For one thing, a governor nearly a decade out of the job, even a well-liked one, has nowhere near the necessary name recognition and base that the wildly popular vice president to our first black president retains by default. Furthermore, while the younger Bush brother was a sharp policy mind and appealed across demographic lines, his political instincts missed the mark of the pulse of 2015 completely. In contrast, Biden’s political skills earned him a seat in the Senate at 29 years old, making him the sixth-youngest in history.

For another, Jeb ran against one of the most talented primary fields in history. Biden is running against a clown car careening to an ideological spot somewhere between Jeremy Corbyn and Karl Marx. The few candidates refusing to endorse “Medicare for all” plans and $93 trillion Green New Deal bills haven’t cracked more than a few percent. Of those non-Biden candidates who backed neither of the cornerstones of the left lane, the highest polling one is mayor of the 301st largest city in the country at less than 6%.