Still much on the line for online conventions

The crises are real.

But the campaign is virtual.

Including the next determinative event — the Democratic National Convention, which begins on Monday.

COVID concerns have moved it from Wisconsin to the World Wide Web. Some of the conventional convention optics, like boisterous delegates and balloon drops, will be missing.

Viewers may not be, however.

In fact, interest in the election across the country and here at home seems higher than ever. Minneapolis, for instance, had the highest primary turnout in half a century on Tuesday, with a record number using a mailbox instead of a ballot box to cast their votes.

Ratings are already high for cable news coverage of coronavirus and economic and election news, among other top topics. And on network TV, the most-watched show is often the evening news.

There's also been an ongoing TV test case on whether the lack of a live audience deadens viewer interest: sports. For the most part, the return of major league sports has been a major hit, as fans crowd their couches in lieu of packing the stands.

The virtual version of the Democratic confab, and the Republican version that has mostly moved online, may still have strong viewership. Most will watch via cable, which has hours for political speeches and pundit spin. Meanwhile, the broadcast networks, which long ago gave up gavel-to-gavel coverage, will run about an hour of prime time coverage each night.

That's when the country will hear acceptance speeches from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and it's likely that Barack and Michelle Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and 2016 and 2020 runner-up Bernie Sanders will get some prime time coverage as well.

Their arguments will be augmented by everyday business owners, workers, educators, front-line health care workers and others, as well as 35 other speakers spanning the ideological spectrum.

More moderate politicians such as Sen. Amy Klobuchar will speak — a reflection on Biden's bid to be similarly seen as sensible centrist in an increasingly left-leaning party. But the big tent will also showcase progressives like U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as conservatives like John Kasich, the former GOP governor who ran against Trump for the 2016 Republican nomination.

Of course, most of the focus will still be on the top of the ticket — especially on Harris, whose historic status as the first Black woman, and first Asian American major party nominee (she's the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants) has only intensified interest in her acceptance speech.

By contrast, Biden is by now known to generations of voters. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972, he's been a national figure for 48 years, has run for president three times, and was elected vice president twice. And yet, he's become a more intriguing candidate in his own right.

First, because of his compelling comeback to secure the nomination after serial setbacks in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada set up a dramatic, do-or-die primary in South Carolina.

Then there was a relatively successful vice-presidential selection process that was open, yet discreet, and suspenseful, yet also expected, culminating in Harris — a bold but safe choice who was already well-vetted from her own presidential run.

And notably, the notoriously verbose Biden has belied his gaffe-prone propensity by being mostly on-message lately — in part due to the pandemic, which has grounded him in more ways than one. His empathy is still emphatic, but Biden's been more on-point — especially about the virus crisis itself.

While being homebound decreased his exposure, less seems to have been more, especially in contrast to President Donald Trump, whose dubious statements at pandemic briefings have eroded his support. Conversely, Biden's messaging (including mask-wearing) has sent a consistent counternarrative on how he'd handle the epidemiological and economic crises differently.

Voters got a ticket preview on Wednesday when Biden and Harris appeared together at a press event in Delaware. It was a more collegial scene than the Democratic debates' most memorable moment, which came courtesy of the now running mates, when Harris ambushed Biden over his opposition to busing.

That moment — and the one Wednesday — are revealing about both candidates.

Showing sharp prosecutorial skills that should make her a strong debater against Mike Pence, Harris scored political points. But because there was a disconnect on the issue itself (the busing debate was decades ago, and Harris didn't have a demonstrably diametrical position than Biden), her flare was fleeting.

At the time, Biden seemed stung, if not stunned. Perhaps because his beloved, late son Beau befriended Harris when they were attorneys general. For a relationship politician like Biden, the hit may have hurt more personally than politically.

But Biden, unlike the current White House occupant, doesn't hold a grudge. And so despite his written remarks on Wednesday, his unscripted happiness in hearing his running mate's warm remembrance of Beau was authentic — just like Biden himself.

The virtual nature of this pandemic-era campaign may make those moments less common. Neither Biden nor Trump interact much with voters beyond the internet. We won't see close-contact conversations with voters after campaign events, which Biden seems to enjoy and excel at, and no rowdy rallies that were a key to Trump's candidacy and at times his presidency.

Since the Democrats' Chicago debacle in 1968, political conventions have become less freewheeling and more scripted, and thus stilted. Having them virtual may only amplify this effect.

That leaves the next and perhaps most dynamic events of the virtual campaign — the three presidential debates — which also are likely to take place without a live audience.

But because the country's crises are all too real, Americans will be watching, and likely in record-setting numbers.

John Rash is a Star Tribune editorial writer and columnist. The Rash Report can be heard at 8:10 a.m. Fridays on WCCO Radio, 830-AM. On Twitter: @rashreport.