The Wall Street Journal - 14.03.2020 - 15.03.2020

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. *** Saturday/Sunday, March 14 - 15, 2020 |A

POLITICS

debate with Mr. Biden on

Sunday night in Washington.

That will be the first time

the two will be on a stage

one-on-one, which should

make the contrast in their

messages clearer.

“He believes the debate

can be a game changer, and

he will make the case why

the party needs to listen to

those who have been left

out for decades in the econ-

omy,” says California Rep.

Ro Khanna, a national co-

chairman of the Sanders

campaign.

That debate will be held

without a live audience, a

sign of how the coronavirus

has altered everything.

For Mr. Trump it was a

week of trouble on that

front, particularly when he

fumbled parts of a nation-

ally televised address. Stock-

market sentiment turned de-

cisively south as he spoke,

and everyday life began

changing dramatically.

At week’s end, as he de-

clared a national emergency,

the virus appeared a bigger

problem for Mr. Trump than

any Democrat.

calculated his pitch to work-

ing-class Democrats would

resonate.

It didn’t work.

Former Vice President

Joe Biden won Michigan by

almost 17 percentage points,

and carried Idaho, Missis-

sippi, Missouri and Wash-

ington as well, leaving only

North Dakota for Mr. Sand-

ers. Mr. Biden now has won

6.8 million votes cast in

Democratic primaries and

caucuses so far, well above

Mr. Sanders’s 5.3 million.

But Mr. Sanders, arguing

that his progressive message

is still working with young

and liberal Democrats,

vowed to press on. Some

thought Mr. Sanders was

making that decision to in-

fluence the party’s ideologi-

cal direction at its conven-

tion this summer.

“The more delegates you

win, the more influence you

can have on the platform

committee,” said Democratic

pollster and consultant Mark

Mellman.

The Sanders team in-

sisted it still saw a chance

to catch up, starting with a

As the week began, the

Democratic presidential con-

test appeared to be a two-

man race, destined to grind

on for a while,

and President

Trump

seemed in

pretty good

shape.

As the tu-

multuous week ended, many

Democrats concluded their

contest had transformed

into a one-man race, barring

some cataclysmic change—

and the coronavirus had dra-

matically altered the land-

scape around the president.

Taken together, the

events seemed to confirm

that American politics now

moves at warp speed, and

that it is dangerous to make

assumptions.

On the Democratic side,

Sen. Bernie Sanders, after

suffering a string of losses

on Super Tuesday earlier

this month, gambled he

could come back in Michi-

gan, where he won the pri-

mary in 2016, and where he

BYGERALDF.SEIB

Biden, Coronavirus Produce

Week of Dramatic Changes



THIS

WEEK

teleworking where possible,”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of

the National Institute of Al-

lergy and Infectious Diseases,

said at a House hearing. “This

is not business as usual.”

So far this week, federal

agencies have asked staff to

work from home either tempo-

rarily to test teleworking sys-

tems, or in response to a

known possible exposure to

the virus within the workforce.

On Thursday, the White House

sent a memo to heads of fed-

eral departments and agencies

asking them to allow staffers

who fall into groups that are at

risk of serious complications

from Covid-19 to telework.

“All Federal Executive

Branch departments and agen-

cies are encouraged to maxi-

mize telework flexibilities to

eligible workers within those

populations,” Office of Man-

agement and Budget Acting

Director Russell Vought said in

the memo. He urged agency

heads to consult with public

health officials about whether

to “extend telework flexibili-

ties more broadly” in areas

where there is a community

spread of coronavirus.

Earlier this week, the Securi-

ties and Exchange Commission

encouraged staff at its Wash-

ington headquarters to work

from home after an employee

there was referred by a physi-

cian for coronavirus testing.

The regulator updated its

guidance Friday, telling Wash-

ington staff in a text message

they would be required to

telework starting next week,

with limited exceptions.

But no major agencies have

required the bulk of their em-

ployees to work remotely.

“The overall [federal] gov-

ernment effort to protect em-

ployees has fallen far short,”

said Tony Reardon, president

of the National Treasury Em-

ployees Union, which repre-

sents some 150,000 employees

in 33 agencies.

WASHINGTON—Federal

workers, lawmakers and some

government health experts

stepped up calls for the Trump

administration to close gov-

ernment offices to help con-

tain the spread of the new cor-

onavirus in the U.S.

