An enthusiastic crowd — many supporters of other candidates now out of the race — greeted former second lady Jill Biden when she visited Columbia on Monday to stump for her husband, Joe Biden, before Tuesday’s Missouri primary.

Looking at the gathering that packed a meeting room at the Activity and Recreation Center to overflowing, Biden said she had been told to expect maybe 50 people. Instead, she walked into a room with more 250 people on chairs and lining the walls.

"You know what this says to me?" Biden said. "This says to me you are ready to win."

Throughout the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, defeating Republican President Donald Trump has been the most important factor for most voters in deciding which candidate to back. Joe Biden, who a month ago seemed to be fading, has rebounded dramatically starting with a landslide victory in the South Carolina primary and by winning the largest share of national convention delegates last Tuesday.

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Polls open at 6 a.m. in Missouri, which will vote along with five other states. Missouri’s delegation is the third-largest prize on Tuesday. In 2016, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders fought former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to a virtual tie. Sanders also easily won Boone County in that primary.

Jill Biden didn’t directly attack Sanders, her husband’s last remaining major rival for the nomination. But she did caution the party against nominating him while not mentioning her name.

Sanders is officially an independent.

"With Joe, a real Democrat at the top of our ticket, the most liberal ones and the most conservative ones will be able to run with him and not from him," Biden said.

She saved her harshest words for Trump. He has allowed division and hatred to flourish, she said, and damaged the nation’s reputation around the world.

"Four more years of a Donald Trump presidency will change the character of our nation and how our allies view us," Biden said.

The Democrats on hand are eager for a nominee that can help them retain local seats and defeat Republicans. The state Senate seat from Boone County is held by Sen. Caleb Rowden, a Republican seeking re-election. In 2016, Rowden won the 19th District seat by carrying Cooper County, by far the smaller of the two counties in the district, while losing narrowly in Boone County.

Blake Willoughby, vice chair of the Boone County Democratic Central Committee (and Columbia Board of Education member), said he was neutral between Biden and Sanders. He said the turnout will decide local races.

"They both offer different things to Missouri and Boone County," Willoughby said of the two leading candidates. He declined to say whether he thought Biden or Sanders would generate a stronger turnout in November.

"This is going to take a united front," Willoughby said.

Jennifer Roberts, a former supporter of Pete Buttigieg, who dropped out of the race after the South Carolina primary, said she is taking her direction from him. Buttigieg endorsed Biden the evening before the Super Tuesday primaries.

"Pete changed the game and we believe in Pete," Roberts said. "He asked us to step up for Joe and that is why we are here."

In her speech, Biden said her husband would protect and expand the Affordable Care Act, the signature achievement of President Barack Obama’s presidency. She credited the law with providing insurance coverage for her sister when she needed to be hospitalized for cancer treatments.

"This law saved my sister’s life," Biden said.

Biden is promising a public option for insurance alongside private plans through the ACA, she said, adding that he can get it done.

"Anyone can tell you what they want to do," Biden said. "Joe can tell you what he has already done and will continue to do."

There are 68 delegates available Tuesday in Missouri, 44 allocated by congressional district and 24 allocated based on the statewide results. The delegates are awarded proportionally, which means neither candidate is likely to gain a major advantage in the count without a sweeping victory.

An Emerson College/Nexstar Media poll, taken after Biden’s landslide victory in South Carolina and domination of the delegate race last Tuesday, shows Biden and Sanders in a statistical dead heat. Biden held a 48-44 advantage in the poll of 425 likely primary voters, which is within the margin of error.

Speaking to reporters after the event, Jill Biden said a repeat of the 2016 result would be satisfying.

"I am not a pundit so I can’t discuss the politics of it, but that would be a win," she said. "But we’re going to do better than that."

Jill Biden is an educator — a professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College — and the only vice president’s wife to hold a paying job while her husband was in office. They met in 1975 and married in 1977. She has pursued her education career while he served as a U.S. senator from Delaware, first winning election in 1972. He was in the Senate until 2008, when he was elected vice president under Obama.

Biden is finding success in his third bid for the presidency after running in 1988 and 2008 without winning a single primary. His political career is notable for some verbal gaffes that have made people chuckle, but never diminished his following. Former state Sen. Chuck Graham, who uses a wheelchair, was on hand Monday to support Biden.

In a 2008 campaign stop as the vice-presidential nominee, Biden called out names of politicians to be recognized and said "Stand up, Chuck," when he got to Graham.

"I am the O.G., the original gaffe," Graham said. "What is really unfair is that he had never met me. He didn’t know I was in a wheelchair."

Graham said he is backing Biden all the way. The stakes, he said, "are the future of the free world."

The way Trump has handled the presidency is to tear down the major institutions and undermine the U.S. position in the world, Graham said.

"I think he is the antidote to Trump," he said. "People want decent, good behavior and leadership in the world."

rkeller@columbiatribune.com

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