John Locher/AP Photo
The Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee is expected to draw some 50,000 attendees.
At the rate that coronavirus infections are expanding exponentially, there could be no live Democratic convention in Milwaukee. And that may be just as well.
Some 50,000 people are expected to attend—that’s delegates, alternates, lobbyists, donors, press, trolls, and hangers-on. An infected Democratic National Convention could do Donald Trump’s dirty work for him. It would be literally sickening.
But quite apart from the virus, we may be a lot better off with no live convention. After tomorrow, Biden could go from front-runner to all-but-certain nominee.
A convention, excuse the pun, would just be a coronation.
Bernie Sanders won Michigan in 2016. As recently as February 23, polls showed him leading Biden in the Wolverine State. However, the latest FiveThirtyEight.com polling average has Biden leading Sanders by 54 to 29.
And the rest of the March 10 primaries, with just one exception, look even less promising for Sanders—Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, and Washington state. Sanders is leading (slightly) only in Washington.
The next big primary day, March 17, with Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio, also looks like Biden over Sanders. Of course, anything could happen between now and July, including illness, given a race between a 77-year-old and a 78-year-old.
Sanders, even as the also-ran, will likely stay in for the distance. But if Biden comes into the convention with a majority of elected delegates, a live convention has no function—except for the most militant Sanders supporters to claim that once again, they were robbed. But this time, unlike 2016, when the entire party apparatus was tilted to Hillary, they weren’t robbed.
Biden, despite a weak field operation, lousy presence on the campaign trail, and far less grassroots energy than Sanders, won fair and square. Biden was certainly not my first choice. He got into first place due to a series of flukes.
But there he is. And rather than the usual recriminations, it would be much better for progressives to use our considerable influence to affect who he appoints as his senior policy staff, and who he names as running mate. She could well succeed him.
