CNN’s Chris Cillizza Declares Joe Biden Loser After He Opens Huge Lead on Elizabeth Warren

CNN’s Chris Cillizza made former Vice President Joe Biden the big loser in his Democratic primary “Midweek Grades” segment after Biden opened up a huge lead against Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren in CNN’s latest poll, and while he graded lower-polling candidates like Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and Mayor Pete Buttigieg, California Senator Kamala Harris was disappeared from the segment.

On Wednesday’s edition of New Day, Cillizza handed out his “Midweek Grades,” giving Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders the highest marks for his big comeback rally, and endorsements from 3/4 of The Squad. Sanders lost a point in CNN’s poll.

He gave Warren a “B+,” despite the fact that she’s beating Sanders in that — and every other — poll, explaining that “Medicare for All” is becoming a liability for Warren. It is, but the guy who wrote the damn bill and is polling lower than her still got an “A” for some reason.

Mayor Pete got a “B+” and Senator Klobuchar got a “B-” because reasons, but other candidates polling at or above those two did not merit a mention.

Then, there was Biden, who scored the lowest grade at a “C+” despite crushing Warren in the new poll, and reversing a trend that has shown her eating into his national lead in recent weeks. Cillizza cited Biden’s fundraising woes and his apology for having used the term “lynching” in a 1998 interview as reasons for the low grade.

But Cillizza goes on to undermine his own premise when co-host John Berman cannily asked him how Biden has managed to sustain his lead through everything. Cillizza cited Biden’s dominance among black voters, but almost as a bug in the process.

“If Biden’s numbers among black voters, if he’s still a double-digit favorite, he can still be the nominee even if he loses to Iowa and New Hampshire,” he said.

But Biden’s “problematic” history of comments about race issues have literally been the central theme of campaign coverage since before he even got into the race, yet he continues to crush Warren and Sanders among black voters, and in the month since the last poll, his support among non-white voters has surged from 2 percent to 42.

It’s almost as if Biden’s well-known record is baked in, and there’s actually no evidence that his support among black voters will falter anytime soon. And black voters aren’t some footnote or walled-off sect in the Democratic base. They lead a coalition that is the Democratic base, yet the media ignores them, or acts like they exist to be dragged around by white early states.

In fact, given the relentlessly bad coverage, the constant attacks by Trump, and the worshipful media treatment Warren has gotten, Biden’s durability in the polls is even more formidable.

Then there’s Kamala Harris, who has been snubbed by Cillizza before. She tied Mayor Pete and doubled Klobuchar’s support in the new CNN poll, and she’s running to be the first black woman president. She exists. I don’t know what kind of grade Cillizza would have given her anyway, but she deserved to be mentioned.

The news in the latest CNN poll isn’t great for Senator Harris, as she lost two points since September, and sits in a tie with Mayor Pete at 6 percent. But again, given the headwinds she’s facing, even that level of support is a minor miracle.

There has been a media near-blackout of her historical candidacy, and when Harris does get covered, it is with obvious bias.

Most glaringly, the overwhelmingly white media pilloried Harris for her well-founded suggestion that Trump be banned from Twitter for violating its terms of service — oh, and inciting violence on the platform that that same media spent years calling out — a suggestion that was actually followed by action from Twitter. And Warren literally laughed it off.

And although you’d never know it, Senator Harris also has plans for things — including how to pay for her “Medicare for All” plan.

Cillizza and the rest of the media seem determined to erase black voters and black candidates, but those voters and candidates — by Cillizza’s own reckoning — aren’t going anywhere. Maybe it’s time to give them some of the attention they deserve.

Watch the clip above, via CNN.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.