‘That’s a Beau.’ Buttigieg Gets Biden’s Praise: Campaign Update

(Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden said Pete Buttigieg reminds him of his late son as the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor endorsed him Monday.

Speaking at a restaurant in Dallas, the former vice president said he would often look at Buttigieg during the Democratic debates and think “that’s a Beau.”

“He reminds me of my son Beau,” Biden said. “It’s the highest compliment I can give to any man or woman.”

Biden, whose son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015, has previously said Pennsylvania Representative Conor Lamb reminded him of Beau.

Beau Biden had encouraged his father to run for president before he died, something that Biden often talks about on the campaign trail.

Biden Says He Has a Job for Pete Buttigieg (6:56 p.m.)

Joe Biden already has another job lined up for Pete Buttigieg.

Buttigieg said Sunday he was dropping out of the presidential race. Sources said Monday he plans to announce he is endorsing Biden.

In an interview with KHOU 11 News in Houston, Biden said he had already broached the subject of a job in his administration for the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

“I did speak to Pete Buttigieg a couple of days ago, to encourage him to stay engaged and he has enormous talent,” Biden said. “And I indicated to him that if I became the nominee, I’d be coming and asking him to be part of an administration.” Biden didn’t provide Buttigieg’s reply to his proposition.

Biden might even be considering an Abraham Lincoln-like Team of Rivals. He said Amy Klobuchar, who dropped out of the race Monday, is “also a great talent,” hinting she could have a spot in his administration, too. -- Max Berley

Warren Gets Endorsements From Two Women’s PACs (6:29 p.m.)

Elizabeth Warren’s campaign got a boost from two powerful Democratic groups on the day before Super Tuesday with endorsements by EMILY’s List and the National Organization for Women PAC.

“She has run her campaign the way she has governed: with a clear vision of how to build a better America, a plan to put power in the hands of the people, and a campaign that has stood up for and lived progressive values,” Stephanie Schriock, the president of EMILY’s List, which supports pro-choice female candidates up and down the ballot, said in a statement Monday. “She is running for president because that’s what girls do,” she added, reprising a slogan Warren has used in her campaign.

With the withdrawal of Amy Klobuchar earlier Monday, only two women, Warren and Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard, remained of the six female candidates who ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

NOW PAC’s chairwoman, Toni Van Pelt, said her group endorsed Warren because she “has the most comprehensive, intersectional plans to tackle the issues important to NOW.”

The endorsements came as 14 states and one U.S. territory prepare to vote on Tuesday. Warren has been banking on performing well enough in those contests to add to the eight delegates she gathered in the first four states, allowing her to stay in the race. -- Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou

Pete Buttigieg to Endorse Biden at Dallas Rally (3:42 p.m.)

Pete Buttigieg will endorse Joe Biden at a rally in Dallas on Monday, the Associated Press reports.

The former of South Bend, Indiana, mayor ended his own campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination on Sunday as he lagged in the polls heading into Super Tuesday.

Biden will also receive the endorsement of Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar at the Dallas rally. -- Tyler Pager and Jennifer Epstein

Trump, Democrats Keep to Trail Despite Virus (3:37 p.m.)

President Donald Trump and his Democratic rivals aren’t letting coronavirus slow down their campaigning.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday that holding campaign rallies with thousands of attendees is “very safe” despite recent cases of the virus in the U.S.

“You could ask that to the Democrats because they’re having a lot of rallies,” he said.

On Monday evening alone, Trump will hold a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina; Elizabeth Warren will hold one in Los Angeles; and Joe Biden will have one in Dallas.

Warren’s rallies often feature a selfie line where she meets with thousands of voters one-on-one, but the campaign said it is following the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and state departments of health, which aren’t recommending suspending public gatherings for now.

One analysis of Chinese efforts to contain coronavirus found that suspending mass transit, closing entertainment venues and banning public gatherings were the most effective interventions. -- Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou

Harry Reid Endorses Joe Biden (2:36 p.m.)

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid endorsed Joe Biden, joining a list of party luminaries who said they would back the former vice president on Monday.

