Rice Says He’s Poised to Go to South Carolina for Biden
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U.S. Marine Ronald L. Rice is ready to go to South Carolina ahead of the Feb. 29th Democratic Primary to stump for former Vice President Joe Biden. If the campaign needs him to go, he’s there, said the veteran state senator from Newark, a native of Richmond, Virginia.
Biden’s survival at this point hinges on how the presidential candidate uses his surrogates in South Carolina, Rice argued. “If I went to the churches in South Carolina with a truth to power message – I’m from the south,” said the Newarker, who last month came out with his formal endorsement of Biden.
“It all comes down to how he uses his surrogates,” he added. But “I’m not going to do anything unless they ask me. I’m going to stand by to go.”
Rice said he sees the serious, financially well-connected threat of former New York Mayor billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who to date has put $300 million from his own fortune into his campaign, who earlier today scored the endorsement of Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh and hopes to blow up Biden on Super Tuesday (March 3rd) to own the moderate lane.
“None of the candidates have that kind of [Bloomberg] money,” said Rice. “The ads Bloomberg’s running are smart because he’s bringing up [former President Barack] Obama and the pictures Bloomberg has with him are trying to imply an endorsement.”
The reality, Rice said, is Biden legitimately has a strong connection to the former president.
“I think Joe should put those kinds of pictures up when he gets the money,” said the veteran senator.
“So my point is that we’ve not seen any diminution in the energy or in endorsements,” the candidate added, according to the story.
Rice said most Blacks and Latinos haven’t yet voted in this presidential election.
“New Hampshire is not a good read on diversity,” he said. “That means South Carolina becomes important. Nevada becomes impotant. South Carolina’s the biggie. We need a win.”
Rice said Biden won’t be intimidated by Bloomberg’s money.
He knows the mindset.
“I’ve never had money,” said the senator, referring to his own history of sometimes running against the party machine. “…Joe Biden could’ve had money if he raised it a different way. But hes trying to do it the people’s way.”
Rice said the former vice president has earned his relationship with minorities, and it will pay off for him in the coming days.
He panned the candidacy of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) by comparison.
“A lot of people are not ready for socialism and let’s face it, Bernie not exactly saying where he’s going to get money for his programs,” said Rice, a combat veteran of the Vietnam War. “I stand behind my candidate. I know he’s the best – he’s not perfect – but what he did with Obama has benefited all of us. Part of the reason I got behind Joe is as a veteran, we understand how [President Donald J.] Trump has messed up our relations with the international community so bad, somone has to go in there and fix that. If not, we’re going to be at war.”
Martin Luther King said “America has Socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for the poor and middle class” & I challenge Senator Rice to identify anything that Bernie Sanders has promised or proposed which was not explicitly advocated by MLK during his life or implicitly something that the nation’s civil rights martyr would have eagerly supported given knowledge of things unknown in his lifetime (such as a Green New Deal to combat the climate crisis).