Keller @ Large: Hidden Winners And Losers Of Super Tuesday
BOSTON (CBS) - It's easy in hindsight to see what worked on voting day and what didn't. But while the candidates get all the attention, there are always stories of success and failure behind the headlines, like these:
Winner: People Power
The pundits wrote him off months ago; big donors mostly preferred other candidates. Now they're all stunned at the way regular folks ignored the polls, took matters into their own hands, and voted strategically. It seems the people were just Biden their time. (Sorry)
Loser: Revolution
"The people of America want a political revolution," Bernie Sanders is fond of saying. (Cheers)"
But this claim turned out to be a political loser. Sanders and Elizabeth Warren promised "big structural change." On Tuesday the only big change most Democrats seemed to want was a change of Oval Office occupant.
As Biden put it: "People are not looking for a revolution, they're looking for results."
Winner: Endorsements
The New York Times' joint endorsement of Warren and Amy Klobuchar was widely mocked, as were establishment endorsements in general.
But the emotional endorsement of Biden by veteran South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn was a winner, sparking a flood of black voter support for Biden and a host of Super Tuesday voters followed suit.
Loser: The Squad
Still, some endorsements proved surprisingly impotent. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley worked hard for Warren, who nonetheless finished behind Mike Bloomberg among black voters in Massachusetts (!)
Pressley's three fellow Squad members backed Sanders, with only slightly better results.
A final loser: The New Hampshire Primary
They used to say Iowa picks corn, New Hampshire picks presidents. But this year the Granite State picked also-rans - Pete Buttigieg, Klobuchar and Sanders.
And one last winner: Baby Boomer Political Power
After all the hype about Bernie's internet army and Mayor Pete's new generation of leadership, we now seem headed to another four years of Boomer rule.
It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, OK Boomer.
