Have you noticed that the two parties’ fields of presidential candidates have, in the past two cycles, grown much larger (if not necessarily better in quality) than those of past years? Where parties once had two to five serious candidates to choose from, Republicans in 2016 had 17 and, by my count, Democrats this cycle have had 26.

That’s a lot for a party that had ended up holding no nomination contests at all in 1996 and 2012 and with only two serious candidates in 2000, 2008, and 2016, when no incumbent was running. Apparently, many Democratic politicos reasoned that if an oddball such as Donald Trump can get elected, why can’t she or he?