Joe Biden builds an insurmountable lead

MAGNANIMITY IS A winner’s privilege, and the speech that Joe Biden delivered on March 17th was amply magnanimous. He told supporters of Bernie Sanders, whom he defeated in all three states voting that night, that he and his rival “may disagree on tactics, but we share a common vision”. Standing alone in his Delaware home behind a podium (a necessary piece of furniture for a candidate working from home), he praised first responders and poll-workers, consoled the bereaved and sounded more like a wartime president than a candidate. His victory in the primary is now all but assured. But what campaigning and voting will look like during the pandemic is anything but.

The most striking aspect of Mr Biden’s victory was its breadth. Arizona, Florida and Illinois collectively have 184 counties. Bernie Sanders won three of them, none by more than five points. He hoped that Latinos would buoy him in Florida, but lost the state by nearly 40 points. This may partly have been because of the weight of Cuban-Americans: Mr Sanders—in an act either of admirable principle or political lunacy—has repeatedly praised the accomplishments of the Castro regime. The picture was different in Arizona, which Mr Sanders lost by just 12 points. A greater proportion of Latinos there are Mexican, and many are recent arrivals; these groups tend to be more left-...