March 11, 2020 - 10:34am

On Super Tuesday it became clear that the race for the Democratic nomination was between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.

One week later, with six states voting yesterday, it’s now obvious that the only race that matters is Joe Biden versus Donald Trump.

To have had any chance of halting Biden’s momentum, Sanders needed a win in the key state of Michigan. He lost by a wide margin.

Despite the hype, Sanders just isn’t turning out the young voters, new voters and Left-wing voters that he was counting on. There’s a parallel here to the failure of the Corbynites in 2019. Caught up in their own bubble, the core activists just don’t understand that there aren’t enough people who think the way they do — and even fewer who care as much as they do.

Most states haven’t actually voted yet, but it’s difficult to see how Sanders can catch-up. Something huge would have to happen to stop Biden now.

Of course, something huge is happening — the coronavirus epidemic in America. If public events get cancelled left, right and centre what happens to the Democratic and Republican national conventions in July and August? And, long before those, what about the remaining campaign rallies and other gatherings of the primary season? Sanders could come under pressure to drop out for that very reason.

Questions will also be asked about the voting process itself. Ramshackle procedures mean that Americans can spend hours waiting in line to vote.

Finally, one can’t help but notice that Biden, Sanders and Trump are all in the most vulnerable age group — what happens if one or more of them falls ill?

This is for sure: there’ll be more than the usual interest in the Vice Presidential candidates.