Biden campaign seeks to adapt amid coronavirus

WASHINGTON – Joe Biden's campaign rushed to build a television studio in his home to better communicate to the American people how he believes a president should deal with the coronavirus epidemic. But when he made his first live appearance there Monday, none of the major cable channels took it live.

It illustrated the challenges the Democratic presidential front-runner faces during a crisis that has changed American life. While he's beginning to prepare for the general election campaign against President Donald Trump, Biden still hasn't secured the Democratic nomination.

And unlike senators debating legislation or governors working to protect their constituents, the former vice president is now a private citizen. There's no action he can directly take or information that is only his to deliver.

Meanwhile, Trump has dominated television and computer screens with his daily coronavirus briefings.

Democrats sought someone to take the lead in answering what they saw as the president's erroneous statements, while pushing for greater urgency in the federal response. But instead of Biden, it was New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo who emerged to lead the response by holding his own daily briefings from Albany — including one on Monday that aired live on cable TV while Biden spoke via livestream. The governor's interventions were widely praised, including by Biden, who called them "a lesson in leadership."

In the livestream on Monday, which the campaign said was watched by 230,000 people, Biden criticized the Trump administration's response to containing the outbreak while being careful not to seem too overtly political. "Donald Trump is not to blame for the coronavirus. But he does bear responsibility for our response," Biden said.

The statement was just the first of what he has assured supporters will be a regular flow of interviews, videos and discussions. His team is considering mounting virtual rope lines, where voters would get to briefly interact with Biden by video chat, as well as longer video conversations between the candidate and his supporters. It's also exploring podcasts and other long-form media. "We are absolutely looking into and experimenting with any way of replicating a traditional campaign experience virtually and capitalizing on his biggest strength, which is connecting with voters," spokesman TJ Ducklo said.

Biden will test out his new setup again on Tuesday on ABC's "The View."