Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., in digital conferences on Thursday with mayors and with the governors of three states hit exhausting by
Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., in digital conferences on Thursday with mayors and with the governors of three states hit exhausting by the coronavirus, praised the officers on the entrance strains of the native response to the coronavirus and requested what they most wanted from the federal authorities, positioning himself as a frontrunner who might provide them the form of help the present administration has not.
In an hourlong occasion, he peppered Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey and Ned Lamont of Connecticut, all Democrats, with questions: What had been they fearful about? What did they want? Did they’ve sufficient private protecting gear stockpiled to climate a resurgence of the virus within the fall if, as many public well being specialists anticipate, it does resurge?
If the dialog was granular at occasions, it spoke to a wider picture Mr. Biden is attempting to convey as he navigates a unprecedented problem: staying visible at all, much less demonstrating leadership, during a pandemic that has shut down normal campaigning.
The governors are chief executives charged with managing a crisis, and Mr. Biden — who wants to be a chief executive charged with managing a crisis but has had little opportunity to show voters how he would do it — was aligning himself with them.
Mr. Biden has hosted a string of virtual events in recent weeks, often to roll out endorsements — Bernie Sanders, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton — or raise money. He and his campaign are still announcing policy proposals, including on the two subjects dominating the news: the coronavirus and the economy. He has talked about climate change and released a “Plan for Black America.” He is leading in the polls, both nationally and in key swing states.
But the retail politicking Mr. Biden excels at is no longer possible, and unlike President Trump — who is also missing his usual rallies — he does not have access to the daily platform of televised coronavirus news briefings, which Mr. Trump has often turned into de facto campaign events.
Simply put, Mr. Biden needs to assure a nation in crisis that he’s up to handling that crisis, and explain how he would go about it — and it’s hard to do that from a basement in Wilmington, Del.
In his events on Thursday, he took the opportunity to emphasize a point he has been making frequently. The virus, he said, has exposed deep problems and inequities, economic and racial, that have always existed: “pre-existing cracks,” as he put it Thursday afternoon in a videoconference with mayors sponsored by the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.
During the governors’ call, Ms. Whitmer, Mr. Murphy and Mr. Lamont told Mr. Biden they needed what they have asked for repeatedly: more tests, more information and, perhaps above all, more money.
“Our costs are going up by the minute. Our revenues have fallen off a cliff,” Mr. Murphy said. “There’s nothing that can replace the existential role that the federal government can play. We need that direct cash, and that will allow us to keep firefighters, police, educators, health care workers, E.M.S. on the payrolls, serving the community.”
Mr. Biden criticized Mr. Trump and the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, for suggesting that states declare bankruptcy rather than seek federal aid.
“The very people you want to be able to make sure state and local governments are going to continue to be able to pay and keep on the payroll,” he said, “are the people who are carrying the rest of the country on their back right now.”