Super Tuesday has finally served its intended purpose for the first time since it was invented for the 1988 presidential cycle, 32 years ago.

Those were the days when Democrats controlled practically every Southern legislature and when most Southern whites were, in homage to their Civil War heritage, registered Democrats. Moderate Democratic politicians hit on the idea of setting up an early multistate set of Southern primaries, to increase the chances of centrist candidates with a better chance in November than the nominees who had lost to Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.