Biden maintains momentum in ‘Super Tuesday’ primaries (Lead)

Washington, March 4 (IANS) Former US Vice President Joe Biden, who’s on the rise after a big victory in South Carolina, maintained the momentum in Super Tuesday’s Democratic primaries.Biden has already been seen as winner in at least eight states, including North Carolina, Virginia and Massachusetts, according to projections by multiple US media outlets.”It’s a good night,” Biden triumphantly told supporters at a rally in Los Angeles, California on Tuesday night, Xinhua news agency reported. “It seems to be getting better. They don’t call it Super Tuesday for nothing.”Senator Bernie Sanders, a progressive, has taken California, the state with the most pledged delegates to July’s Democratic National Convention (DNC), as well as Colorado, Utah and his home-state Vermont, said the projections.Speaking to supporters in Vermont, Sanders said his campaign is “taking on the political establishment”.”We’re going to win because the people understand it is our campaign, our movement,” he said. “What we need is a new politics that brings working class people into our political movement.”Fourteen of 50 US states and American Samoa held a primary on Tuesday for voters to select their preferred presidential candidates this year. Projections of a winner for Texas and Maine have not been announced.Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who made his ballot debut on Tuesday, has won American Samoa.Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii are also running for the Democratic presidential nomination but neither of them has been declared winner for any jurisdictions.Sitting President Donald Trump, who’s facing no major challengers in the Republican Party, is expected to win the GOP primaries.In a series of tweets on Tuesday night, Trump celebrated his victory while lashing out at some of the Democratic presidential contenders.The Democratic primaries on Super Tuesday are deciding over 1,300 pledged delegates to the DNC or roughly a third of the total.Typically, a candidate is only eligible to receive a share of the pledged delegates at stake if they win at least 15 per cent of votes cast in a primary or caucus.To win the Democratic presidential nomination, a candidate must receive support from a majority of all the 3,979 pledged delegates on the first ballot of the DNC, which election officials said must be at least 1,991 delegates.–IANSpgh/