For many former Republicans (or ones temporarily in exile) who lived through the total collapse of the Republicans in the Trump onslaught in 2016 — and warned Democrats not to repeat the error of the rival party — there was a mixture of delight, relief and amazement. Could it be that one party had collectively decided not to commit political suicide? Could it be that a party solved the conundrum in which the individual imperative to remain in the race leads to a collective failure (i.e. the inability to thwart a hostile takeover)?

Tom Steyer, of all people, prefaced the great ingathering of Democrats when he departed the race after South Carolina. Beginning with a heartfelt farewell speech and a breath-taking appearance at Biden’s side on Monday, former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg said that his campaign for unity, decency and anti-extremism was best served by supporting Biden. Biden bestowed the highest compliment he could on Buttigieg. “I don’t think I’ve ever done this before, but he reminds me of my son Beau,” Biden said. “That may not mean much to most people, but to me, it’s the highest compliment I can give any man or woman.” He added, “Like Beau, he has a backbone ... like a ramrod.” It was as gripping and emotional a moment as you will see in politics.

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Then came the rally in Dallas. Biden was as fired up as after his South Carolina victory and wielded his best new stump-speech applause lines: “If Democrats want a nominee who will build on Obamacare, not scrap it; take on the NRA and gun manufacturers; protect our children; who’ll stand up for the middle class, not raise their taxes and make promises that can’t be kept, then join us,” Biden said. “If Democrats want a nominee who’s a Democrat, a lifelong Democrat, a proud Democrat ... then join us. We can either win big or lose big — that’s the choice.”

Two more moderates threw their support behind Biden, with enthusiasm and good cheer. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), her voice cracking with emotion, declared, “I cannot think of a better way to end my campaign than joining his.” She then redeployed her own campaign lines to sing Biden’s praises. “We are never going to out-divide the divider in chief,” she warned. She underscored, as she had in her own race, that President Trump lacks empathy, and she extolled the virtues of moderation. “If you feel tired of the noise and the nonsense in our politics, and you are tired of the extremes, you have a home with me — and I think you know you have a home with Joe Biden.” In what must have been a heart-wrenching day, she put a smile on her face and showed the same feisty demeanor we have seen for more than a year in her own race.

Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke then came on stage in Dallas with his familiar staccato delivery. As he had in his own race, he scattered sentences in Spanish throughout his remarks. “We need somebody who can bring us together and heal us. We need somebody who can restore the moral authority of the United States,” he said. “We need Joe Biden.”

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The Biden team orchestrated a remarkable 72-hour rush of activity in which former rivals and a slew of other elected officials rallied to Biden. It was not merely the show of solidarity that was so compelling. Rather, it was the symbolic message that was so vivid: Biden is a bridge from the horrors of Trump to the promise of a whole new generation of bright, pragmatic progressives. Without too much imagination, one could see a single-term Biden presidency overseeing an administration filled with fresh faces that, after four years, will be capable of forming presidential tickets for decades. Monday’s events were as much about this election — saving the Democrats from leaping into the left-wing populist abyss — as they were about setting the Democratic Party on a center-left trajectory.

Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), suddenly looking lonely in a party that he has spent decades taunting, groused that this was just the “establishment” party rallying to the “establishment” candidate. That should come as news to Buttigieg and O’Rourke, who ran and present themselves as anything but defenders of the status quo. As he rails against “corporate Democrats” — following a devastating defeat in South Carolina, where the African American, churchgoing electorate would be stunned to find out that they are robber barons — Sanders increasingly looks small, petty and resentful.

We will find out Tuesday night whether all of this amounts to a sea change in the primary race. One thing is certain, however: Responsible Democrats have learned from the past and have put country before personal ambition, rational reform above populist rabble-rousing. For that, the entire country should be grateful.