Super Tuesday: Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders lock horns in fierce battle

As the greatest number of US states cast their votes to nominate presidential candidates on Super Tuesday, people are terming it a fierce battle between front-runners Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. The former vice president recorded a thumping victory in South Carolina which catapulted his campaign for the Democratic nominee race. Biden claimed the biggest victory margin of any Democrat in the opening four state contest after he won support from 39 delegates in South Carolina, becoming only second to Bernie Sander whose total delegates tally stood at 56 before the Super Tuesday. 

The fierce battle

Joe Biden now enjoys the support of 54 delegates which will definitely change on Wednesday after the results of Super Tuesday are out. There are three other Democrat candidates in the race but the fight between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders was resurrected after Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg decided to end their campaign. Amy Klobuchar after ending her campaign endorsed Joe Biden for the nomination, while experts are saying that it is likely that Buttigieg's 'moderate' supporters will also go for Biden rather than a 'radical' Sanders, which makes the battle between the two front-runners even more fierce.

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Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders were the only candidates to earn statewide delegates based on the results of the primary. As per reports, Biden won 48.7% of the popular vote and notably placed first in every county in the state while Sanders came in second place and won 19.8% of the popular vote as of March 1. However, Super Tuesday has the ability to turn that around because if one candidate takes a gigantic lead that will be nearly impossible for anyone else to overcome. 

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According to reports, more than 1,300 delegates out of 3,979 voted in Tuesday's primaries, which is about 30% of all pledged delegates available. Candidates must finish with 15% of votes in either the statewide total or an individual congressional district in order to win any delegates. Fourteen states and one US territory went into polls on Tuesday to vote for the next potential Democrat candidate, which can well be between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden.

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California, the most populous state in the United States with 415 delegates decided to return to Super Tuesday to increase its influence after it held its primary in June during the 2016 presidential election. Texas is the second most important state in the Super Tuesday primaries as it has 228 delegates to its name, which can play an important role in deciding the next Democrat candidate. Alabama (52), Arkansas (31), Colorado (67), Maine (24), Massachusetts (91), Minnesota (75), North Carolina (110), Oklahoma (37), Tennessee (64), Utah (29), Vermont (16) and Virginia (99) are other states that participated in Tuesday's primaries. 

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Image Credit: AP