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Democrats: Virtual National Convention to Nominate Biden a Possibility Due to
Coronavirus

Ken Bredemeier

   WASHINGTON - The U.S. Democratic Party, fearful of the coronavirus
   pandemic, is moving closer to holding a virtual convention in August to
   nominate former Vice President Joe Biden as its presidential candidate
   in the November national election rather than stage a traditional
   jammed-to-the-rafters event.

   The Democratic National Committee's rules and bylaws committee agreed
   on Tuesday to give convention organizers broad leeway in setting plans
   for the convention that has been scheduled to start Aug. 17 in a
   basketball arena in the midwestern city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

   Normally, the quadrennial presidential nominating conventions for both
   the Democratic and Republican parties draw about 50,000 people to the
   host cities, including 5,000 convention delegates and perhaps 20,000
   members of the news media.

   With barbed speeches attacking the opposition candidates, the
   conventions for decades have been spectacles on the American political
   scene designed to promote their party's candidate about 10 weeks ahead
   of the early November votes. The four-day events typically culminate
   with massive red, white and blue balloon drops from the rafters of the
   convention halls.

   The Democratic concern over the coronavirus pandemic could drastically
   change its party convention this year. President Donald Trump, however,
   is still planning to stage a traditional in-person Republican
   convention in the mid-Atlantic city of Charlotte, North Carolina, a
   week after the Democratic event.

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