A voter in the Super Tuesday primary at Belvedere Elementary School Falls Church, Virginia (Olivier DOULIERY)

Los Angeles (AFP) – Former US vice president Joe Biden, basking in the endorsements from three defeated rivals, was hoping to halt the momentum of frontrunner Bernie Sanders on Tuesday as Democrats voted in 14 states for a nominee to face Donald Trump in November.

Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren were also on the ballot as voters from Maine to Texas and California trooped to the polls on Super Tuesday.

“Today’s the day!” tweeted the 77-year-old Biden, who is making his third bid for the White House after failed runs in 1988 and 2008.

“Make sure to get out and vote,” said Biden, who was spending the day in California and planned to hold a Super Tuesday rally in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening.

The 78-year-old Sanders and his wife, Jane, cast their ballots at a polling station in his home town of Burlington, Vermont. 

“To beat Donald Trump, we are going to need to have the largest voter turnout in the history of this country,” the left-wing senator from Vermont told reporters. 

“We need energy. We need excitement. I think our campaign is that campaign.”

Bloomberg, who has poured hundreds of millions of dollars of his own money into the race but is not expected to win any states on Tuesday, rejected calls to quit to clear a path for fellow moderate Biden.

“I have no intention of dropping out,” the billionaire told reporters in Florida, which holds its presidential primary on March 17. “We’re in it to win it.”

After disappointing finishes in the first three contests, Biden righted his listing campaign with a landslide win in South Carolina on Saturday and is hoping the energy from that victory carries over into Super Tuesday.

A total of 1,357 delegates are at stake on Tuesday and Biden needs a good performance to prevent Sanders from taking a potentially insurmountable lead into the party convention to be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July.

A candidate needs 1,991 delegates to win the nomination outright and Bloomberg acknowledged his only hope may be a contested convention, where no single candidate arrives with the delegates needed to win on the first ballot. 

Biden’s chances received a major boost on Monday when he received the endorsements of three of his defeated rivals for the nomination — Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Beto O’Rourke.

The Democratic establishment is desperate to unite around a centrist candidate who can triumph over Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist whom they see as too far to the left to represent the party against Trump.

– ‘Highest compliment’ –

Buttigieg, the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, threw his support behind Biden a day after quitting the race.

“I’m looking for a president who will draw out what is best in each of us,” Buttigieg said in Dallas, Texas, with Barack Obama’s former vice president at his side.

Biden appeared reinvigorated by the support and emotionally compared Buttigieg to his son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015.

“The fact that he’s prepared to help me means a great deal to me,” Biden said of Buttigieg. “I don’t think I’ve ever done this before, but he reminds me of my son Beau.

“I know that may not mean much to most people but to me it’s the highest compliment I can give any man or woman.”

Biden also delivered a tough message intended to warn voters away from Sanders, who has called for a “political revolution” in America.

“Most Americans don’t want the promise of a revolution,” Biden said. “They want results. They want a revival of decency, honor and character.”

Biden also made appearances with Klobuchar, the Minnesota senator, and O’Rourke, who dropped out early in the race but remains popular in Texas, the state with the largest delegate haul on Tuesday after California.

“What’s really important to me is beating Donald Trump,” Klobuchar told CBS News. “I don’t think we should have a socialist heading up our ticket.”

The trio of endorsements could be political gold for Biden, who is suddenly the main challenger to Sanders and claims his strength with African-Americans, Hispanics, women and suburbanites will show in the coming contests.

Flush with money, an extensive organization, and momentum in the polls, Sanders has focused on multiple states including delegate-rich California.

“Hopefully we can all get together behind one candidate,” said Rafael Roger, a 61-year-old dentist as he cast his ballot in Playa Del Rey, northwest of Los Angeles.

“I think we need to find the issues that join us as a country,” Roger said. “Health care is one of them.”

Andy Dodds, 35, a book publicist, said he was voting for the progressive Warren because he feels she “would be the best person to go up against Trump.”

“But if Biden is the nominee I will vote for Biden,” Dodds said.

Cindy Eleanor, 75, said she went for Biden. “Bernie is not mainstream for the bulk of Americans, he never has been,” Eleanor said.

Disclaimer: Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.