek said. "Bloomberg's endorsement puts an exclamation point on that."

But, Dallek said, "Bloomberg's voters are less important than his resources at this point."

Those resources would alleviate the fundraising pressure on the Democratic nominee and assure Democrats that whoever ends up winning will have the money to take on Trump in the fall.

"If he makes good on his pledge to spend unlimited amounts of money to defeat Donald Trump, then his organization becomes a superpower SuperPAC the likes of which we've never seen," Dallek said.

– William Cummings

Trump weighs in on Super Tuesday by blasting Biden, Warren

President Donald Trump weighed in on Super Tuesday results Wednesday morning, focusing mainly on his claim that the Democrats are plotting to deny the nomination to his favored candidate, Bernie Sanders.

"The Democrat establishment came together and crushed Bernie Sanders, AGAIN!" Trump tweeted early Wednesday after a series of primaries generated more convention delegates for Joe Biden.

Trump has repeatedly suggested he would like to run against Sanders, believing him to be the easiest Democrat to beat.

At the very least, the Trump campaign would like to divide the Democrats – and depress voter turnout – by telling Sanders supporters their man is being cheated by the party establishment. That's the same claim they made in 2016 when Sanders lost to Hillary Clinton, and there is evidence that some Sanders backers stayed home or even voted for Trump that November.

In his post-Super Tuesday tweets, Trump also attacked Elizabeth Warren for staying in the race, saying she is drawing progressive votes away from Sanders. Calling her "selfish," Trump tweeted that "she has Zero chance of even coming close to winning, but hurts Bernie badly. So much for their wonderful liberal friendship.

He also said Warren helped Biden win Massachusetts, saying "the fact that Elizabeth Warren stayed in the race was devastating to Bernie and allowed Sleepy Joe to unthinkably win Massachusetts. It was a perfect storm, with many good states remaining for Joe!"

- David Jackson

Trump slams Sessions, who faces Alabama run-off

President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday he will back Jeff Sessions' opponent Tommy Tuberville in the Alabama Republican primary for Senate.

A frequent target of the president, the former attorney general didn't win enough votes Tuesday to become the GOP nominee outright. He now faces a run-off election against Tuberville, the former head football coach at Auburn University.

"This is what happens to someone who loyally gets appointed Attorney General of the United States & then doesn’t have the wisdom or courage to stare down & end the phony Russia Witch Hunt," Trump tweeted. "Recuses himself on FIRST DAY in office, and the Mueller Scam begins!"

Trump and Sessions:Aides, lawmakers work behind the scenes to try to sway Trump on Jeff Sessions before Alabama Senate primary

The run-off will happen later this month. The winner will face Democratic Sen. Doug Jones in the November general election.

Trump blames Sessions for not stopping a special counsel investigation of Russian election interference in 2016 and as a result has frequently criticized his former attorney general.

The president did not explicitly endors Tuberville – but he served notice he is paying attention to Sessions' fate.

While Sessions was never implicated in Russian election interference, he recused himself from the investigation because he had spoken with Russian officials during the campaign.

The Justice Department itself initially investigated the Russia allegations, but officials decided to appoint a special counsel after Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey in May of 2017.

Critics said Trump pressured Sessions to have Mueller fired and is still attacking his former attorney general as part of an effort to obstruct investigations into Russia and his 2016 campaign.

"'Loyally appointed' is the kind of servant Trump wants, one loyal to him *against* the Constitution and the American people," tweeted Walter Shaub, former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

Shaub added that Trump is "still furious that Sessions recused when he had a conflict of interest," but he is also "talking to his current appointees" still in the administration. "Bow down to the one you serve," he wrote.

“I think President Trump just ended the Alabama Senate contest with his tweet," said Jason Miller, who was senior communications adviser for Trump's campaign in 2016. "Whether or not there’s a formal endorsement is secondary at this point.”

– David Jackson

Bloomberg campaign will reassess after Super Tuesday

Billionaire businessman Mike Bloomberg will reassess his presidential campaign Wednesday after Super Tuesday results showed him trailing Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, multiple news agencies reported.

Despite dropping more than a half billion dollars on his campaign since it launched at the end of November – a figure that dwarfs the spending of his Democratic rivals – American Samoa was the only of the 15 contests on Tuesday in which he emerged victorious. He also picked up delegates in other states, but he failed to win any in others where he spent heavily, such as Virginia.

“No matter how many delegates we win tonight, we have done something no one thought was possible," the former New York City mayor said. “In just three months, we’ve gone from 1% in the polls to being a contender for the Democratic nomination."

But as a contender, Bloomberg now lags both former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders by more than 300 delegates.

Bloomberg on Super Tuesday:Michael Bloomberg under-performing in key Super Tuesday states despite massive investment

Bloomberg flew back to New York on Tuesday after campaigning in Florida, which votes March 17. NBC News reported he is going to New York "to huddle with top advisers."

Bloomberg's national press secretary Julie Wood downplayed the significance of the campaign meeting planned for Wednesday.

"Any campaign would reassess after tonight, after next week, after any time there was a vote," Wood said in a tweet. "This doesn't mean anything."

- William Cummings

Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders traded Super Tuesday punches

Super Tuesday lived up to the hype with former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders trading punches all night.

But by early Wednesday morning, it was clear Biden was the new frontrunner and some of the other candidates, such as former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, face a tough road ahead in terms of catching the front of the pack.

Texas was the last state to be called early Wednesday morning and provided Biden with his biggest win in a night filled with victories.

What states did everybody win?

Here are the states each candidate won during Super Tuesday. Maine was still being counted as of 4 am EST.

Joe Biden : Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Minnesota, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas

: Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Minnesota, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas Bernie Sanders : California, Vermont, Colorado, Utah

: California, Vermont, Colorado, Utah Mike Bloomberg: American Somoa

How many delegates does each candidate have?

The number of delegates will likely continue to change as Super Tuesday results keep rolling in. But the Associated Press tracker shows Biden as the leader following last night's results.

Biden 453

453 Sanders 382

382 Warren 50

50 Bloomberg 44

44 Gabbard 1

Black voters pushed Biden to victory

Black voters, who pushed Biden to victory in South Carolina, were also the key voting bloc behind Biden's wins in several states like North Carolina, Virginia and Alabama.

According to exit polls, 63% of black voters in Virginia supported Biden compared to 18% who backed Sanders. North Carolina saw similar numbers, with 63% of black voters backing Biden and only 16% supporting Sanders. In Alabama, 72% of black voters supported Biden compared to 12% for Sanders.

How did Biden do it?: How Joe Biden roared back on Super Tuesday and what it means for the next contests with Bernie Sanders

What happened to Elizabeth Warren?

It was a disastrous Super Tuesday for Warren, headlined by an embarrassing loss in her home state of Massachusetts where she finished a distant third.

Warren, U.S. senator from Massachusetts, all but disappeared on a night when the Democratic presidential primary turned into a head-to-head race between Biden and Sanders.

She not only won zero states, she didn’t finish second in any primary. Her Massachusetts finish was actually her top-performing result and the only state where she won more than 20% of the vote.

Warren, who led national polls in the fall, appeared to finish above the 15% viability threshold in only a handful of states, meaning she will leave Super Tuesday with far fewer delegates than the two frontrunners.

Biden was declared the winner of Massachusetts by the Associated Press. With nearly half of precincts reporting, Biden had 34% of the vote, followed by Sanders with 26%, and Warren with 21%.

Contributing: Joey Garrison, Rebecca Morin, Jeanine Santucci