Even though polls show Biden with a slight lead, the former veep’s campaign is running on fumes. Heck, Monday he even said he was running for the U.S. Senate. He’s hoping black voters give him the edge.

But with many black political leaders buying into the hard-left race hustle, Biden could get a surprise in South Carolina if those radicalized ward bosses go for Sanders.

With Sanders all but having the left lane to himself with the implosion of the Warren campaign, it is left to the so-called moderates to stop him from running away with the Milwaukee nod.

Can they do it in South Carolina?

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LifeZette talked to veteran South Carolina GOP political operative Stacy Shea. Not being complete idiots here, we listen to those on the ground.

Shea thinks Sanders will take it, even though South Carolina Democrats tend to be more moderate than other Democrats. She thinks the rank and file of the party will back Biden, but that will be eclipsed by young voters and new residents to the state. A dark horse she advises to watch? Tom Steyer. Who has a good ground game, especially in the north of the state? Pete Buttigieg.

South Carolina has 43 counties and 64 delegates will be at stake, says Shea. However, it’s not a winner-take-all affair. Thus Sanders could win and still only pick up less than half of the delegate count. That could be an unfortunate trend just beginning for the socialist effort.

A GOP operation we talked about in a previous piece is proceeding apace.

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Shea is one of the leaders of the Trump229 project that asks SC GOP voters to cross the open primary aisle and vote for Bernie. A couple of GOP groups are in on this fun and one is soon having a press conference. Shea mentions that Democrat protestors are expected at the event and law enforcement has been requested there to keep order.

If Sanders wins in SC, and does well next Tuesday on Super Tuesday, denying him the nomination amounts to political larceny. Included in the lineup next Tuesday are both California and Texas, not to mention a plethora of other states like Virginia and North Carolina.

Bernie’s path to Democratic victory lies right through them.