As each would be front-runner rose and fell, Mr. Romney continued to maintain a steady 20%+/-. The polls consitently showed him as number one, then number two, then one again. At no time did Mr. Romney ever slip back into the pack. He endured and outlasted all challengers. Eventually as the other Republicans dropped away, his numbers picked up. Mr. Romney hit 30 percent in Republican polls. Then 35 percent in Republican polls. Then 38 percent in Republican polls. All the 2011 media chatter of an unexpected face or a brokered convention faded, reality took over and Mr. Romney essentially cruised to the nomination.

Fast forward to 2020 and we see a very similar scenario unfolding in the Democrats’ pageant for the nomination of their party. Vice President Joe Biden was tagged as the early front-runner. Like Mr. Romney in 2011, Mr. Biden spent most of 2019 at the top of the polls. Like the right wing of the GOP in 2011, progressives on the far left of the Democratic Party spent enormous time and effort searching for an alternative more to their liking. They fear Mr. Biden is too old to appeal to the young Democratic-socialist movement, too white to appeal to minorities that make up such a key element in their plan for victory, and too male to appeal to feminists that backed Hillary Clinton. In short, while Mr. Biden’s poll numbers have never dipped below 20 percent, a major block of the party is looking for left-leaning options.