Ross: Coronavirus has (most) presidential campaigns rethinking rallies

Joe Biden gave a pretty routine victory speech Tuesday night – but it was remarkable because it was delivered to a much smaller crowd than usual.

“We were planning a big rally in Cleveland tonight, but the governor of Ohio asked the presidential campaigns to cancel their indoor public events due to the coronavirus,” Biden said.

So he made his speech before a private event of just campaign workers. But it was a very different vibe.

That’s fine for a candidate like Biden, who likes to quote the Constitution and talk about struggling workers. But it’s deadly for a candidate like Trump — he’s got punch lines, nicknames, and put-downs.

You need a crowd for that!

If these restrictions were to spread, I can see where Trump supporters might see them as having nothing to do with public health.

Sure enough, the President is undeterred. He will continue to hold rallies, and I think people will attend not just as a show of support, but as an act of defiance. It’ll be to show by their presence that they agree with him – that the virus threat has been puffed up by Democrats.

And why not? Unlike to many political debates, where there’s no objective way to know who’s right, but in this case, we’d know within a couple of weeks.

Right after the incubation period.

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

Follow @http://www.twitter.com/thedaveross