Steve Rabinowitz writes:

You know it’s bad when President Donald Trump is canceling campaign rallies. The massive gatherings of loyal devotees are events he feeds off and are central to his re-election strategy: Whip up the base to make sure they vote and get as much free media attention as possible while doing it.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., takes a similar approach to rallying the masses, even turning his large crowds into rock concerts to jack up the energy and attract new eyeballs. He purports to be leading a revolution, after all, so he needs to use the power of his personality and bully pulpit to realize that.

Which means that both Trump and Sanders stand to lose much more by the coronavirus shutting down large public campaign activities than their shared opponent, Joe Biden. The former vice president is more comfortable with a teleprompter than speaking extemporaneously; his trademark is an avuncular one-on-one connection with voters rather than issuing a rabble-rousing call to arms in a cavernous arena.

Biden, my pick for president for what it’s worth, exudes an almost Bill Clinton-style, feel-your-pain warmth that’s expressed best in smaller gatherings where he gets to engage voters one question at a time, town hall meeting-like. And as it happens, a retooled version of that Clinton-era campaign style is exactly what I expect to see re-emerge during the coronavirus crisis — it’s certainly what I would advise the candidates to do, and do now. [Continue reading…]