Whither, Joe Biden, you might ask. He's present. And he's talking. But you're not seeing him much because the nation's political reporters are following the food fights President Donald Trump is creating with medical experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci over COVID-19 and with state governors over reopening their states' commerce.
Certainly those questions have political ramifications, but Biden's ability to bring reason and calmness to the storm is an anathema to the conflict and chaos that churns headlines, clicks and TV ratings.
So the video runs instead on protesters and Trump tweeting "LIBERATE" the states (all Democratic-led ones) then doing a 180-degree turn and saying on his new daily rally show that he "disagreed strongly" with the decision by Georgia's Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to reopen salons, gyms and other businesses. "It's just too soon," said Trump, the king of contradiction and deflection.
But don't be fooled (even if too many of our media colleagues are).
While Trump seems immune to the quarantines imposed on the rest of us (as well as his November opponent), the former vice president, homebound in Wilmington, Delaware, has adjusted to the new reality and is slowly bringing along the media.
First he hooked local viewers, via livestream, to get Bernie Sanders' (and others') strong endorsements.
Then he began talking to voters via livestream with local news stations in key swing states.
"For the local TV news viewers in Pittsburg, Joe Biden offered a dash of dad humor, making a play on the state's nickname: 'Pennsylvania is not only the Keystone State, it is the key to winning the White House,' he said," wrote The Washington Post on Wednesday.
And on a broadly aired Hispanic radio show based in Los Angeles, Biden promised that on his first day in office he'd push for an overhaul of the country's immigration rules.
Then early Wednesday morning on "The Late Late Show with James Corden," Biden blasted Trump's slow-motion bungling of the COVID-19 crisis and Trump's complete lack of empathy for the people on the front lines of the virus fight.
But these are poor stand-ins for the kind of prime-time treatments that would normally be afforded to a candidate for president of the United States. And our country is the worse for it.
Nonetheless, Biden is gradually making an end run around Trump - if not with air time, certainly with common sense.
Still, The Post notes, "Polls show Biden has struggled to make his message about the virus become, well, viral ... ."
However, the polls also show it doesn't matter that Biden is not heard as much as Trump. In fact, maybe Trump's mouth at the daily follies - the regular virus briefings Trump has hijacked as his new campaign rallies - is actually helping Biden.
Although more than 40% of respondents in a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal national survey said they were not aware or had no opinion of what Biden had said about the coronavirus, the poll found that Biden led Trump by 9 percentage points when respondents were asked who would be better at both responding to a crisis and, specifically, handling the coronavirus.
Don't think Trump, his supporters and his right-wing political news arm don't get this. They do. Here are the headlines - other than The Post's - we saw about Joe Biden in an online search Thursday morning:
* Fox News: "Usama bin Laden wanted to kill Obama so 'totally unprepared' Biden would be president ... "
* Politico: "Biden sexual assault allegation roils #MeToo movement."
* The Boston Globe: "The nation is in crisis. Where are you, Joe Biden?"
Some media outlets, even more objective ones, focused instead on linking Biden with various lighting-rod figures:
* The Hill: "Ocasio-Cortez says she will vote for Biden in November."
* Newsweek: "Stacey Abrams says she could help Joe Biden by turning out more black voters in 2020 election."
* Yahoo Entertainment: "Meghan McCain makes it pretty clear she's voting for Joe Biden."
* CNN: "Vice President Michelle Obama?"
Aside from The Post, only one other major news outlet noted the obvious.
* The New York Times: "Trump's briefings are campaign ads, and Biden deserves equal time."
Sometimes, defining the news is a function of looking for context. In this case, the polls tell the tale.
Biden already has won the nation's respect.
It's too bad most of the national media hasn't caught on. You can catch some of Biden's campaigning on YouTube, and his livestreaming happens at a simple web address: joebiden.com/live.