Ross: Did coronavirus outbreak revive Biden campaign?

Just what was the mystery force behind Joe Biden’s resurrection?

How was it that Mike Bloomberg spent more than 100 times what Biden spent in Super Tuesday states, and Biden still won – even in States like Massachusetts, which Biden didn’t even visit?

Are voters finally immune to being manipulated by ads?

Maybe. Or it could be that Bloomberg’s ad campaign was a little too classy. It was nothing like the hacked e-mails and pizza conspiracies the Russian trolls would’ve planted.

So the actual lesson there may be that Mike should have hired the trolls.

But I think what helped Biden more than that was this virus crisis, and President Trump’s response.

When the epidemic hit China, Trump instinctively restricted travel – which turned out to be smart. But then, he seemed to fall back on his climate change strategy. Instead of saying “we’re going to attack this with everything we’ve got” he was saying, “don’t worry, it will all go away.”

That may work when you’re trying to discredit 50-year climate projections, but it doesn’t work with a virus that’s spreading in real time. He looked clueless, people got scared, stocks plummeted, and I think Democrats – and maybe even a few non-Democrats– saw that and said, “Wow! This isn’t a game any more.”

And it’s also not the time for a national seminar on socialism. Joe may not be ideal, but of all the candidates out there, he is the least scary.

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