Joe Biden bolstered his own electability argument by cutting down that of his chief Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders.
“I don’t think he can beat Donald Trump and keep a Democratic Senate, or get a Democratic Senate and keep a Democratic House,” the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate told MSNBC late Sunday, referring to races in Arizona, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
“I think Bernie Sanders, I think it’s going to be very difficult for people in purple states to have a shot at winning,” Biden added.
But the former two-term vice president, 77, added he’d vote for “Mickey Mouse against Donald Trump” if that’s what it took to remove the incumbent from the White House, echoing what his campaign told the Washington Examiner in Nevada.
The MSNBC appearance followed a Sunday morning appearance on CBS News, as Biden tries to project confidence ahead of the South Carolina primary on Feb. 29, a must-win contest for him if he wants to say in the Democratic race for the presidency following weak results in Iowa and New Hampshire. He enjoyed a stronger showing in Nevada over the weekend, despite finishing in second place and double digits behind Sanders.
While Sanders, the Vermont senator, is Biden’s chief opponent from the far-left of the political spectrum, former President Barack Obama’s No. 2 is also being challenged from the center-left, including from environmentalist Tom Steyer in South Carolina and Michael Bloomberg in the March 3 Super Tuesday states.
Biden on Sunday dinged Bloomberg, agreeing that his $400 million-plus spending on ads had helped paved Sanders’s path to the nomination, though the former New York City mayor’s Nevada debate performance seemed to have kneecapped his own chances of becoming the party’s next standard-bearer.
“Bloomberg is a Republican, he’s a Republican,” Biden said, touting his own record supporting civil rights and unions. “I don’t see policies from Bloomberg consistent with those issues.”
Delaware’s 36-year senator also dismissed reports House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, a kingmaker in South Carolina, was going to endorse him before voters in his state go to the polls on Saturday.
“I hope so, but I have no indication of that,” he said.
