Joe Biden promised to restore the “soul of Amer­i­ca” and deliv­er the nation from “dark­ness” as he accept­ed the Demo­c­ra­t­ic nom­i­na­tion for pres­i­dent Thurs­day night, a crown­ing achieve­ment in Biden’s five decades in pol­i­tics where he was count­ed out more than once.