The Tribune

With Charlie Harper

It’s pretty clear the dreadful COVID-19 virus is helping Joe Biden in at least two critically important ways as he prepares to battle Donald Trump in November.

Most importantly, even many Trump fans have admitted the president has not handled the coronavirus pandemic very well. Significant majorities of likely voters have for months failed to endorse the president’s response to the pandemic. The many reasons for this widespread loss of confidence are well documented by now, but wishing away a huge public health crisis will not make it go away. Trump may only now, 150,000 American deaths later, be realising that.

The other way the virus is helping Biden is that it is keeping him out of sight and almost entirely out of unscripted earshot of reporters’ tape or video recorders. The former vice president has been known for decades as a genial, hard-working, loyal politician who can be and has been undone by verbal gaffes and embarrassing misstatements.

Not so much, this time around. He emerges every couple of days with a new policy pronouncement or ventures to Wilmington, Delaware or nearby Philadelphia to deliver a promise-filled address, but that’s pretty much the extent of his public exposure.

Not only does this indemnify Biden against his own mistakes. It gives Trump scant ammunition with which to attack him. This is important, because attacking opponents or people he dislikes may be Trump’s greatest strength. He is really good at it.

For several weeks earlier this spring, liberal pundits were wringing their hands in concern that Biden had effectively disappeared altogether from the news cycle. They are singing a different tune now.

That’s because with the Democratic convention now only 11 days away, Biden still hasn’t announced who his running mate will be in November. While critics moan Biden’s delay in making his selection encourages disputes among the many women under consideration and their many more supporters, it says here that Biden’s dithering is a master stroke.

Speculation about whom he will choose is keeping Biden in the news, and not for some goof. He looks deliberative in a good way, subliminally acknowledging that at 78, he is a decent bet to be a one-term chief executive whose deputy would have the inside track to succeed him.

There is a growing feeling Biden is searching for a vice president who will act and serve as he did for Barack Obama. That means, among other things, leaving the limelight to the president. Obama and Biden probably surprised themselves with the warm friendship that obviously developed between them after their election. Biden is likely seeking the potential for similar chemistry with his running mate.

Who will Biden pick? Who knows? That’s part of the fun. So is a bit of speculation. Here are some of the leading candidates, according to “inside sources” spilling their sacred secrets to the press and TV:

Kamala Harris:

A former prosecutor and California Attorney General, Harris is regarded by many as the front-runner. Her father is a Jamaican-born economics professor, her mother a breast cancer researcher and civil rights activist who immigrated to the US from India. Harris is obviously very bright and ambitious. She attacked Biden in an early candidates’ debate, excoriating him for some school busing positions that make him vulnerable on race issues. No grudges, they both say now. Some think Harris would be preparing to run for president from the moment she was named to Biden’s ticket, and might let her ambitions get in the way of best serving as Biden’s deputy.

Susan Rice:

She’s African-American, but she has neither ever run for office nor earned any real credibility as someone who understands or can relate to the issues of poor black Americans. Married to a white Canadian-born TV producer whom she met in college, Rice is the product of privileged background - Washington DC private schools and exclusive Stanford University. Her parents were both distinguished in their careers. Rice has amassed an impressive resume worthy of many white male candidates, including extended service as an assistant secretary of state, national security adviser and US ambassador to the United Nations. Some question whether black voters would give Biden much credit for choosing her.

Gretchen Whitmer:

A hard-working, white former state legislator who is now governor of swing-state Michigan, she has sparred with Trump and is generally credited with doing a good job with managing both COVID-19 and the persistent infrastructure issues which seem to plague her state. She might be a very appealing candidate in a normal election year. This is an abnormal year.

Karen Bass:

A ten-year congresswoman and former state legislator from California, she is the current chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. She has represented two different West Los Angeles congressional districts and a Latino district east of LA in the state legislature. Earlier in her career in the California state assembly, she was elected as the second female speaker of that body. Leadership positions dot her resume.

Having trained as both a physician’s assistant and social worker, Bass projects a quiet competence that is reassuring. When Nancy Pelosi faced a challenge to her House leadership two years ago, Bass was the first choice of the dissidents to replace her. (Bass declined their offer, and supported Pelosi.) As the would-be deputy commander in chief, her experience and personality commend her candidacy.

Elizabeth Warren:

A septuagenarian like Biden, this Massachusetts senator is best known as a fearless populist who walks the walk as a champion of those Americans who cannot buy or otherwise exert influence on their elected legislators. It is likely that as vice-president, Warren would form a strong, complementary relationship with Biden. There is a broad suspicion that if Biden does not pick a black running mate, Warren will be the choice.

Stacey Abrams:

Once a fast-rising leader in the Georgia state legislature, this prominent black woman with the big personality exudes both leadership and confidence. She is credited with almost winning the governorship in potential swing-state Georgia two years ago, in a race she contested with the man whose position at the time of the election enabled him to set the rules for the contest. But she did not win. Her selection as Vice President would be surprising.

Keisha Bottoms:

Atlanta’s black mayor is credited with doing a significantly better job in her city with the virus than Governor Brian Kemp is doing in the state of Georgia. In fact, Kemp sued her for defying his ill-advised decision to reopen the state prematurely in April. Bottoms’ main offence was ordering everyone in Atlanta to wear masks when out in public. Bottoms also kept Atlanta mostly calm after a near police revolt in the wake of the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, a black man, at the hands of a white Atlanta police officer.

Having fellow Georgian Abrams also active in the race probably doesn’t help Bottoms, and doubts linger about whether either one of them could deliver the state for Biden. Georgia’s November election ballot includes both incumbent, vulnerable-seeming Republican senators. There have been questions about why one of these Georgia women, especially Abrams, is not contesting at least one of those seats.

Val Demings:

A long-time Orlando cop who married her patrol partner and rose to be chief of the city police force and now congresswoman from a critical district in central Florida, Demings looked strong and smart as one of the House managers of the Trump impeachment hearings. Like now ex-candidate senator Amy Klobuchar and Harris, Demings is dogged by questions about her tough stance on certain law and order issues that principally affect blacks.

Still, she might be the right woman in the right place at the right time with policing issues at the forefront of public policy debates. The strong showing by Jacksonville’s black mayor in the Florida gubernatorial race two years ago may encourage Biden to think Demings could help him win Florida. And if he won Florida, Biden would win the general election.

And if Biden wins in November as many now expect, his Vice President will both symbolise change and exert real power. It’s little wonder Biden is taking his time with this important choice.