US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has picked up three endorsements from former rivals on the eve of the most important day in the 2020 White House race so far.
Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg and Beto O’Rourke all campaigned with the former US vice-president in Dallas, Texas.
On Super Tuesday, voters in 14 states will pick their preferred Democratic candidate for November’s election.
The Democratic frontrunner remains the left-wing senator, Bernie Sanders.
Democratic moderates have been calling on party figures to urgently unite to stop Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, from becoming the party’s nominee to take on President Donald Trump, a Republican.
The other candidates still in the race are Elizabeth Warren, Michael Bloomberg and Tulsi Gabbard. With the exception of Ms Gabbard, a Hawaii congresswoman, all of the Democratic hopefuls are septuagenarians.
What did Biden’s new backers say?
Ms Klobuchar, a Minnesota senator, suspended her campaign and endorsed Mr Biden on Monday.
Appearing alongside Mr Biden on Monday night, she said: “If we spend the next four months dividing our party and going at each other, we will spend the next four year watching Donald Trump tear apart our country.”
Mr Buttigieg, a former mayor from Indiana who dropped out of the race on Sunday, said at another event with Mr Biden: “I’m looking for a leader, I’m looking for a president, who will draw out what’s best in each of us.”
Mr Biden, 77, told reporters that Mr Buttigieg, 38, “reminds me of my son Beau”, who died in 2015.
Former US congressman Mr O’Rourke, who dropped out of the race last November, also appeared on stage with Mr Biden.
Ms Klobuchar and Mr Buttigieg had both been competing with Mr Biden for the same pool of pragmatic, centrist Democratic voters.
Both stepped aside following Mr Biden’s overwhelming victory in South Carolina at the weekend, which came after he struggled in the first three Democratic leadership contests this year.
Earlier on Monday, Mr Biden also picked up endorsements from former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice, former Senate leader Harry Reid and several members of Congress.
Who else is still in the race?
Five contenders remain out of a Democratic field that once featured more than two dozen.
Among them is New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg, who is also pitching to moderate Democratic voters.
The former mayor of New York City – who will appear on a 2020 ballot for the first time on Tuesday – has invested more than a half billion dollars in his presidential bid.
Mr Bloomberg told a Fox News town hall on Monday that the nominee could ultimately be chosen through “horse-trading” at the Democratic convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July.
Also still in the race are Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and US congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.
How did Sanders react?
Campaigning in Minnesota on Monday night, Mr Sanders invited his rivals’ supporters to join his campaign.
“To all of Amy and Pete’s millions of supporters, the door is open. Come on in,” Mr Sanders said.
His campaign suggested the party’s big money donors wanted to stop the Vermont senator.
“The establishment is nervous, not because we can’t beat Trump, but because we will,” said Sanders’ campaign manager, Faiz Shakir.
Mr Sanders is promising to target US income inequality with a multi-trillion dollar policy blueprint on everything from healthcare to taxation and education.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
