Biden proves the answer is “yes.” He didn’t get any better as a candidate over the last ten days, although his performance in the South Carolina debate was pretty good by his standards, and he had a genuinely moving answer to a question from a pastor who lost his wife in the Charleston church shooting. But what happened in South Carolina was as much Jim Clyburn and black voters deciding to pick Biden up rather than Biden doing anything incredible to win their support, and then the party picked up the Biden baton from there, mostly clearing the moderate lane for him and carrying out a highly effective bout of coordinated endorsements. Of course, Biden actually had to win the votes and had much broader appeal than Bernie, but when the glow of his extraordinary Super Tuesday triumph fades, he’s still going to be Joe Biden.

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