Pictured are Democratic U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (wearing eye glasses), who this week suspended his campaign for president, former vice president and likely Democratic presumptive nominee Joe Biden, and former president Barack Obama, also a Democrat and the nations's first Black president who served two terms as president (2009-2016) with Biden as his vice president

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.

By Kathy WRay Coleman, senior political reporter, editor-in-chief

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign came to an end on Wednesday when the self-described socialist Democrat, a two-time candidate for president and Vermont senator whose grassroots campaign galvanized voters and made him a household name, quit the race for the Democratic nomination for president, leaving former vice president Joe Biden as the clear presumptive nominee to take on incumbent president Donald Trump for the November general election.

Sanders said during a live-stream presentation that it was time for him to bow out.

He said there was no clear path to the nomination.

"I have concluded that this battle for the Democratic nomination will not be successful, and so today I am announcing the suspension of my campaign," Sanders told supporters.

And the longtime federal lawmaker called Biden, a former U.S. senator who served with him and later became vice president under Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president, "a very decent man who I will work with to move our progressive ideas forward."

But he stopped short of endorsing Biden and pledged to do everything in his power to help the Democrats get Trump out of office, an indication that a likely endorsement is forthcoming.

He said that the campaign between Biden and Trump will likely be "a pretty rough and I suspect pretty mean campaign."

Considered a long shot in 2016, Sanders won 23 primaries and caucuses and 43% of pledged delegates in his loss in the  primary to Democrat Hillary Clinton, who got 55% and went on to win the nomination, only to lose the general election to Trump months later.

His political platform advocating for a $15- an-hour minimum wage, income equality, criminal justice reform and free college tuition and healthcare for all resonated with voters, younger voters in particular, and activists and progressive voters.

He fought all the way to the Democratic National Convention relative to his 2016 loss of the nomination to Clinton, forcing the Democratic National Committee to change its rules on superdelegates, who now only get a vote on the first ballot unless the outcome is uncertain.

During his bid this time around he nearly won Iowa, coming in second place, and he went on to win New Hampshire and Nevada, Biden, powered by the Black vote and an endorsement from Black U.S. Rep James Clyburn, later winning South Carolina, and Super Tuesday, and never looking back.

By the time he called it quits on Wednesday he said his campaign lagged behind in more than 300 pledged delegates, Biden with 1, 217 pledged delegates and Sanders with 914, a candidate needing 1,991 delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination.

Meanwhile, Democrats immediately began courting Obama and urging the former junior U.S. senator from Illinois who made history in 2008 when he was elected as America's first Black president to quickly endorse his former vice president, the Black vote no doubt crucial for the 2020 election.

It fell seven percentage points from 2012 to 2016, Obama' s last year in office, with Blacks making up 12 percent of the electorate that year.

An avid campaigner and brilliant orator, Obama has influence over the Democratic vote, and the Black vote, and he and Biden are tight, sources say, Biden often quoting Obama during debates and regularly pushing his healthcare and other policies on the campaign trail, campaigning for this year's presidential election virtually coming to a halt because of the coronavirus pandemic that began gripping the nation last month.

The Black vote is obviously nothing to play with, or to take for granted.

Some 4 million Obama voters stayed home in 2016 when Clinton lost to Trump, and he too is courting the Black vote in 2020, or at least he is posturing on the matter.

Biden, 77, remains the pragmatic choice of Black voters in general, and southern and elderly Black voters simply adore him.

A Republican with a strong base of supporters, President Trump still lags behind him in nearly every poll, including Qunnipiac, CNN, and  Emerson polls that have Biden anywhere from four to seven percentage points ahead if the election were held today, the Emerson poll showing a Biden Trump election night showdown in November at 53-47%.

