DES MOINES, Iowa – Door-knocking? Over. Local party activity? Some Facebook traffic, if that. Across an arc of vital swing states, the coronavirus has put politics on an uneasy pause.
Instead, political fights among state leaders from Iowa to Pennsylvania over the handling of the pandemic's impact are raging as it spreads over this electoral heartland.
Protecting public health versus restarting the economy, along with arguments over the limits of executive authority, have taken the place of the national political debate typical of presidential campaigns at this point.
They reflect, unlike the political armistice that followed the 2001 terrorist attacks, a willingness to politicize this crisis.