DES MOINES, Iowa -- Voters in 14 states will decide who gets 34 percent of delegates in the 2020 Democratic presidential race on Tuesday.
A local political scientist says "Super Tuesday" results will do a lot to set the tone for the Democratic Party through November's elections.
"Whether it's a centrist-liberal party, along the lines of Joe Biden and possibly Michael Bloomberg or a more progressive-liberal party along the lines of Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren" says Drake University Political Science professor Dennis Goldford.
He says even with the outcome of "Super Tuesday" voting, it's too early to say with certainty who will get the Democratic Party's nomination.
Voters on Tuesday will have three fewer choices with Iowa Caucuses winner Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Tom Steyer all dropping out of the race since Saturday's South Carolina primaries.
"There's a point at which you just have to hope that lightning will strike. For Klobuchar, Buttigieg, and Steyer that lightning didn't strike despite the fact that they had their moments" Goldford says.
He says former Vice President Joe Biden's landslide win in the South Carolina primary kept him in the the 2020 race.
Biden got 48 percent of the Palmetto State's Democratic vote, with Bernie Sanders coming in a distant second at 20 percent.