Parties face nomination pickle
Virus surge muddling convention plans for Trump, Biden
WASHINGTON — At the last minute, President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, are searching for places to impressively yet safely accept their parties’ presidential nominations as the spread of the coronavirus adds fresh uncertainty to the campaign for the White House.
Trump said Wednesday he’s considering giving his Aug. 27 acceptance speech on the grounds of the White House, a move that could violate ethics law. Biden, meanwhile, scrapped plans to accept the Democratic nomination on Aug. 20 in Milwaukee, where the party has spent more than a year planning a massive convention.
Presidential conventions are a staple of American politics and have played out against national traumas as significant as the Civil War and World War II. But the pandemic’s potency is proving to be a tougher obstacle, denying both candidates crucial opportunities to connect with supporters before the Nov. 3 election.
The campaigns are looking for alternatives to deal with the virus and still reach millions of Americans through television and virtual events. Longtime convention attendees say they’ll miss the traditional festivities even as they acknowledge public health priorities.
“I was looking forward to going to Milwaukee and having a lot of beer and other snacks,” said Donna Brazile, who managed Al Gore’s campaign in 2000 and served as Democratic National Committee chair in 2016.
Matt Moore, a former South Carolina GOP chairman, has enjoyed several Republican conventions as unifying efforts following bruising primary battles in states like his. But the general election audience, he said, doesn’t see it the same way.
“As long as they can watch it on Facebook, most voters don’t care if the conventions are in Siberia or Sheboygan,” he said.
In a Wednesday phone interview with Fox & Friends, Trump said the first night of GOP programming would originate from Charlotte, North Carolina, but the rest would be shown from various locations, including potentially the White House.
“I’ll probably do mine live from the White House,” Trump said, but he also said it was not locked in.
Biden hasn’t been so publicly reluctant to scale back his convention, expressing doubts about a full arena even before Democratic National Committee officials made the move toward a virtual event.
But those who know him say a lost convention still has to rank as a personal disappointment for a man who calls himself a “tactile politician” and who first sought the presidency in 1988. Biden has been on the convention stage twice as the vice presidential nominee for Barack Obama.