Only the conservative-leaning Fox News poll shows the duo tied at 42-42%, the president often offended and on the attack if political polls suggest he might be out of a job next year.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM, COLUMBUS, Ohio- A federal district judge has rejected a lawsuit filed by the Ohio ACLU, the League of Women's Voters of Ohio, and several other voters rights groups that challenged a new state law that essentially precludes in- person and poll voting for this year's primary and extends the deadline to April 28 via mail-in voting, an election delayed by Gov Mike DeWine for the March 17 primary in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Ohio has more than 4,450 confirmed coronavirus cases with 1,214 hospitalizations and 142 people dead.

The lawsuit plaintiffs argued that the new state law, House Bill 197, is unconstitutional and otherwise illegal and that it disenfranchises voters by rushing the primary and denying in person voting and access to the polls, and that historically disenfranchised groups like Blacks are not accustom to mail-in voting.

They say the new legislation that reschedules Ohio's primary and limits voting, particularly to marginalized groups like minorities, violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits discrimination in voting.

The state, led by Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, also a defendant in the lawsuit, disagreed and told the court in its brief that nothing is suspect and that it is a bi-partisan effort during a pandemic rather than voter suppression, among a litany of other excuses.

Filed in the United States District Court in the Southern District of Ohio in Columbus, the coalition of voters rights groups, among other claims, wanted a new deadline for the primary beyond April 28 that is not rushed, and the re-opening of voter registration until 30 days before the voting deadline.

Voter registration in Ohio ended Feb 18.

U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson, a George Bush appointee, rejected all of the lawsuit requests and ruled that the new state law, while not necessarily the option everybody may have wanted, is not unconstitutional, or illegal on other terms.

Meanwhile, a representative from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections and Democratic women leaders of Cuyahoga County, the state's second largest of 88 counties and of which includes Cleveland and several of its eastern suburbs, held a webinar last week to get the word out on voting and to explain the nuisances of HB197, which was unanimously supported by Ohio's Republican- dominated state legislature, Democrats and Republicans alike.

County Board of Elections representative Meredith Turner, a former aide to U.S. Sen Sherrod Brown of Cleveland, said during the webinar, which was led by Cindy Demsey of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Women's Caucus and Shaker Heights Democratic Club President Jane Buder Shapiro, that those who have not voted early or have not sought mail-in ballots to date should get their applications in requesting the mail-in- ballots at least by April 22 in order to get them in time to return them by April 28.

The official deadline to request a mail-in ballot is April 25 and ballots must be postmarked by April 27 or delivered to the board of elections on or before April 28.

The applications for a mail-in ballot, said Turner, can be downloaded at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections and Ohio Secretary of State websites.

And while applicants must pay for postage to mail in the applications to the county board of elections, HB 197 mandates pre-paid mail in ballots to qualified applicants

Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Chairwoman Shontel Brown, the first Black woman to hold the post and also a county council woman, said during the webinar that voter registration in her county is at an all time high, particularly among Democrats, though it remains to be seen if voter turnout this year will surpass the turnout for the primary in 2016 when President Donald Trump, a Republican seeking reelection this year without any notable opposition, won Ohio and ultimately the presidency over then Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

"There are more voters registered this year in Cuyahoga County," said Brown.

Ohio was one of four states slated to hold primaries on March 17, primaries also scheduled for Florida, Illinois and Arizona, all three of them going forward with Joe Biden sweeping all three states.

On the ballot in Ohio are candidates for judge-ships, state legislative seats, Congress, health and human service issues, and more, including Democratic candidates for president.

The governor's decision to close the polls in Ohio for the March 17 primary follow his previous orders to close K-12 schools, and to forbid dining inside restaurants, coupled with a host of other precautionary measures suggested by state officials and the Centers for Disease Control, including the recommendations of avoiding gatherings of more than 50 people, staying home when sick, and getting tested if symptoms like fever and chills develop.

The field of more than 28 Democratic candidates for president has now been essentially narrowed down to two, U.S. Sen Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Biden, who was the vice president under former president Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president.

While Biden leads Sanders in pledged delegates, Sanders said he will stay in the race, the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee moved from June to August as a result of the coronavirus, which has claimed 74,558 lives worldwide with some 10,792 deaths in the U.S. alone.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.