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Everyone's having to make adjustments in this era of coronavirus and that includes U.S. politicians. As one political organizer put it, no one's ever run a campaign completely online before. The big town hall events, the speeches in front of cheering crowds — these have been put on hold to keep people from gathering in large groups. So this is turning into a very different looking election year than America has ever seen.
The once numerous field of presidential candidates has been whittled down. Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld ended his Republican campaign on March 18th. A day later, U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii ended her Democratic campaign. And just this week U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont ended his Democratic campaign. So all this means that Former Vice-President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and incumbent President Donald Trump, a Republican are set to be the final candidates for America's major political parties. They'll be on the presidential ballot this November.
But just like some of the primaries and caucuses that help determine these candidates have been changed, postponed or held online, the party conventions that will formally nominate them could also be affected. The Democratic National Convention was originally scheduled for July in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It's been postponed until mid-August. The Republican National Convention is scheduled for late August in Charlotte, North Carolina. President Trump says by that time, the country will be in good shape with regard to coronavirus. But in the meantime, both political parties say they're prepared for weeks of virtual campaigning as COVID-19 continues to spread in America.
A vaccine is not expected to be ready by the time of the election. And while a leading U.S. health official says a vaccine isn't a sure thing anyway, it's still a priority in the fight against the novel or new coronavirus.
