Actually…this probably hurts Bernie, and the timing is a big part of this.
Tomorrow is Super Tuesday, and California is the biggest haul.
Sanders is way ahead there. Warren is hovering right at about 15% which is the threshold for delegates. She has, so far, underperformed in every single state (i.e. got fewer votes than the polls said she would). Biden is under 15%, but in double digits.
Buttigieg’s support – according to polls – is pretty evenly split between Bernie, Warren, Biden, Klobuchar, and Bloomberg, with Sanders narrowly polling higher than the others.
But Buttigieg’s votes could put Warren and Biden over the 15% threshold that they might otherwise fail to reach. If they fail, Sanders takes the entire 400+ haul of delegates. If they hit it, he ends up with 200-something, and they take a bunch.
I think that’s why Pete quit. He originally packaged himself as a progressive, in favor of universal health care, but got no popular support. He sold out to the billionaires. He has positioned himself as the billionaires’ candidate of the future. He’s their tool, now. And I suspect – after Biden’s showing in SC – they told him it was time to get out of the race. They will see him again down the road, but he had no pathway to the nomination, and it was time to rally behind Biden. And Warren – who also sold out – is going to stay in the entire race even though she can’t even win her home state, just to suck enough delegates away from Sanders to wreck his bid.