Atlanta Mayor Endorses Joe Biden For President

ATLANTA -- Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for president. Bottoms was a guest of Biden's during Thursday night's Democrat debate, a debate in which some observers are calling a poor showing from the former vice president. Bottoms endorsed Biden on Friday.

Biden appeared with several other Democrats during Thursday night's debate, along with U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand. Harris, who is black, challenged Biden to explain his decades-old position with respect to school desegregation, one which she characterized as being against busing.

"I did not oppose busing in America. What I opposed was busing ordered by the Department of Education," Biden countered.

Harris, the former prosecutor turned California senator, said she didn't think the former vice president "was a racist." But she criticized him for recently "defending segregationists" in the Senate and for once opposing mandatory busing of students to desegregated public schools. Harris described a young girl in the 1970s who boarded such buses before dramatically offering, "That little girl was me."

The moment was as powerful as it was unexpected, a searing line of attack against Biden, who served as vice president to the first black president. Biden entered back-to-back nights of Democratic presidential debates in Miami as the leading Democratic candidate. In deeply personal tones, Harris hammered Biden for policy choices that she suggested betrayed the spirit of the civil rights movement, if not directly opposing all it stood for. Then she really hit her stride, exhibiting the controlled force of a practiced cross-examiner.

"Do you agree today that you were wrong to oppose busing in America?" Harris asked.

A visibly angry Biden responded that his record was mischaracterized. But he was left denying Harris' comments on a technicality, saying he didn't oppose public school busing, just it being ordered by the Department of Education — decrying federal intervention on the issue on behalf of states.

Harris shot back, "There are moments in history where states fail to support the civil rights of people."

Biden offered only curt responses after that and was so flustered that he failed to lean on his time as Barack Obama's vice president — seeming unsure of himself for prolonged stretches on national television.

Senior advisers to Biden insisted afterward that they weren't surprised by the confrontation with Harris and were satisfied with his response in the time allowed. They noted that while he dismissed Harris' characterization of his relationship with segregationist senators in his early years in the Senate more than 45 years ago, Biden appeared to be listening while she criticized his position on busing.

A total of 20 presidential candidates took the stage over the course of the two nights — 10 candidates on Wednesday and another 10 on Thursday.

All 10 of the candidates on Thursday's stage raised their hands when NBC's Savannah Guthrie asked if they would support providing health care for the nation's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.

While touting the diversity of their party, some of the younger candidates suggested it may be time for the older generation of leaders to pass the torch, a clear dig aimed at the 76-year-old Biden.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.