据美联社报道，美国民主党总统竞选人桑德斯的团队18日表示，他正在“重新评估”自己的竞选活动，但其发言人否认了有关退出总统大选的报道。
资料图：美国民主党总统竞选人、佛蒙特州联邦参议员桑德斯。中新社记者 张蔚然 摄
18日早些时候，桑德斯的竞选经理沙克尔表示，桑德斯将与支持者对话，以对其竞选活动进行评估。他同时表示，桑德斯并不急于作出退选的决定，“距离下一场初选竞争还有至少3周的时间”。
他表示，目前，桑德斯更加关注政府应对冠状病毒暴发的措施，并保证弱势群体的利益。
随后，美媒有报道称，桑德斯将退出大选，促使其发言人卡斯卡澄清称，桑德斯并未退选，“今天早上的声明发布后，并没有发生改变。”
与此同时，其团队停用了近期才购买的在谷歌和“脸书”上投放的竞选广告。
3月17日是美国两党总统预选的第三个“超级星期二”，但多州受新冠肺炎疫情影响推迟预选。在当日的3个州预选过后，总统特朗普锁定共和党总统候选人提名；民主党方面，前副总统拜登在3州全胜，继续扩大对联邦参议员桑德斯的领先优势。分析人士指出，疫情在全美迅速蔓延，不仅严重冲击选举程序的推进，而且也在重塑选举本身的面貌。
Sanders' reassessment campaign team denies it will drop out
A spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate Sanders denied reports of his exit from the presidential election, the Associated Press reported.
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Infographic: Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Sanders of Vermont. Photographed by Zhang Weiran, reporter of China News Agency
Earlier Friday, Sanders campaign manager shacker said Sanders would talk to supporters to assess his campaign. He also said Sanders was not in a rush to make a decision to drop out of the race "at least three weeks before the next primary competition.".
He said that at present, Sanders is more concerned about the government's measures to deal with the outbreak of coronavirus and ensure the interests of vulnerable groups.
Subsequently, US media reported that Sanders would withdraw from the election, prompting its spokesman Casca to clarify that Sanders did not withdraw from the election, "this morning's statement has not changed."
At the same time, its team stopped recently purchased campaign ads on Google and Facebook.
Novel coronavirus pneumonia was postponed in March 17th, the third super Tuesday of the two party presidents. After the three state primaries of the day, President trump locked in the Republican presidential nomination; on the Democratic side, former Vice President Biden won all three states, and continued to expand his leading edge over Senator Sanders. Analysts pointed out that the rapid spread of the epidemic in the United States has not only seriously impacted the advancement of the electoral process, but also reshaped the face of the election itself.
