Biden, Sanders present duelling visions on crisis

Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders blasted President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak during Sunday’s Democratic debate, and offered competing visions for how they would lead in a time of crisis that has upended the daily lives of Americans. In their first one-on-one debate, the two Democratic contenders to face Trump in the November election clashed on the proper response to the pandemic and other pressing issues, with the centrist Biden arguing he would focus on results, while the progressive Sanders pushed for bigger, more fundamental changes.

Biden, who has become a clear front-runner in the Democratic race after a series of sweeping primary wins in the past two weeks, committed for the first time to pick a woman as his running mate if he is the Democratic nominee.

“If I’m elected president, my Cabinet, my administration, will look like the country, and I commit that I will in fact appoint and pick a woman as vice-president,” Biden said, prompting Sanders to say he would “in all likelihood” pick a woman too.

The debate came two days before Tuesday’s nominating contests in the big states of Ohio, Illinois, Florida and Arizona, where another string of Biden victories would give him a nearly unassailable lead in delegates over Sanders. The four states have said the primaries would go ahead as scheduled despite the rapidly spreading virus, which has shut down schools, restaurants and large gatherings across the country. Georgia and Louisiana have postponed later primaries by weeks. After the debate, Sanders questioned the wisdom of holding the primaries after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday recommended events with gatherings of 50 or more people be postponed or cancelled over the next eight weeks.

“I would hope that governors listen to the public health experts,” Sanders said in an interview with CNN. “I’m thinking about some of the elderly people who are sitting behind the desks, registering people, doing all that stuff. Does that make a lot of sense? Not sure that it does.”

US officials have recorded nearly 3,000 cases and 65 deaths in the outbreak, up from 58 on Saturday. Globally, more than 162,000 are infected and more than 6,000 have died. In a debate overshadowed by the deepening health crisis, both candidates accused Trump of contributing to growing worries by spending weeks minimising the threat before declaring a national emergency on Friday.

“The first thing we have to do, whether or not I am president, is to shut this president up right now,” Sanders said.

“He is undermining the doctors and scientists who are trying to help the American people.”