The Establishment Strikes Back

In the span of 72 hours, a candidate who had never won a single state in three fumbling bids for the presidency has muscled his way to the top of the Democratic field. Former Vice President Joe Biden had the greatest night of his lifelong quest for the White House tonight, winning major Super Tuesday prizes after an improbable late surge in the polls.

On Saturday, Biden trounced Senator Bernie Sanders in South Carolina, slowing the front-runner’s momentum in the last primary before Super Tuesday. Moderate Democrats, including Biden’s former opponents Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Beto O’Rourke, rushed to endorse him. It was the sort of coalescing Biden was hoping for, one that brought out the fired-up Biden some voters believed had gone missing before his South Carolina rout.

“It feels good,” Biden told a reporter who’d informed him that he was projected to win Virginia early Tuesday evening. He had stepped into a Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles in Los Angeles, hoping to reach a few more voters before the polls closed in California. “I don’t know what the actual results are, but it feels good.” If anyone understands how tempestuous an early lead can be, it’s Biden. And though he was tepid early tonight, he was ecstatic as he took the stage in Baldwin Hills after results rolled in across the country. “People are talking about revolution,” he said, his voice rising to a shout. “We increased turnout! The turnout turned out for us!“