Joe Biden outperformed both polls and expectations on Super Tuesday. There are probably four reasons why this happened.

-- First, the Virginia open primary numbers showing huge turnout suggest that many Republicans and independents, sickened by Trump but unwilling to vote for Bernie, showed up in open primary states and voted for Biden in the hopes that, in the fall, they can vote for a "Republican/independent-acceptable" guy to beat Trump.

-- Second, Jim Clyburn's all-in embrace of Joe Biden had a huge impact that echoed across the African-American community nationwide, which can be seen in the exit survey poll results in states way beyond South Carolina.

-- Third, Joe Biden had almost wall-to-wall positive coverage, and Bernie a lot of negative coverage after his Cuba remark, on cable television and in major national newspapers for the previous week.

-- And, finally, people are frightened by the coronavirus and when people are afraid they tend to become more cautious and conservative in their decision-making, which means in this case they are going for someone they know, the "tried and true," rather than being willing to jump in on a "revolution."

The big question going forward is whether these dynamics will continue to play out over the next three Tuesdays, or whether things like the coronavirus will highlight the need for Medicare For All and other solutions Sanders is proposing.

Plus... Like Autocrats Everywhere - Trump Cracks Down on the Press

Trump is suing The Washington Post and the New York Time plus he wouldn't open the Coronavirus briefing to the press. In order for autocrats to seize and hold control of government they must intimidate and cow the press. We are watching that is real time.

-Thom