As the president of the United States shelters in place with the White House press corps, and Joe Biden gibbers senselessly into the GoPro camera in his Delaware basement, this fall’s national election has been thrown into a cocked tricorn by the coronavirus. Many of Donald Trump’s retail-politicking strengths — the huge rallies, his command of crowds — have been neutralized, and while he still has control of the narrative from his bully pulpit in the West Wing, the national media remains dead set against him, and puts the worst possible spin on every word he speaks.
Meanwhile, Biden and his wandering hands are safely confined to quarters instead of out on the campaign trail, which shields the Democrats from more possible fallout over not only his past behavior but his full-throated endorsement of Communist China throughout his career. The donkey party is thus free to market the cardboard-cutout version of its candidate, having finally accomplished their mission of running a generic Democrat against Orange Man Bad, without ever having to expose him to the general public.
No wonder there’s talk on the Left of canceling the conventions and running an all-mail election. The further away the country stays from reopening, the better their chances.
Still, as 2016 demonstrated, even when the fix is in, you never know. What the Democrats need in order to be sure of beating Trump is the perfect vice presidential candidate, one who will not only balance the ticket, push progressive causes, and check all the social-justice boxes but who will turn out the African-American vote in droves without Biden’s having to say a word or lift a finger.
Biden’s already on record as saying he’ll choose a woman. But none of the defeated female candidates for the nomination, including Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, excited much interest from the Democratic base during the primaries, and while there’s a small Stacey Abrams boomlet currently going on, her record as the defeated candidate for Georgia governor doesn’t inspire much confidence — even if, in her own mind, she still thinks she won.
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