Scranton is the center of the political universe this week, with President Donald Trump attending a town hall meeting and former Vice President Joe Biden, a city native, surging to the head of the Democratic field for the presidential nomination.

Until this week, it was uncertain when or if Democratic presidential candidates would unite behind a common goal of defeating Trump.

Then, in advance of the crucial Super Tuesday primaries in 14 states, a series of candidates suddenly abandoned the race and threw their support behind former Biden. And the next day, billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg did the same.

Across the country, Democratic voters responded in large numbers, stating emphatically with their ballots that their singular priority is defeating Trump. For all the crackpot punditry guaranteeing that the Democratic Party had dived irrevocably to the left to the point of becoming "socialist," based on results from the non-representative early caucus states, voters Tuesday demonstrated that the Democratic Party's core remains solidly center-left.

Biden's resurgence is not just a victory for him but for the "establishment," the maligned pros who are criticized as guardians of the status quo but whose real calling card is knowing how to get things done within the system.

Trump has shattered the establishment on the right, converting the Republican Party at the national level into populist cult.

Democratic voters Tuesday revealed a determination to ensure that the November election will not be a contest between that extreme and the populist extreme left represented by Bernie Sanders. Rather, despite the vast diversity of the party across the voting states, Democrats coalesced in defense of orderly governance exercised by strong democratic institutions.

Scranton can be proud that Biden has risen to carry that banner.