Joe Biden’s moment: Why his improbable candidacy may finally work

Joe Biden is, in crucial ways, the most improbable major-party presidential nominee in modern American history. 

He’d be the oldest first-term president by more than seven years. His prior presidential campaigns, in the 1988 and 2008 cycles, ended early amid serious stumbles. And he has a very long public record – 36 years as a United States senator and eight as vice president – providing his opponent with almost endless fodder for attacks. 

He’s also a white man in a rapidly diversifying nation that, especially now, is acutely aware of the privileges that attach to being white and male, perhaps more than at any time since the 1960s. 

Yet as former Vice President Biden takes the virtual convention stage Thursday night to accept his party’s presidential nomination, he may end up being just what the Democrats need, political analysts and allies say. 

In many ways, Mr. Biden is the antithesis of President Donald Trump. He