Biden, Sanders enter key phase in race

FLINT, United States－The Democratic presidential primary is down to two major candidates, and it shows.

Former Vice-President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders are spending their first weekend as their party's last top White House contenders increasingly taking aim at one another. Each wants to show he's the best choice before six more states－Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota and Washington－vote on Tuesday.

It reflects the new contours of a race that once featured 20-plus Democrats. An increasingly bitter matchup could endure for months as Biden and Sanders compete for the right to face President Donald Trump in November.

"We have a two-person race," Sanders said Saturday in Dearborn, a Detroit suburb with one of the nation's largest Arab American populations. "And all over this country, people are asking themselves which candidate can best defeat Trump. I have zero doubt in my mind that, together, we are the campaign that can beat Trump."

Campaigning in St. Louis, Biden took a number of veiled swipes at Sanders, even as he called on Democrats to rise above Trump's division.

He told the crowd that if they wanted to nominate a "lifelong" and "proud" Democrat, they should pick him. "If you want a nominee who'll bring the party together, who will run on a positive progressive vision for the future, not turn this primary into a campaign of negative attacks－because that will only reelect Donald Trump if we go that route－if you want that, join us," Biden said.

Age targeted

The former vice-president also knocked Sanders' weeks of suggestions that he is the candidate who can prompt record voter turnout in November and defeat Trump, saying that actually "we're the campaign that's going to do that".

Sanders argues that no Democrat will win the presidency "with the same-old, same-old politics of yesteryear". And in a sign of how biting the contest may become, Sanders supporters－including his campaign manager－raised questions about Biden's stamina after he gave a seven-minute speech in St. Louis.

That prompted swift online pushback from Biden allies. Democratic strategist Guy Cecil, who leads the party's largest outside spending group, tweeted, "Spreading conspiracy theories online won't help your candidate" but "it will help Donald Trump win in November."

But the focus on Biden's age is somewhat ironic given that the 78-year-old Sanders is actually a year older than Biden.

Sanders, who has served in Congress since 1991, is pledging to increase Democratic turnout by drawing younger voters, minorities and working class people to the polls even though they tend to vote in lower concentrations than many other Americans.

Agencies