It is dizzying to think how much things have changed in just over four years. After coming in fourth place in the Iowa caucuses and fifth place in the New Hampshire primary, Joe Biden’s prospects looked pretty bleak. Sen. Bernie Sanders had effectively eclipsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren and consolidated the more-progressive side of the Democratic Party. The more-conventional center-left wing of the party was not exceedingly motivated by any of the choices. The nomination seemed likely to go to Sanders.
Then, Rep. James Clyburn endorsed Biden and the rest of the centrists in the field began to collapse, giving way for the former vice president to sweep the Super Tuesday primaries and the nomination. Biden’s principal selling point was that he was well-liked and he was not Bernie Sanders. Despite reservations about him being gaffe-prone, he suddenly looked like a safe choice, or as some thought, the least-worst option.
The general election was basically about President Trump, and Biden did little to interfere with that. Having won the Democratic nomination because he was not Bernie Sanders, Biden in effect then
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