MIAMI: Joe Biden scored decisive victories in all three major Democratic primaries Tuesday, earning him a nearly insurmountable lead over rival Bernie Sanders in their race for the party’s presidential nomination.
As the United States grappled with combating the spreading coronavirus pandemic, voters handed the former vice president victory in delegate-rich Florida, as well as Illinois and Arizona.
The command performance speaks to the eagerness of many Democrats to coalesce around a moderate flag bearer, to challenge Republican President Donald Trump, after several other candidates dropped out of the contest in recent weeks and endorsed Biden.
In Florida, the 77-year-old won 62 percent to 23 percent against Sanders, a 78-year-old self-described “democratic socialist” senator from Vermont.
Biden was ahead by 23 percentage points in Illinois, with 89 percent of precincts reporting.
And in Arizona, where polls closed last, Biden was coasting to a third definitive win — and his 19th victory in the last 24 contests.
“Our campaign has had a very good night,” Biden said in televised remarks from his home in Delaware.
“We’ve moved closer to securing the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, and we’re doing it by building a broad coalition that we need to win in November.”
By all accounts it is an astonishing reversal of fortune for Biden, whose campaign was left for dead just one month ago after poor showings in early voting states.
But following a string of victories in high-profile contests starting with South Carolina in late February, and continuing into his show of strength Tuesday, Biden now has a commanding lead in the all-important race for the delegates needed to become the nominee.
Political analyst David Axelrod concluded that Sanders was a mortally wounded candidate.
“No Dem has ever come back from anything like this deficit,” tweeted Axelrod, chief strategist for Barack Obama’s two successful presidential campaigns.
“The race for the nomination is over. That is the reality @BernieSanders faces.”
On Tuesday Biden’s delegate count stood at 1,147 compared to Sanders’s 861, according to a New York Times rolling tally. A candidate needs 1,991 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination and face Trump in the November election.
Biden has long said that Americans want pragmatic results, not the political “revolution” advocated by Sanders.
But he reached out on Tuesday by appealing to Sanders supporters.
“To young voters who have been inspired by Senator Sanders, I hear you,” Biden said.
Biden said he and Sanders “share a common vision” to expand health insurance, address economic inequality and fight climate change.
Sanders delivered a 20-minute speech online Tuesday. But he did not mention the primaries, focusing instead on his recommendations for addressing the coronavirus pandemic, including injecting $2 trillion in funding to prevent deaths and “avoid an economic catastrophe.”
A fourth state, Ohio, was scheduled to vote Tuesday, but it postponed its elections until June on orders of Republican Governor Mike DeWine, who told voters to stay home during the escalating public health emergency.
The United States officially has more than 6,300 coronavirus cases, although that is believed to be a fraction of the real number, which has been depressed by delays in testing.
Election authorities had braced for disruptions and the Trump administration urged Americans to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people.
Despite hurdles, the states managed to successfully host their primaries.
In Florida, Gabriela Carrilho, a 51-year-old who works in marketing, donned gloves before casting her ballot at a nearly deserted elementary school in Miami Beach.
“I think if you don’t participate, then things never change,” she said.
She and others said they felt safe voting.
“There was hand sanitizer at every single station,” said 29-year-old Matt Don. “They kept a safe distance from me. Everybody in there is keeping safe.”
In Illinois, Chicago election commissioners scrambled to find substitute voting judges after hundreds informed the county clerk’s office they wouldn’t show up.
Americans are staying home from work or school by the millions as the country implements emergency measures against a worsening health crisis.
Maryland on Tuesday became the latest state to delay voting, pushing its primary from April 28 to June 2.
Kentucky and Louisiana have postponed their elections to June, while Georgia is delaying from next week until May.
