David Bossie: Coronavirus sidelines Biden – Is Dem's front-runner status about to change?

News that the start of the Democrat National Convention in Milwaukee, Wis., is being delayed from mid-July to mid-August due to the coronavirus pandemic must be an issue of great concern to the rickety presidential campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden.   

It’s a matter of simple math.  The longer Biden must wait to officially become the presidential nominee for the Democrat Party in 2020, the more likely it is that a movement can pick up steam to steal the nomination from him. With each passing day, the narratives that Biden is too gaffe-prone, too scandal-plagued and no longer mentally capable of executing the duties and responsibilities of a president of the United States get louder and more pronounced. 

Add into the mix his campaign’s excitement deficit and anemic fundraising – coupled with having to wait an extra month to access general election campaign funds due to a postponed convention – along with a Democrat National Committee that can barely function without the help of billionaire Michael Bloomberg and you have a recipe for disaster.   

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But one thing remains perfectly clear. With seven months to go until the November presidential election, Biden is not yet the nominee of the Democrat Party. To date, Biden has garnered 1,217 delegates with 1,991 needed to clinch his party’s nomination. And Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is only about 300 delegates behind Biden, with 914. 

It’s no secret that the Democrat electorate is extremely divided and wide swaths of their primary voters have major reservations about Biden’s ability to go toe-to-toe with President Trump in the fall, whether the liberal media wants to admit it or not.   

In this unprecedented atmosphere of virtual campaigning and social distancing, there’s plenty of space for political mischief to occur and that’s the Biden camp’s worst fear. News that Biden is starting the vetting process for who he will choose as his vice presidential running mate is little more than a concocted media hit at this point as long as Sanders stays in the race and the lingering doubts about Biden persist. 

For the Biden campaign, to quote the famous World War I era song, "It’s A Long Way To Tipperary" – or in this case Milwaukee.  With the unfolding COVID-19 crisis wreaking havoc on the primary election calendar, the approximate date Biden might reach the all-important 1,991 delegate threshold before the national convention – whether it’s conducted virtually or not – is uncertain. In fact, it’s not out of the question that he never reaches the magic number at all.  

With that said, any move – either real or perceived – by establishment Democrats angling to get Sanders out of the race prematurely would lead to charges that millions of would-be Sanders primary voters are being disenfranchised. Whether the Biden campaign will have the patience and restraint to let this all play out without any tinkering by their camp is yet to be seen.  

Biden is desperately trying to hang on to the rapidly sunsetting narrative that he’s a capable enough leader for these deadly serious times. Many would say this ship has already sailed.

If a second ballot vote on the convention floor is in play going into Milwaukee, an effort to stop Biden could be made by powerful forces within the Democrat Party who believe he’s too far past his prime past and not a genuine progressive.  The recent trial balloon floating the possibility of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo upending the Democrat race for the White House was no mistake; there is genuine unease about Biden and rightly so. 

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Anyone with a pulse can see that Sleepy Joe has lost a step. The thought of Biden on a debate stage against Trump must be causing the Democrat brain trust overwhelming stress. That’s just one of the reasons why the not so subtle search for a more plausible nominee won’t end with Cuomo. Look for California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other ambitious far-left wannabees to get their moment in the sun, whether they want it or not. 

These are anxious times for the Democrats indeed as they contemplate nominating a shaky figure from the past such as Biden as their standard-bearer. The flirtation with Cuomo – who not long ago quipped that America "was never that great" – is not very surprising in a party that today has such a difficult time with the idea of American Exceptionalism. It’s also easy to see Newsom’s appeal to the leftward-lurching Democrats, because as some liberal politicians dream about giving free health care to illegal immigrants, Newsom is actually doing it in radicalized California.   

And as Cuomo and Newsom receive free earned media coverage as they deal with the unfolding coronavirus situations in their respective states, Biden is desperately trying to hang on to the rapidly sunsetting narrative that he’s a capable enough leader for these deadly serious times. Many would say this ship has already sailed. Think for a moment about the stamina and vigor of Trump in these trying times and then think about Biden’s inability to string together a coherent sentence during an interview with his political supporters on MSNBC.   

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The Biden team is so eager to try and stay relevant in today’s COVID-19 dominated media cycle that they’re willing to allow their candidate to get on a phone call with Trump to discuss the pandemic simply for the media attention it will garner. Their apparent willingness to ignore the enormous pitfall this proposed call represents is telling. The American people will witness a laser-focused and intense wartime president of the United States contrasted with a flailing, consultant-driven career politician floating around the periphery of things that matter.  

Over the coming weeks and months, as both sides navigate through these unchartered political waters, the American people are depending on unflinching, smart, tireless, accessible and bipartisan leadership now more than ever. That’s exactly what Trump is providing. And the Democrats are finding that they have no answer.   

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