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"I do not believe you are a racist," she said to Biden. "And I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground ..."

But, she continued, "it is personal, and it was actually very hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputation and career on the segregation of race in this country."

Biden also worked with them to oppose busing, she noted, and described her own experience as "a little girl in California who was a part of the second class to integrate her public schools" and was "bused to school every day."

Biden rebutted the charge as "a mischaracterization of my position across the board." He didn't oppose busing in America, he said, maintaining that he'd opposed only the intervention of the federal government into local school decisions. In fact, he spoke strongly against busing at the time, as The Washington Post reported in a March story that examined Biden's views on the controversial subject of desegregation.

But, as Harris noted, her district's actions in Berkeley, Calif., came two decades after the Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, demonstrating the need for the federal government to protect fundamental rights at the state and local level.

The irony here is that Biden has stuck his neck out in defense of civil rights on numerous occasions, from his votes for the Equal Rights Amendment and extension of the Voting Rights Act to his advocacy for same-sex marriage that helped persuade President Barack Obama to switch sides too.

But Biden couldn't easily shake the charge that he's falling out of touch with changing times and his own party's movement to the left on a range of issues, including sensitivity to the experiences of minorities in this era of #BlackLIvesMatter and #MeToo.

Biden has plenty of chances to recover in future debates. And, let's face it, there are many Democrats and persuadable swing voters in Biden's base who think his opposition to forced school busing -- very controversial then and now -- was OK.

But Biden's image of inevitability has evaporated. Harris' star is rising, particularly among those who can't wait to see her on a debate stage with Trump. If that happens, I'm sure it won't be "boring."

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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)

(c) 2019 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.