He built a career, and a presidential campaign, on a belief in bipartisanship. Now, critics of the candidate ask: Is political consensus a dangerous compromise?  In Part 4 of our series on pivotal moments in the lives of the 2020 Democratic presidential contenders, we examine the long Senate career, and legislative legacy, of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Guest: Astead W. Herndon, who covers national politics for The New York Times. For more information on today’s episode, visit...

In Part 3 of our series on pivotal moments in the lives of the 2020 Democratic presidential contenders, we spoke with Elizabeth Warren about how she came to be known as the blow-it-up candidate. With help from Andrew Ross Sorkin, a financial columnist at The Times and founder of DealBook, Harry Reid, a former Senate majority leader, and David Axelrod, a former Obama adviser, we explore Ms. Warren’s rise to prominence as an advocate for overhauling the financial system — and how that rise...

Part 2 of our series on pivotal moments in the lives of the 2020 Democratic presidential contenders. Michael Barbaro speaks with Bernie Sanders, the democratic socialist senator from Vermont.  Mr. Sanders reflected on his early schooling in politics and how he galvanized grass-roots support to evolve from outraged outsider to mainstream candidate with little shift in his message. Guest: Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator and candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. We...

Part One in our series on pivotal moments in the lives of the 2020 presidential front-runners. In studio with “The Daily,” Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., talks about how his lifelong political ambitions were complicated by the secret he kept for decades. Guests: Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind., and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.Jeremy W. Peters, a politics reporter in the Washington bureau of The New York Times.