Joe Biden charges out of gate on Super Tuesday

Joe Biden went on an early roll in the South on Super Tuesday, capturing primary elections in Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

CNN also later declared the former vice-president the winner in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Biden, 77, was performing better Tuesday than recent polls had suggested, as he built on what is shaping up as a turning-point victory in South Carolina on Saturday.

Biden also was boosted in the past few days when Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and US Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota wrapped up their campaigns. Both were considered in the moderate lane of the Democratic Party.

Biden also was running strong in Minnesota, a Midwestern state that was thought to be leaning toward US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who up until Tuesday was the presumptive front-runner.

The early results increased the drama over the outcome in California, where Sanders has led in polls and which has 415 pledged delegates at stake, although the state's results weren't expected until Wednesday at the earliest.

Sanders, 77, won his home state primary in Vermont, and CNN also called the race for Sanders in Colorado.

Sanders was leading in Texas, the second-largest delegate prize on Super Tuesday. Texas and Colorado have substantial numbers of Hispanic voters, who heavily supported Sanders in the Nevada caucuses on Feb 22.

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, 78, former mayor of New York City, won the South Pacific Ocean territory of American Samoa.

He also was running above 15 percent in Alabama, North Carolina, Maine, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. Fifteen percent is the required threshold to win any delegates in a state.

"As results come in, here's what is clear: No matter how many delegates we win tonight, we've done something no one else thought was possible," Bloomberg said Tuesday from a stage in the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, the Miami Herald reported. "In just three months, we've gone from 1 percent in the polls to being a contender for the Democratic nomination for president."

Bloomberg is looking ahead to the Sunshine State primary, which is on March 17. If he were to rack up a modest number of delegates, Bloomberg possibly could withstand pressure from party leaders to withdraw and pave the way for Biden.

Both Biden and Bloomberg have opposed Sanders' signature issue of free healthcare for all, so having two candidates with fairly similar political philosophies splitting those votes helps Sanders at this juncture.

As he did in South Carolina, Biden depended on the support of African-American voters in Virginia, North Carolina and Alabama, where black voters make up 60 percent of the electorate, according to The New York Times.

Black voters in Tennessee also went 3-to-1 for Biden, according to exit polls.

In the past couple of days, Biden was able to generate more endorsements and media coverage, which may have been a factor with the large number of undecided voters going into Super Tuesday.

"In some Va. counties, Biden is within a few points of (Hillary) Clinton's 2016 result in a 2-person race. It shows the effectiveness of the establishment's consolidation around him," Giovanni Russonello wrote in a New York Times election blog.

US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts was having a disappointing evening, as she trailed Biden and Sanders in her home state. Warren, 70, likely will face calls to drop out.

Voters in California were experiencing long lines, up to three hours, the Los Angeles Times reported.

With Biden's impressive surge, Sanders likely found himself having to win both Texas and California to stall the accelerating momentum by Biden.