Thus far, agencies have is-

sued only temporary or partial

recommendations for civil ser-

vants to work from home. On

Friday afternoon, President

Trump declared a national

emergency related to the virus.

Rep. Don Beyer (D., Va.),

who self-quarantined this

week after coming into con-

tact with a friend who tested

positive for coronavirus, urged

the director of the Office of

Personnel Management, Dale

Cabaniss, to implement re-

mote work for all federal em-

ployees who are able to do so.

“The current lack of tele-

work options increases social

contact and limits the positive

effects of social distancing to

reduce community spread,” Mr.

Beyer wrote in a letter Friday.

“I have heard from numerous

federal workers who feel un-

comfortable taking public tran-

sit and working in environ-

ments with hundreds to

thousands of people, potentially

unaware they have the virus.”

The congressman’s letter

echoed a call Thursday by a

member of the White House’s

coronavirus task force.

“All of us, regardless of

what testing is going on, need

to be doing the kind of dis-

tancing—avoiding crowds,

platform and conduct other

“party building” activities.

Kylie Oversen, who leads

the state party in North Da-

kota, said the decision was

made to cancel the convention

on Thursday after a case was

reported in the county that in-

cludes Minot. The gathering

was scheduled for four days.

North Dakota Democrats

hold their state convention ev-

ery two years. Ms. Oversen

said many of those who typi-

cally attend are elderly, the

segment of the population

most at risk for complications

from the virus.

Ms. Oversen said she sees

“no easy way” to conduct the

party business electronically.

“That’s not in our capacity

right now,” she said.

DNC rules don’t require na-

tional convention delegates to

be selected until June 20, so

there is still plenty of time if

conventions or other meetings

need to be delayed.

“Our guidance to state par-

ties is to follow the recom-

mendation of local health offi-

cials and prioritize the health

and safety of all individuals,”

DNC spokesman David Berg-

stein said. “We know the situ-

ation is very different in every

state and we want to give

state parties flexibility to

change their plan to address

the guidance they are getting

on the ground.”

Democrats in Utah said

Thursday they would be re-

structuring their state conven-

tion scheduled for late April.

“Although we are unable to re-

lease details at this time, all

in-person events originally

scheduled for April 24 and

April 25 will be cancelled,” the

state party said.

The Democratic Party in

Nevada said Thursday that it

was canceling county conven-

tions scheduled to take place

April 18. “We will provide

county chairs with additional

guidance regarding conducting

the necessary business, such

as electing delegates to the

state convention,” Chairman

William McCurdy II said.

Rick Berg, chairman of

North Dakota’s Republican

Party, said between 1,200 and

1,700 people are still expected

to attend the GOP state con-

vention March 27 in Bismarck.

“With everything that is go-

ing on nationally, it’s on every-

one’s radar,” he said. “We’re

just trying to stay up to speed

on what the health depart-

ment recommends.”

Similar discussions are tak-

ing place in Tennessee, where

Democrats are set to hold nine

congressional district conven-

tions on March 21 to conduct

party business and elect na-

tional convention delegates.

“We’re trying to figure it all

out,” said Mary Mancini, who

leads the Tennessee Demo-

cratic Party. “We want to keep

everyone safe.”

One option under study is a

“phone system that would al-

low for voting via keypad,”

Ms. Mancini said.

—Emily Glazer

contributed to this article.

The coronavirus pandemic

has led to hand-wringing over

this summer’s Democratic and

Republican national conven-

tions, but congressional dis-

trict and state conventions are

presenting an even more

pressing problem.

Those conventions, where

delegates are elected for rep-

resentation at the national

gatherings, are set to start

happening in the next few

weeks. State party leaders are

wrestling with whether to

postpone them or try to hold

online or telephone elections.

North Dakota’s Democratic

Party canceled its state con-

vention set for next weekend

in Minot, where as many as

700 of the party faithful had

been expected to descend on

the Clarion Hotel Convention

Center. The gathering was

supposed to elect delegates

and Democratic National Com-

mittee members, deliver en-

dorsements, adopt a policy

BYJOHNMCCORMICK

Virus Stalls Delegate Elections

BYPAULKIERNAN

Federal Employees

Push for Closure of

Government Offices

No major agencies

have required the

bulk of employees to

work remotely.

People left a polling location at Bow Elementary-Middle School in Detroit on Tuesday.

PAUL SANCYA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Voters waited in line for the North Dakota Democratic presidential caucus in a union hall in Fargo, N.D., on Tuesday.

DAVE KOLPACK/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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