Fake wood panelling, a few balloons, about 40 people scattered across a half dozen tables, a big screen booming MSNBC, the bright white of kleig lights, half a dozen TV camera setups, and down the hallway, the clucluburrburugguggh of bowling balls hitting pins. Yes, the Joe Biden for Minnesota team went all out on Super Tuesday night, renting the ‘conference room’ of a Northeast Minneapolis bowling alley named Elsie’s for their gathering.

It was a very Minnesota night, half-American, half-Swedish, a rack of thick coats and scarves in one corner, a table of steaming trays of ‘hot dish’ (casserole) in the other, metal signs saying ‘Minnesota Firefighters for BIDEN’, the word BIDEN printed on paper and stuck on. And there’s the incomprehensible idioms of Minnesotans: ‘You are how many?’ said the greeter.