The Alabama primary was called for Joe Biden early, part of a general sweep through the southern states that was central to the 72 hours in which he became the unquestioned frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination. Biden brought out enough voters to outpoll Bernie Sanders by 63 percent to 17. Meanwhile, ominously, the president* piled up 708,000-odd votes in a primary in which he had no particular opposition at all. Both results may directly impact the long-shot re-election campaign of the state’s Democratic senator, Doug Jones, because the Republican Party seems prepared once again to light its own head on fire.