Having finally won an election, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is already making excuses ahead of Super Tuesday. Biden won a decisive victory in South Carolina on Saturday, but 14 other states are voting this week, and some of the polls aren't looking very promising for the gaffe-prone former veep. On NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, host Chuck Todd asked the candidate about his prospects on Super Tuesday, specifically in California where some 416 delegates are up for grabs. Biden refused to set any specific standards to measure his performance ahead of Tuesday's elections.
"What is a good night for you in California?" Todd asked the candidate.
"Again, I'm not going to speculate what's good and bad," Biden told Todd. "We have had limited funds to begin with, number one. Number two, the first two caucuses and primary did hurt the campaign in terms of whether or not people thought that we were likely to win, and it did have some impact."
The RealClearPolitics poll average currently has Biden trailing Sen. Bernie Sanders by a little more than 21 percentage points in California. Biden also trails Elizabeth Warren by four points.
"Look, I haven't had the kind of money that Bernie's been working on for a long, long time here, and he's done a great job of it," Biden admitted. "I haven't had that kind of staff. I have a significant number of endorsements and quality people from the mayor of Los Angeles to Barbara Boxer to people like Diane Feinstein and serious, serious people in the state. But that's not enough. It's hard to put people on the ground when you haven't had the tens of millions of dollars other people have had."
But money doesn't seem to be helping Michael Bloomberg either, who trails Biden in both California and national polls. It didn't help Tom Steyer, who had a lot more money than Biden, and also the decency to drop out following another loss in South Carolina on Saturday.
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Super Tuesday is likely to consolidate the Democratic field, with the remaining candidates hoping to emerge as the anti-Bernie challenger most suited to take on President Trump in November, more likely to happen now with Pete Buttigieg expected to withdraw.
Will Democratic voters finally be able to agree on which flawed candidate is the Bernie alternative?
"It's hard to put people on the ground when you haven't had the tens of millions of dollars other people have had," former Vice President Joe Biden told @chucktodd. pic.twitter.com/ThDBmhlENF
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