Political News

When will the 2020 campaign get back to normal?

America is inching back to some sort of normalcy now that all 50 states have reopened (at least partly) after the coronavirus pandemic shuttered the nation. But not every state is approaching reopening the same way, and neither are the two presidential campaigns hoping for your vote in November.

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Analysis by Lauren Dezenski
, CNN
CNN — America is inching back to some sort of normalcy now that all 50 states have reopened (at least partly) after the coronavirus pandemic shuttered the nation. But not every state is approaching reopening the same way, and neither are the two presidential campaigns hoping for your vote in November.

President Donald Trump's strategy looks a lot like Georgia's reopening method -- it was, controversially, the first to open up.

Trump wants to return to his big campaign rallies, and his legions of supporters, and he wants to do so sooner rather than later. After all, he and Vice President Mike Pence are traveling to key swing states in their administration roles -- why not do so in a campaign setting?

His 2016 campaign adviser called that urgency to get back to massive rallies a "moonshot mission" in an interview with Politico. Trump and his team also maintain they'll hold an in-person convention in Charlotte this summer as planned.

Meanwhile, Biden and his team are taking it slow. Biden's holding a virtual rally "in Wisconsin" on Wednesday even though he'll still dial in from his Delaware home. These online efforts aren't without hiccups. The campaign's first virtual rally effort "in Florida" was marked by technical glitches.

Biden and his advisers said they are deferring to the public health experts on when to get the campaign back up and running. Campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon said on Saturday that Biden will travel "when the time is right driven by the experts and the guidelines that come and not a day before." (h/t to our ace Biden embed Sarah Mucha).

Unlike with Trump, there's no visible urgency among advisers to throw Biden back into any sort of crowded arena. The former VP has already said Democrats need to think about an all-virtual Democratic convention.

The Point: Just like the difference between Georgia and Connecticut (the last state to begin reopening, just today!), there's a clear gulf between Trump's and Biden's approaches to returning to the campaign trail.

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