Joe Biden decisively bested Bernie Sanders in the Michigan Primary. With 51% of the vote in, Biden has earned 53.2% of the total and has nearly a 14 point lead over Bernie (39.3%). Keep in mind that Bernie narrowly prevailed over Hillary Clinton in Michigan in 2016.
Biden has also crushed Bernie in Mississippi (80.7% to 15.3%) and in Missouri (59.2% to 34.5%) with 68% and 59% of the votes counted so far, respectively. Bernie does have a double digit lead on Biden in North Dakota Caucus (39.7% to 26.2%) albeit with only 10% of the vote in so far. Results are expected in soon from the Northwest in both Washington and Idaho. Even if Bernie were to prevail in these states he really needed Michigan and he didn't get it.
Given that Biden has dominated Bernie back to back Tuesday nights one wonders how much longer Bernie is going to stick around. Next Tuesday won't be any easier with Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Ohio on the docket. There is a debate scheduled to take place on Sunday night in Phoenix. I'm sure Bernie wants a chance to mano-a-mano with Biden. However, because of concerns over the Coronavirus, the debate will occur with no audience. This could make for bad optics and minimize the debate's impact especially where Bernie is concerned.
I cannot help but wonder if Bernie is pondering a third party run. If he does he'll be more hated than Ralph Nader was 20 years ago. Should Bernie drop out a more likely scenario would be if Bernie Bros were to disrupt Biden's events as they did yesterday in Flint, Michigan when one of their ranks assaulted Biden's press secretary Symone Sanders. I'm fairly sure that attack was deliberate as Sanders worked for Bernie in 2016 and is no doubt looked upon as a traitor. If that does happen then it will reflect poorly on Bernie. How can Bernie condone violence committed in his name?
However you look at things Joe Biden had another terrific night with more likely to follow.
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