2020, the election campaigns have begun

[robkelk]

Well, that didn't take long: Mike Bloomberg drops out of presidential race, endorses Joe Biden

Is anybody (outside of the Bloomberg camp) surprised by this?


So... the standings.

With votes still being counted across the country, The Associated Press has allocated 453 delegates to Biden, 382 to Sanders, 50 to Elizabeth Warren, 44 to Bloomberg and one for Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. The numbers are expected to shift as new states report their numbers and as some candidates hover around the 15 per cent vote threshold they must hit to earn delegates.

The ultimate nominee must claim 1,991 delegates, which is a majority of the 3,979 pledged delegates available this primary season.

Warren was huddling with advisers on Wednesday to determine if there was a reason to stay in the race after a disappointing Super Tuesday performance. She didn't win a single state and finished in third place, after Biden and Sanders, in her home state of Massachusetts.

If she drops out, that would effectively makes it a two-person race. (No, having one delegate at the convention doesn't get you anything other than a footnote in the history books.)

If she doesn't drop out, she could be the kingmaker at the convention. The usual forms at Canadian leadership conventions for candidates who are conceding the contest are "I ask my delegates to vote for ___" (and hope they're sufficiently loyal to her to follow her request), or "I release my delegates" (letting them choose who they want to vote for - which is the interesting-as-in-faux-Chinese-curse way to concede that reporters love).