Biden for the first time since voting started has some genuine momentum.

His debate performance this week was good by Biden standards; he got the endorsement of Rep. Clyburn; his moving answer at a CNN townhall to a question from a pastor who lost his wife in the Charleston church shooting has been rightly praised.


Now, there’s a couple of polls showing him ahead by 16 and 20 points in South Carolina (another has him ahead by only 4). A blowout could get him a big delegate haul on Saturday night.

Then, he’d hope the victory shakes something loose on Super Tuesday, where he’s under-organized and underfunded and been losing to Bernie pretty much everywhere outside the South. Failing that, if he can establish himself as the clear anti-Bernie candidate, he’d at least have time to try to run him down as the field presumably narrows.