How Biden became the overnight Democratic frontrunner

The most impressive aspect of Joe Biden's performance on Super Tuesday was its breadth, according to Dave Wasserman, House editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, and NBC News contributor.

Why it matters: Biden won "urban voters, upscale & middle-class suburban voters AND rural/Appalachian voters. Just about the only places he didn't win were heavily Latino or progressive activist hotbeds like college towns."

The big picture: Wasserman reminds us that "a ton of the votes/delegates Sanders won ... are attributable to votes cast *before* SC and before Buttigieg/Klobuchar dropped out."

• "And he still fell well short of Biden. That’s why this race could functionally be over soon."

More Smart Brevity from Wasserman's tweets, illuminating the power of momentum:

• "The list of states where Biden would be poised to replicate tonight's success is pretty long: FL, GA, MD, MS, MO, LA, NJ, CT. In short, he's currently on track for the nomination."
• "What the narrative that Joe Biden 'couldn't scale up in time for Super Tuesday' missed: no one can truly scale up for this bonanza & most primary voters aren't persuaded by paid media/field."

The bottom line: "There is a real chance, as in 2004, that Democratic primary voters won’t want to prolong these primaries and will rally around their presumptive nominee."

• "The trajectory of the Democratic primaries is clear: it would take a miracle for Sanders to prevent Biden from becoming the nominee."

Go deeper: Sanders says he'd drop out if Biden has plurality at Democratic convention