Biden’s “strength of character and deep experience” contrast with President Donald Trump’s “amorality, corruption and utter incompetence” Reid said in a statement. “Biden will be a much-needed stabilizing force following Trump’s disastrous term, offering a positive and progressive alternative to Trump’s dark vision of racism, xenophobia and policies built on cruelty and exclusion,” he added.

Reid stayed neutral during last week’s caucuses in Nevada, where he built a formidable statewide political machine.

Reid’s endorsement comes as two other moderate Democrats, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, have dropped out of the race.

Klobuchar Is Dropping Out of Presidential Race (1:39 p.m.)

Amy Klobuchar ended her bid for the presidency Monday and plans to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination, a day before the biggest primary night of the 2020 campaign.

The Klobuchar campaign said she will fly to Dallas late Monday for a rally with Biden where she will officially suspend her campaign and endorse him.

Her decision comes as Democratic Party leaders seem to be coalescing around Biden after his commanding win of the South Carolina primary Feb. 29. Another centrist candidate, Pete Buttigieg, dropped out Sunday night.

Biden supporters have also been calling on Michael Bloomberg to drop out to avoid splitting moderate votes with Biden on Super Tuesday, and allowing Bernie Sanders to gain a plurality of delegates at the nominating convention.

(Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.) -- Jennifer Epstein

California Says Coronavirus Won’t Affect Voting (1:11 p.m.)

California election officials say there’s no reason to expect coronavirus to affect voting on Super Tuesday.

The state is working with emergency and public health agencies to make sure voting won’t be disrupted, and many counties are already ahead of the game.

More than a dozen counties -- including major ones like Sacramento, Fresno and Orange -- automatically sent all voters a mail-in ballot that can be dropped off at a voting center or sent back through the U.S. Postal Service.

“In California, there are already multiple options for voters to cast their ballots built right into our system,“ said Sam Mahood, a spokesman for the California Secretary of State’s office.

Los Angeles County is not participating in mail-in balloting, however, and has reduced the number of polling places, which some fear could lead to longer lines. -- Gregory Korte

Biden Endorsements Roll In After South Carolina (11:59 a.m.)

After a commanding win in South Carolina, endorsements are rolling in for Joe Biden from elected officials.

Since Saturday, the former vice president has picked up the support of Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth; former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe; Virginia Representatives Bobby Scott, Don Beyer and Jennifer Wexton; former Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz; and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, among others.

Biden’s win in South Carolina was given a huge boost by the last-minute support of Representative Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American member of Congress.

It’s unlikely Biden will get a similar boost from any of these specific endorsements, but the pace of announcements suggests that he is consolidating support from the Democratic establishment ahead of Super Tuesday.

He was already far ahead of the other Democratic candidates in endorsements from other elected officials. -- Gregory Korte

Biden Expects to Benefit From Buttigieg’s Exit (7:43 a.m.)

Joe Biden says his path forward on Super Tuesday has gotten a little easier since Pete Buttigieg ended his presidential campaign Sunday after failing to secure the diverse coalition needed to win the Democratic nomination.

“He was a real competitor. He is a real competitor. And I think it probably does,” the former vice president said of Buttigieg and his exit in an interview with ABC that aired Monday on “Good Morning America.”

“If I were president, I would pretty much like to see him part of whatever I do,” Biden said.

The decision by Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, to drop out just before voters in 14 states go to the polls may help Biden secure backing from more moderate and establishment Democrats in an effort to blunt Bernie Sanders’s momentum.

Buttigieg, 38, a newcomer to the national stage, outlasted several senators and governors to win the delegate race in the Iowa caucuses. Ultimately, his fourth-place finish in South Carolina proved to be the final blow to his candidacy, as it demonstrated his inability to win over voters of color, which made his path to the nomination nearly impossible. -- Elizabeth Wasserman

Coming Up

Fourteen states and one U.S. territory will vote on Super Tuesday, March 3.

Six states hold primaries March 10.

Democratic candidates debate again in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 15.

(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)

--With assistance from Gregory Korte, Elizabeth Wasserman, Jennifer Epstein, Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou and Tyler Pager.

To contact the reporter on this story: Max Berley in Washington at mberley@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max Berley, Magan Crane

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.