The lecterns have been separated by an epidemiologist-approved six ft. The candidates greeted one another with an elbow bump as an alternative of a
The lecterns have been separated by an epidemiologist-approved six ft. The candidates greeted one another with an elbow bump as an alternative of a handshake.
The primary matter was, in fact, the coronavirus, and the candidates’ arguments mirrored their starkly totally different worldviews. Mr. Biden solid the combat in opposition to the virus as one thing like a battle, requiring a well-tested chief and a full, environment friendly mobilization of the nation’s public well being and army assets. Mr. Sanders framed the pandemic’s probably fallout as an indictment of present programs, and as proof for the need of sweeping new applications like “Medicare for all” and financial security nets.
The most important non-virus-related second got here when Mr. Biden pledged unequivocally to choose a woman as his running mate if he received the nomination — and Mr. Sanders, prompted to make the identical pledge, didn’t go as far. (“In all chance, I’ll,” he mentioned.)
A crossroads for Sanders, and his supporters
With no sensible path to the nomination, Mr. Sanders has a choice to make: Does he stick it out to the bitter finish, probably fracturing the occasion even additional? Or does he drop out now and attempt to use his affect — and the necessity for Mr. Biden to win over a few of his supporters — to push for a extra progressive Democratic platform?
Advisers to Mr. Sanders mentioned on Wednesday, after his losses the night time earlier than, that he was considering his next steps. His marketing campaign stopped actively promoting on Fb this week, which is commonly a precursor to dropping out.
No matter what Mr. Sanders decides or when he makes the choice, Mr. Biden has his personal problem forward: successful over a minimum of some members of the progressive wing of the occasion, a lot of whom are deeply disillusioned by Mr. Sanders’s losses. Towards that finish, Mr. Biden has adopted a few of Mr. Sanders’s proposals, like tuition-free public college.
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Sydney Ember wrote this week about Mr. Sanders’s need to proceed combating.
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You possibly can read more here about how Mr. Biden is making an attempt to succeed in out to the left.
Gabbard ended her marketing campaign
The Democratic major formally turned a two-person contest on Thursday after Consultant Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii dropped out and endorsed Mr. Biden.
Leaning on her army background, Ms. Gabbard — who had been the one lady remaining within the major — railed for months in opposition to “regime-change wars” and advocated a noninterventionist overseas coverage. However she received solely two delegates within the major contests, each in American Samoa, the place she was born.
She introduced final fall that she wouldn’t search re-election to Congress.