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EDITORIAL & OPINION Kotyuk’s Economy Review Super Tuesday Transition

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EDITORIAL & OPINION A Different Point of View Corona Virus

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SUPER TUESDAY Warren reevaluates, Bloomberg drops out after Super Tuesday

STEVE PEOPLES AND BILL BARROW | AP NEWS

LOS ANGELES — New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg suspended his presidential campaign and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren was reassessing her candidacy Wednesday as the winnowing process in the Democrats’ 2020 nomination fight lurched forward after a consequential Super Tuesday.

Bloomberg became the third failed Democratic presidential contender to exit the race in three days. Like the others, he endorsed Joe Biden, the big winner on Super Tuesday with victories in 10 of 14 states, and called him the best chance to defeat President Donald Trump in November.

Sen. Bernie Sanders lashed back in a Wednesday news conference in Vermont, declaring himself in a “neck-and-neck” race with Biden, despite the former vice president’s overwhelming support from the Democratic establishment.

“What this campaign I think is increasingly about is, Which side are you on?”

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN: Democratic presidential candidate speaks during a primary election night rally, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, at Eastern Market in Detroit. | AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

Sanders said. “There has never been a campaign in recent history which has taken on the entire political establishment. That is an establishment that is working frantically to try to defeat us.”

The new sense of urgency from Sanders and his allies came just hours after a resurgent Biden scored victories from Texas to Massachusetts, revitalizing a presidential bid that was teetering on the edge of disaster just days earlier.

Sanders seized the biggest prize with a win in Califor

FORMER VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Democratic presidential candidate speaks during a primary election night rally Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Los Angeles. | AP Photo/ Marcio Jose Sanchez

nia but won just three other states.

Warren, Sanders’ progressive ally, was huddling with advisers on Wednesday to determine if there was a reason to stay in the race after her Super Tuesday wipe-out. She didn’t win a single state and finished in third place, after Biden and Sanders, in her own home state of Massachusetts.

Sanders confirmed that he spoke with Warren early Wednesday

“What Sen. Warren told me is she is assessing her campaign,” he said. “She

MIKE BLOOMBERG: Democratic presidential candidate speaks during a campaign rally at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla. | Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP

will make her own decision in her own time.”

While Warren’s future is unclear, Tuesday’s round of voting helped clarify that the Democratic Party’s presidential field, which featured more than a half-dozen candidates a week ago, had turned into a two-man contest.

Both men are expected to begin receiving Secret Service protection, according to Biden campaign chairman, Rep. Cedric Richmond, who said Wednesday that the House Homeland Security Committee has

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Poses for a photograph with a supporter after a campaign stop in Denver. Colorado voters will cast their ballots in the state’s primary election. | AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File

asked the Secret Service to provide protection to all remaining major presidential candidates.

Biden and Sanders already have Secret Service code names: Biden’s is “Celtic” and Bernie’s is “Intrepid”

Biden’s campaign is embracing his renewed status as a Democratic front-runner and is going on the offensive against Sanders. Richmond blasted the Vermont senator for suggesting that the Democratic establishment is colluding against the progressive’s White House bid. Richmond said Biden is earning his votes.

“I just did not know that African Americans in the South were considered part of the establishment,” Richmond said, noting that Biden’s overwhelming support among black voters gave him wide delegate gains in Alabama, North Carolina and Virginia, among other states.

African American voters, he continued, understand the importance of “nominating a person that they know, nominating a person that can win.”

The Sanders campaign announced Wednesday that it would begin airing three new campaign ads in Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Washington, states that hold primaries March 10 and March 17.

One of the new ads features archived footage of former President Barack Obama praising Sanders. It’s a not-so-subtle attempt by the Vermont senator to

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WASHINGTON Congress reaches deal on $8.3B bill to battle coronavirus

ANDREW TAYLOR | AP NEWS C apitol Hill negotiators have reached agreement on an $8.3 billion measure to battle the coronavirus outbreak that’s spreading and threatening a major shock to the economy and disruptions to everyday life in the U.S.

The measure immediately went to the floor for a brief, bipartisan debate; the House will vote on the bill later Wednesday and Senate leaders are pressing for a vote in that chamber by the end of the week.

“The government’s greatest responsibility is to keep Americans safe,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y. “This emergency supplemental addresses the coronavirus and takes critical steps to protect the American people from this deadly and expanding outbreak.”

The legislation came together in little more than a week, a rarity in a deeply polarized Washington. It more than triples the $2.5 billion plan unveiled by President Donald Trump

just last week.

Trump, however, is sure to sign the measure, which has the blessing of top Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and top House Republican Kevin McCarthy of California.

“This moment calls for collaboration and unity,” McConnell said. “It’s time to give our public health experts and healthcare professionals the surge resources they need at this challenging time.”

The agreement came together after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., dropped a demand, opposed by Republicans and the drug industry, to guarantee that any vaccines and drug treatments developed with government-backed research — but manufactured by drug companies — be offered at “affordable” prices.

Instead, more than $3 billion would be dedicated to research and development on vaccines, medicines for treatment, and diagnostic tests, including $300 million for the government to purchase such drugs from manufacturers

at “fair and reasonable” prices to distribute them to those who need it — which is the standard applied in earlier crises like the 2009 H1N1 flu outbreak.

It also would provide more than $2 billion to help federal, state, and local governments prepare for and respond to the coronavirus threat, including $300 million for the Centers for Disease Control’s rapid response fund. Another $1.3 billion would be used to help fight the virus overseas.

Another almost $1 billion would provide medical supplies and other preparedness steps like $350 million to aggressively go after the virus in “hot spots” like Washington state, $500 million to buy drugs, masks, and other medical supplies for states, local governments and hospitals, and $100 million for community health centers. It would devote $500 million to Medicare for remote “telehealth” consultations that would permit sick people to get treatment without visiting a doctor. “This robust, bipartisan agreement goes far above the President’s totally inadequate request to actually meet the needs we are hearing from our states and will help ensure tests and vaccines are available to everyone who needs them,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

The agreement comes as the outbreak in the U.S. appears increasingly likely to affect workers who are instructed to stay home, immigrants who may fear seeking treatment because they are in the U.S. illegally, and the potential rapid spread among homeless people. Widespread school closures are possible as well.

“The American people are apprehensive about the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. and abroad. Global financial markets are on edge,” said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Appropriations Committee. “Both are resilient, but vigorous action is needed to calm nerves, stabilize the situation, and get our arms around this crisis. Vice President Mike Pence, who is coordinating

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