There’s inevitably been a lot of focus over the last weeks during the Democratic primaries on whether black voters are turning out for Joe Biden or for Bernie Sanders. But that analysis often takes for granted that the black vote will back the Democrats. That isn’t the case:
As analysts debunk the myth of the black voter monolith, some black Republicans are stepping forward to counter stereotypes and assert a political identity very different from the usual assumption that all black Americans are Democrats, especially in the era of President Donald Trump.
My colleague Kenya Evelyn in New York has been looking at how black Republicans are debunking the myth of a voter monolith.
The Associated Press have been looking at how the coronavirus outbreak will impact the election campaign.
“If coronavirus has the lasting impact that we all fear it will, it will also dramatically reshape the way a presidential campaign unfolds,” Jesse Ferguson, a veteran Democratic strategist and former spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s campaign, told AP.
“Politics is fundamentally about leaders interacting with the people who they represent, and if a pandemic forecloses that ability, it changes everything how you campaign, how you knock doors, how you do events and how you do the retail part of politics.”
The weekend’s TV debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders will now take place without a studio audience.
Coronavirus restrictions could severely stifle the remainder of the Sanders campaign in particular. Steve Schmidt was John McCain’s top adviser when his 2008 campaign was interrupted by the financial crisis. He told AP:
“The raw politics of this is that it freezes the Democratic race in place for Bernie Sanders, who is on his last legs. You can’t have a revolution without rallies,” he said.
“The Trump show is sustained by rallies,” he added.
Yesterday feels like the day that the US suddenly began to get to grips with the idea that widespread disruption from the coronavirus outbreak was inevitable. No St Patrick’s Day parades. No NBA. No college. A prime-time address from the Oval Office, and the news that Trump has cancelled campaign events. Mike Pence, in charge of the administration’s efforts to combat the virus, will be on CBS News this morning to talk about the outbreak.
We’ve got full live coverage of the coronavirus crisis as it unfolds over here:
Good morning. On 26 February Donald Trump said that the US had 15 cases of the coronavirus, and that “the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”
It is now 15 days later, the US has 1,312 cases, and has seen 38 deaths. The NBA season has been suspended. Today’s news is likely to be dominated by the administration’s continued efforts to get on top of the crisis, and the fall-out from the sweeping travel ban for visitors from Europe that Trump announced last night.
Trump announces travel ban from Europe to the US in bid to stem coronavirus – video
European markets, airline stocks and the pirce of oil have all tumbled after the announcement. It could be turbulent again when Wall Street opens this morning.
Somewhat ironically – the president will be busy greeting a guest from Europe this morning – Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar. Ireland is not covered by the ban. What Trump said in his address, and what has actually been written down in Proclamation 9984 are slightly at odds. Here’s an explainer of what it means in practice.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be having her weekly press conference, then is hosting the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon, with Varadkar as a guest at 11.30am.
Democratic front runner Joe Biden will be in Wilmington, Delaware, at lunchtime, where he is expected to talk about the coronavirus pandemic.
We might also get some further administration reaction to the news that two American service members were killed last night by a rocket attack on a military base in Iraq.
