BURLINGTON,
Vt. (AP) — Bernie Sanders acknowledged Friday that fears about the
spread of coronavirus have damaged his ability to leverage large rallies
into support at the polls, and suggested that future Democratic
presidential primary voting should be delayed if health officials deem
doing so appropriate.
“We do more rallies than anybody else, and (they’re) often very well
attended. I love to do them,” the senator told reporters at a hotel in
his home state of Vermont. “This coronavirus has obviously impacted our
ability to communicate with people in the traditional way that we do.
That’s hurting.”
Thousands
of people gathering to hear him speak has defined Sanders since he
first sought the White House in 2016. But the practice has been
curtailed as health officials attempt to slow the virus’ spread.
Instead, Sanders has convened the media three straight days to blast the
Trump administration for what he calls its inadequate response and warn
of dire upcoming health and economic effects.
“If
this isn’t a red flag for the current dysfunctional and wasteful health
care system, frankly I don’t know what is,” Sanders said, advocating
for his signature “Medicare for All” plan that would provide, universal,
government-funded health care.
Despite
conceding that he’s badly trailing Joe Biden in amassing the number of
delegates needed to secure their party’s presidential nomination,
Sanders has given no indication he’ll drop out of the presidential race.
He’s vowed to grill the former vice president on issues like expanding
health coverage, combating climate change, reducing college debt and
overhauling a biased criminal justice system during a debate Sunday
night.
In the
meantime, though, the race could be shifting around both candidates.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards was planning to delay his state’s April 4
primary until June 20.
Even
though the four states set to vote in the next round of primaries on
Tuesday — Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Ohio — all said they have no
plans for postponement, Sanders was asked about more disruptions and
didn’t dismiss the idea.
He
called elections “the bedrock of our democracy” and said they shouldn’t
be delayed “on a wily-nilly basis.” But he also noted that everything
from the NBA season to Broadway musicals had been disrupted to avoid
large crowds coming together, adding, “I don’t think there’s anybody out
there, no matter what your political view may be, who wants to see
people become infected because they are voting.”
“Rescheduling
elections is not something we do lightly or should do lightly,” Sanders
said, adding that state health and elected officials would have to
balance that with the fact that it’s “also important to make sure that
everybody who wants to vote has the right to vote, and that may not be
the case now.”
Biden,
who has also canceled scheduled events amid the coronavirus outbreak,
is holding a virtual town hall via Facebook on Friday. Sanders said, in
lieu of rallies, he plans to communicate with supporters via social
media and internet livestream, like he did when addressing reporters
Friday.
“We
are figuring out a way as to how we can best communicate with people,”
Sanders said “which will certainly, in a very strong way, utilize our
social media capabilities.”
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Eds: Weissert reported from Washington.
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