Second presidential debate moved from Michigan to Miami over coronavirus fears

[groundloop]

Source: CBS News

Washington — The second scheduled presidential debate between President Trump and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has been moved from Michigan to Florida following concerns about the large crowds expected in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced Tuesday the debate scheduled for October 15 will now be held at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami. The debate was set to take place at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, which the commission now says is "not feasible."

The decision to change the venue for the second of the three scheduled presidential debates comes after two sources told CBS News on Monday the University of Michigan was expected to withdraw from hosting the event. Thousands of reporters, protesters and attendees were set to descend on Ann Arbor for the debate, raising health and safety concerns due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

<snip>

"Nothing should prevent the conduct of debates between Joe Biden and Donald Trump on these dates," Biden's campaign wrote. "Again, we do not want to provide President Trump with excuses for not debating."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/second-presidential-debate-biden-trump-moved-to-miami-from-michigan-coronavirus/

[snowybirdie]

1. Pretty irreverent

Florida is worse than Michigan at this point. Plus, I doubt Rtump will debate. He'll find some excuse.

[Rebl2]

15. That's what I thought too

Who knows what it will be like in October. I’m guessing it won’t be great anywhere by then since the health officials say the Fall is going to be worse. May have to do debates with no audience, which would be fine with me.

[iluvtennis]

2. Makes so much sense to move debate to Florida hotspot

[soothsayer]

3. Miami??

How about nyc. At least they’re doing well and proceeding carefully.

[Miguelito Loveless]

4. Out of petri dish,

into the cesspool.

[greenjar_01]

5. Michigan is one of the few states doing well, while Florida is spiking

What a shitshow

[KS Toronado]

6. Why do Presidential Debates need moderators to ask predetermined questions?

Just let Joe and Der Fuhrer ask their own questions of each other, with no one to interrupt them but the stopwatch guy.
Joe will look Presidential and the other will look like the fool that he is.

[global1]

7. Trump's Strategy For Winning Is To Hope Biden.....

contracts Covid before November and is sidelined. (sarcasm)

[DownriverDem]

8. Unless things change

the debates should be held in an empty studio with just Biden, trump and the moderators.

[SharonClark]

22. In DC. Where they both live.

[SWBTATTReg]

9. Why in the hell are there debates anyway? Everybody knows that rump is a compulsive liar...

and won't speak the truth anyway. Biden is already ahead...don't waste time and energy talking to an idiot.

[onetexan]

18. Bingo! Biden will be debating. The Idiot will spew nonsense and lies since he's completely clueless

on how to govern. He neither has intellectual curiosity nor any idea re: policy making. He his compulsive BS'ing & lying are attempts to cover up his ignorance. He is entirely unfit in every way for the office of POTUS.

[CountMyVote4Reality]

10. From the frying pan to the fire?

Makes no sense.

[Raven123]

11. Presidential debates don't require in house attendees. Now would be a good time to end them

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Projected new cases Oct 1: Michigan 3,787, Florida 53,826. Deaths Michigan 28, Florida 427

Populations about 10 million and 21.5 million. So the case rate is projected to be about 6.6 times as much in Florida, and the death rate 7.1.

https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america/michigan
https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america/florida

WTF?

[AllyCat]

13. Ummm...Michigan is doing awesome after a bad start. FL is a mess.

Why on earth would they move it to FL???

[Rebl2]

16. At Trumps request?

[BlueIdaho]

14. Why are we pretending Presidential Debates are determinative of Presidential Performance?

Televised Presidential Debates are a complete waste of time. I suspect the last time they had an impact on an election outcome was the first 1960 Nixon - Kennedy Debate. Even then - it depended on if you watch on TV or listened on radio. But - a debate or series of debates is itself no predictor of performance in office. It’s just another way for advertisers to gain an audience for their ads.

[kwassa]

17. Trump is actively trying to kill his own base.

I am waiting for DeSantis to test positive.

[nitpicker]

19. Only 26000 cases by yesterday in Miami-Dade

((sarcasm))
Up by about 4K in a week.

[BumRushDaShow]

20. And we here in Philly were moaning about hitting the 25,000 milestone over the weekend

(after almost 3 months, with our daily average now down to ~130 or so, and we are almost 4x the population of Miami)

[tclambert]

21. Florida passed 100,000 cases this week.

Michigan only has 67,000. Florida blew by Michigan a couple of weeks ago and is rapidly pulling away. This week, Georgia will pass Michigan in number of cases. Michigan is down to about 6,000 active cases.

It's obviously not the number of cases that matters. it's that Michigan takes the virus seriously, and Florida clearly does not.