The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden offers to talk coronavirus response with Trump

Welcome to The Hill’s Campaign Report, your daily rundown on all the latest news in the 2020 presidential, Senate and House races. Did someone forward this to you? Click here to subscribe.

We’re Julia Manchester, Max Greenwood and Jonathan Easley. Here’s what we’re watching today on the campaign trail. 

 

LEADING THE DAY:

DEVELOPING: Former Vice President Joe Biden is offering to call up President Trump to offer advice on combatting the coronavirus spread in the U.S.

Fox News first reported the news after White House counselor Kellyanne Conway issued a challenge to the Democratic frontrunner to “call the White House today and offer some support.”

While Trump has been updating the American people on a daily basis in his White House briefings, Biden has been relying on his own virtual town halls, briefings and network news interviews from his personal television studio in Delaware. The former vice president has also laid out how he would combat the pandemic, often invoking his Obama administration experience combating the spread of Ebola and the swine flu.

Biden’s offer to give Trump his advice is an interesting move on the part of him and his campaign. Biden is walking a very fine line — he wants to offer his own plan and hit Trump for his slow response to the outbreak, but also wants to strike a unifying tone. This kind of gesture lets the former vice president argue he is doing just that.

Meanwhile. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hit the airwaves today, appearing on ABC’s “The View” and MSNBC on Wednesday. The progressive Democratic candidate hit Trump for his administration’s coronavirus response. 

“I think his inaction has cost the lives of many, many Americans,” Sanders said on “The View,” appearing remotely. “Instead of rallying the scientific community, instead of educating the American people about the need for social distancing and the other things that we have to do.” 

Like Biden, Sanders has continued to hold digital roundtables and briefings on the coronavirus crisis. He was also working in the Senate to pass the $2 trillion stimulus package last week. 

However, Sanders faces an uphill climb, considering Biden’s massive delegate lead and the news media’s full attention on the coronavirus pandemic. 

But Sanders is maintaining he will stay in the race, saying he has a “narrow path” to victory. Remember, a number of primaries have been postponed until the summer. The Sanders campaign is likely to insist on sticking around until wait all votes have been cast. 

–Julia Manchester 

 

READ MORE: 

Biden offers to call Trump to discuss national coronavirus response, by Marty Johnson

 

FROM THE TRAIL:

Democrats discuss delay, changes to national convention, The Hill’s Amie Parnes and Jonathan Easley report.

Biden allies want Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) out of the race sooner, rather than later, Amie and Jonathan.

Biden says he’s considering Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) to be his vice president, The Hill’s Tal Axlerod reports.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Wednesday that Trump’s initially slow response to the coronavirus has increased its domestic death toll, writes Julia Manchester.

 

PERSPECTIVES:

J.T. Young: Sanders has less reason to leave the race

Steve Israel: Andrew Cuomo makes waves

Margaret Talev: The rich are protected, the poor are shafted by coronavirus shutdown

 

FROM CONGRESS AND THE STATES:

Sanders is calling on Wisconsin to postpone its April 7 primary as reports emerge about chaos surrounding the elections during the coronavirus outbreak.

 

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) plans to use members of the Wisconsin National Guard to work polling locations during the state’s primary next week, according to a court filing. The move comes as the state faces a massive shortage of polling staff and volunteers for the April 7 primary amid the coronavirus pandemic, from The Hill’s J. Edward Moreno 

 

Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and her husband bought and sold about $1.4 million in stocks between mid-February and mid-March as U.S. policymakers scrambled to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, Max reports. A summary of the couple’s transactions provided by Loeffler’s campaign showed roughly $845,000 in stock sales between Feb. 18 and March 13. During that same period, she and her husband purchased about $590,000 of stock. Financial disclosures also show that Loeffler and her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, the CEO of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, bought ICE stock and sold it for about $10.9 million. 

 

POLL WATCH: 

Reuters-Ipsos – NATIONAL

Biden: 46 percent

Trump: 40 percent

 

MARQUETTE – WISCONSIN PRIMARY

Biden: 62 percent

Sanders: 34 percent

 

ECONOMIST/YOUGOV – NATIONAL

Biden: 55 percent

Sanders: 40 percent

 

MONEY WATCH:

WinRed, the GOP’s digital fundraising clearinghouse, raised more than $129 million for Republicans in the first three months of the year, nearly doubling its fundraising from the final quarter of 2019, from The Hill’s Max Greenwood 

 

The America First Action PAC is putting $10 million behind new digital, cable, broadcast and mail ads attacking former Vice President Joe Biden in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, from the Hill’s Jonathan Easley.

 

A Democratic-allied group dedicated to defending the Affordable Care Act is launching a five-figure ad buy in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin criticizing Trump’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, according to Alexander Bolton.

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

(Keep in mind these dates could change because of the outbreak.)

April 7:

Wisconsin Democratic primary

 

April 10:

Alaska

 

April 17:

Wyoming

 

April 26:

Puerto Rico Democratic primary

 

April 28:

Ohio

 

ONE HOPEFUL THING:

COCKTAILS IN QUARANTINE: This tidbit may be hitting your inboxes just in time for happy hour. 

Food Network Star, Ina Garten, also known as the Barefoot Contessa, is taking quarantine drinks to a new level. 

The culinary guru raised eyebrows on social media Wednesday after she posted a video of her crafting a giant cosmopolitan. 

“During these stressful times, it’s really important to keep traditions alive,” Garten said. “My favorite tradition is the cocktail hour so I’m going to make you my favorite cosmopolitan and you probably have all the ingredients right in your house.”

Somebody please check on @inagarten pic.twitter.com/H1eJwkLj7p

— Phil (@prettygoodphil) April 1, 2020

“Stay safe, have a very good time, and don’t forget the cocktails,” she said signing off. 

We’ll drink responsibly to that. 

For more good news be sure to check out The Hill’s Selfless Acts page, where our reporters are detailing how Americans are helping each other through the coronavirus pandemic.

We’ll be back Thursday with more from the campaign trail.