Joe Biden clean sweep in 3 states puts him on track for Democratic nomination
https://arab.news/bw4ut
Joe Biden clean sweep in 3 states puts him on track for Democratic nomination
- Voters handed the former vice president victory in delegate-rich Florida, as well as Illinois and Arizona
- A candidate needs 1,991 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination
What to know about the search for the Brown University shooting suspect
- The video from more than hour before the attack shows the suspect running at times in quiet residential streets near campus
PROVIDENCE, R.I.: With the Brown University shooter still on the loose Tuesday, authorities released new video of a suspect and police fanned out to Providence schools to reassure parents, kids and teachers as investigators pushed for new evidence that might help them crack the case.
Here’s a look at what to know about the attack and the search:
Search on after new video and description of suspect
Authorities released a video timeline and a slightly clearer image of the man suspected in Saturday’s attack in an engineering building classroom, where two students were killed and nine were wounded. The video from more than hour before the attack shows the suspect running at times in quiet residential streets near campus.
In videos previously made public, the suspect’s face was masked or turned away and authorities were only able to give a vague description of him as having a stocky build and about 5 feet, 8 inches (173 centimeters) tall.
The gunman fired more than 40 rounds from a 9 mm handgun, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.
Police have asked the public for tips, and said they had received about 200 by Tuesday. Col. Oscar Perez, the Providence police chief, asked the public Tuesday to look at their camera systems in the area where the person was walking to review any footage that goes back a week.
Authorities on Sunday released a different person of interest after determining he wasn’t behind the attack, which happened in a first-floor classroom where students were cramming for an exam. Providence police spokeswoman Kristy dosReis said the man’s detention didn’t affect the ongoing investigation.
Police fan out to local schools
Tensions remain high in Providence. Ten state troopers were assigned to support the local police sent to beef up security at schools, district Superintendent Javier Montañez said. The district said it canceled after-school activities, sporting events and field trips this week “out of an abundance of caution.”
The attack and the shooter’s escape also have raised questions about campus security, including a lack of security cameras, and led to calls for better locks on campus doors. But some said what they called the real issue needs to be addressed.
“The issue isn’t the doors, it’s the guns,” said Zoe Kass, a senior who fled the engineering building Saturday.
Authorities have said that one reason they lacked video of the shooter was because Brown’s older engineering building doesn’t have many cameras.
University defends response
Brown President Christina Paxson defended the university’s response, saying it was deeply committed to the safety, security and well-being of its students. She also said the campus is equipped with 1,200 cameras.
“I have been deeply saddened by people questioning that,” she said Tuesday. “As time goes on, there is a natural instinct to assign responsibility for tragic events like this. Anxiety here is very natural, but the shooter is responsible.”
Paxson said the university has two security systems. One system is activated at a time of emergency and sent out text messages, phone calls and emails that, in this shooting, reached 20,000 individuals. The other system features three sirens across campus, but Paxson said that would not be activated in an active shooter situation.
“Those get activated when there is a broad scale emergency, and we want people to rush into buildings,” she said. “In the case of an active shooter, activating that system could have caused people to rush into Barus and Holley.”
When pressed by a reporter who noted the university website says the sirens can be used when there is an active shooter, Paxson reaffirmed she didn’t think it would be used in that situation.
“It depends on the circumstances and where the active shooter would be but you don’t want to ever get people rushing into buildings that might be the site of an active shooter,” she said.
Details about the victims emerge
Two of the wounded students had been released from the hospital as of Tuesday, Brown spokeswoman Amanda McGregor said. Of the seven others, one remained in critical condition, five were in critical but stable condition and one was in stable condition, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said.
One of the wounded, 18-year-old freshman Spencer Yang of New York City, told the New York Times and the Brown Daily Herald there was a scramble after the gunman entered the room. Yang said he wound up on the ground and was shot in the leg.
The students who died were MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman from Brandermill, Virginia, and Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore from a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama.
Jacob Spears, 18, a freshman from Evans, Georgia, was shot in the stomach, “but through sheer adrenaline and courage, he managed to run outside, where he was aided by others,” according to a GoFundMe site organized for him.
Durham Academy, a private K-12 school in Durham, North Carolina, confirmed that a recent graduate, Kendall Turner, was wounded.
