The race for the Democratic nomination could not have changed more dramatically in less than a week. Gone is the fear or presumption — depending on one’s view — that Sen. Bernie Sanders was on course to a November matchup against President Trump. Gone are the candidacies of Tom Steyer, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar. Reeling are the candidacies of Elizabeth Warren and Michael Bloomberg that had seemed until days ago to have the resources and resolve to last until the July convention in Milwaukee.
Out of the ashes rose Joe Biden, the onetime front-runner whose shaky debate performances and tepid fundraising efforts had pushed him to the brink of irrelevancy. His Super Tuesday performance, coming off a robust victory in South Carolina on Saturday, brought him back to the fore in what appears to be a one-on-one battle with Sanders.
Such is the dynamic of American politics, where pundits shout with certitude and the states of Iowa and New Hampshire claim outsize influence, but assumptions can evaporate quickly when the masses start to vote. That reality arrived on Tuesday when 14 states, holding a third of the delegates to the Democratic convention, weighed in. Biden, the former vice president, showed remarkable resilience.
Most impressively, Biden won in five states where he had not campaigned. He finished first in Massachusetts, home state of its senior senator, Warren, who came in third and will have a decision to make about the continued viability of her candidacy. He clearly appeared to have been lifted by the abrupt withdrawal and endorsement of Klobuchar in Minnesota and the enthusiastic push from ex-Rep. Beto O’Rourke in Texas — along with a push from Pete Buttigieg, the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Ind., who had been the emergent star of the 2020 race.
Super Tuesday showed the absurdity — and need for reform — of the nomination process. Iowa and New Hampshire seemed long ago, exhaustively analyzed, and no relation to the will of the greater electorate. Those who saw Bloomberg as a multimillion-dollar savior now recognized that money has its limits. Those who cherished the diversity of the field last year are undoubtedly disappointed that the Democrats’ hopes now appear to rest on two white males in their late 70s.
Then again, this is today’s upshot. Tuesday night showed how things can change in an instant in American politics.
