Despite Coronavirus Concerns, Joe Biden Sets Philly Event Tonight; Axed Cleveland Rally On Super Tuesday II
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As worries about the ever-expanding coronavirus saw both Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders pull the plug on big rallies tonight while Michigan and five other states have primaries, the former Vice-President will now hold a gathering in Philadelphia.
Set to start at 9:30 PM ET at the historic city’s relatively compact National Constitution Center, the Biden event will see both the ex-Veep and former Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden in attendance. Opened in 2003, the Arch Street venue in the City of Brotherly Love is capable of a capacity of about 200 people. That’s a lot less than the numbers that were expected at events Biden and Sanders both had scheduled and then canceled in Cleveland earlier today.
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That small scale gathering may become the norm for the immediate next few weeks in the battle between Biden and the Vermont Senator to become the Democrats’ standard barer against Donald Trump in November. With polls having just closed in Missouri and Mississippi Biden leads Sanders 673 to 575 in the delegate count after a tremendous result on Super Tuesday last week. The Magnolia State and its 36 primary vote delegates has already been projected as a win for ex-Delaware Senator and widely endorsed Biden as has Missouri and its 68 pledged primary delegates.
At the same time, CNN has said that the March 15 debate between the contenders will occur without an audience as concerns about COVID-19 solidify in all areas of American life. As the former Celebrity Apprentice host unveiled another big MAGA rally for next week, there is no news yet if the Dems’ July 13 to July 16 convention in Milwaukee or the GOP’s Charlotte get-together on August 24 – 27 will still go ahead.
The culling of large rallies could seriously cramp the style of Sen. Sanders, who has made his ability to pull in the big crowds part of his appeal. As of right now, with the Senator back home in Vermont, the Sanders campaign has not made public any live event for tonight – a night that could see the air taken out of its run.
Whatever the Sanders campaign does or doesn’t do, Biden has also planned to address the coronavirus in a speech in his adopted hometown of Wilmington, Delaware on March 12. This comes instead of a previously set campaign even in Tampa, Florida that was supposed to occur on Thursday.
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