CNN town hall with Biden, Bloomberg, Klobuchar and Warren

Amy Klobuchar, pressed on why she focuses so intently on reaching out to Midwestern voters, said she actually defines the Midwest as “the states that feel that they've been left behind some in terms of focus in the 2016 election.”

Klobuchar said she “would include states like South Carolina” in that description.

“Do you worry that this messaging isolates voters in other parts of the country such as south Carolina,” asked a voter. “How do you appeal to non-Midwest voters? 

“I really think about the Midwest and the states that feel that they've been left behind some in terms of focus in the 2016 election where we weren't able to turn out our vote the way that we should,” Klobuchar said.

Klobuchar regularly touts connections to the Midwest, arguing her “grit” and “determination” come from her upbringing in Minnesota.

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When it comes to black voters in South Carolina, Sen. Amy Klobuchar believes she is the better choice for president when compared to former Vice President Joe Biden.

Klobuchar cited support she has received in her home state of Minnesota.

Klobuchar added: "I think there have been so many broken promises to the African-American community, and I'm not that person. I think some of my colleagues, I'm not referring to the vice president here, but some of my colleagues up on that debate stage were promising a lot of things that I don't think they can deliver. I don't want to be that person."

Why this matters: The former vice president made no secret of his need for a big win Saturday to keep his presidential aspirations afloat.

During his town hall earlier tonight, Biden addressed South Carolina's kingmaker status when it comes to the White House.

"You pick presidents, the Democratic primary here in this state, picks presidents," Biden said tonight. "You're the reason why Bill Clinton was elected president. You're the reason Barack Obama was elected president. You represent the diversity of the population. Going into Super Tuesday, look, no Democrat has ever won the presidency without overwhelming support from number one, the African-American community, the most loyal support that exists in the Democratic party, and I do not take it for granted."

Hear her response:

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar laid out her plan tonight to combat the spread of coronavirus in the US if she's elected president.

The Democratic senator said she would ensure the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is strong and that the US had "adequate medical help and research."

Klobuchar went on to say she would invest in education "because the next vaccine or the next cure or the next way that we reduce the risk is probably right now in a college student at your college."

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Amy Klobuchar took issue with the fact that President Trump tapped Vice President Mike Pence to lead his administration’s response to the coronavirus on Wednesday.

Trump, during a briefing on Wednesday afternoon, announced that Pence would lead the government’s response to coronavirus as criticism of the White House’s handling of the outbreak has grown.

There have been more than 80,000 cases of coronavirus globally and the death toll has risen to more than 2,700, the majority in mainland China. The US has 60 confirmed cases, US health officials said Tuesday, a number that is expected to grow.

Klobuchar also said she believes Congress has a role in the coronavirus response.

“I think we want to make sure that everything is done in the right way and that's the job of Congress to perform oversight,” she said

Hear Sen. Klobuchar's response:

Sen. Amy Klobuchar's town hall in South Carolina has now started.

Joe Biden spoke about the importance of South Carolina's primary and the role it has played in predicting past presidents.

The discussion was prompted by a question from David Caughran, a lawyer, who called South Carolina Biden's "firewall state."

Why South Carolina is so crucial to Biden: He has always said the state would be key to his winning the nomination because the large number of black voters is more representative of the Democratic electorate.

The former vice president's campaign recently redeployed resources to South Carolina, placing a heavier concentration in the state as Biden tries to regain his footing in the 2020 race following a pair of less than stellar finishes in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.

Biden trails Sen. Bernie Sanders, the current front runner, in many national polls.

Rep. Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking African American in Congress and an influential figure in South Carolina politics, endorsed Biden today.

Clyburn's endorsement comes ahead of Saturday's South Carolina primary, where Biden needs a win in order to keep his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination alive.

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Joe Biden thinks Bernie Sanders is "a great guy" and "decent, honorable man who means what he says."

But the former vice president said on Wednesday night that Sanders, as the Democratic nominee, would hurt the party's Senate candidates in red states.

"That's not going at (Sanders') character," he added, "that's going at his position."

Biden then touted his role in 2018 campaigning for successful Democratic midterm candidates, noting that Sanders, who stumped for Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum in Florida among others, was much less likely to be invited to do the same.

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Joe Biden was asked to address the controversial confirmation of Clarence Thomas and the sexual harassment accusations made against the Supreme Court justice decades ago by Anita Hill.

Claire Wofford, an associate professor at the College of Charleston, asked Biden to speak to "female voters who were and perhaps are still unhappy with how" Biden handled Thomas' confirmation.

Biden claims that following Thomas' confirmation, he made a commitment to have women on the judiciary committee.

"So I went out and I campaigned for two people. Carol Mosely Braun, an African-American senator from the state of Illinois, and Dianne Feinstein from California, on the condition that if they won, they would join the committee," Biden added.

Some more context: Biden oversaw Thomas' confirmation hearings in 1991, during which Hill testified that Thomas had sexually harassed her. In April 2019, Biden told ABC he believed Hill did not get a fair hearing and was not treated well, and said he took responsibility.

Hill told CNN in October that she's "ready to hold Biden accountable" for his role in leading the confirmation hearing.

"Have I forgiven Joe Biden? I'm ready to move on, but I am also ready to hold Joe Biden accountable. Accountability means acknowledging your role in a problem and the harm it's caused. Acknowledging that you have culpability," Hill told CNN's Christiane Amanpour at the CITIZEN by CNN conference in New York.

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Joe Biden marveled at a question about what would happen if President Trump loses the November election but refuses to concede, asking the audience if it ever would have thought “any person would be able to ask that question and be taken seriously.” 

He said the way Trump has treated the military, the intelligence community and the FBI, “I have no worry about him being escorted out of the White House.” 

Biden spoke directly to Trump, saying: “If you’re worried about someone interfering in our election, why don’t you do something about Russia now?”

Hear his response: