JUDY WOODRUFF: Now we turn to
the race for the Democratic
presidential nomination.

Our Lisa Desjardins is in
South Carolina, and reports
on the push to win over voters

there before the stakes
climb on Super Tuesday.

LISA DESJARDINS: The Democratic
march toward a nominee is now
a multistate sprint, starting

in South Carolina, which votes
Saturday, and where billionaire
businessman Tom Steyer today

focused on rural votes.

TOM STEYER (D), Presidential
Candidate: Honestly, this whole
state couldn't have been nicer.

LISA DESJARDINS: A new Monmouth
University poll shows Steyer
virtually tied for second

place in the state with Vermont
Senator Bernie Sanders in the
state, but both are well behind

former Vice President Joe Biden.

Tatanshia Palmer told me
why it's Steyer for her.

TATANSHIA PALMER, South Carolina
Voter: I think that Tom,
with his economic policies,

I feel like that he could
actually grow this community.

LISA DESJARDINS: Also storming
the Palmetto State today, former
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor

Pete Buttigieg.

CROWD: Let's go Joe!

LISA DESJARDINS: But Biden
is seen as the leader here,
stressing his health care vision

as an extension of
President Obama's.

JOSEPH BIDEN (D), Presidential
Candidate: I'm not suggesting
we start from scratch or

something new. I'm running to
protect it and to build on it.

LISA DESJARDINS: Last night, at
a CNN town hall in Charleston,
Senator Elizabeth Warren

said she's ready to fight all
the way to the convention,
even if someone else has more

delegates.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA),
Presidential Candidate: As
long as they want me to stay

in this race, I'm staying in
this race. That, and I have done
a lot of pinkie promises out

there, so I got to stay
in this. I have told
little girls, we persist.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

LISA DESJARDINS: Otherwise,
though, the pack is spending
more time on the 14 states that

vote on Super Tuesday, like
North Carolina, where Sanders
made a get-out-the-vote pitch

to his strongest
supporters, the young.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS
(I-VT), Presidential
Candidate: On Tuesday, Super
Tuesday, you are going to

be voting here in
North Carolina.

I'm here today to ask not only
for your support, but to ask
you to bring out your friends,

and your family and
your co-workers.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: I'm asking
you to help create the largest
voter turnout in the history

of the North Carolina primary.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

LISA DESJARDINS: And 1,000
miles away in the Super Tuesday
state of Texas, former New York

City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is
fighting the Sanders' hold.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, Presidential
Candidate: If you want
somebody who has the resources

to beat Trump, that's me.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

LISA DESJARDINS: Indeed,
Bloomberg voter Rodney
Shipp told "NewsHour"
he thinks Sanders' ideas

are unrealistic.

RODNEY SHIPP, Texas Voter: I
get that, when Bernie comes
and says all these things that

he's going to do, get rid of
college debt, and free health
care, and free college, and

I don't know if all
that is practical.

LISA DESJARDINS: Minnesota
Senator Amy Klobuchar
held events in both
North and South Carolina

Thursday, including a voting
rights roundtable in Greensboro.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN),
Presidential Candidate:
We should be making
it easier to vote. We

should have national reforms.

LISA DESJARDINS: Time
is getting sort, and the
candidates still are many.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Lisa
Desjardins in South Carolina.