The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to the hyper-visible politician: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo projects confidence every day at 11:30 a.m., sparking crushes from so-called "Cuomosexuals". For better or worse, President Trump owns the evening news cycle with his bloviating briefings, shamelessly touting his "great ratings." But where does the new clime leave presumptive Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden? It's a question dividing the party he now officially leads.

For some, Biden is failing to mount a forceful, inspiring response to the crisis, appearing absent compared to Trump (or Cuomo). "Somewhere around the 13th coronavirus press conference that I was being forced to watch Trump give, I was like, 'Where's my guy?'" Elie Mystal, justice correspondent at The Nation and author of a recent op-ed entitled "Joe Biden Needs to Start Acting Like a Presidential Candidate," told Vogue. "Give me some kind of alternative vision for what this country could and should look like."

For others, Biden is taking a more measured approach that is entirely on-brand for the elder statesman. "He's modeling exactly the kind of leadership that people would like to be seeing from the White House—calm, cool, collected, and connected to what people are going through," said Democratic strategist Greg Pinelo, pointing to a recent video of the Bidens Zooming with their grandkids. "He's showing America the kind of steady hand that we're still going to need on January 21st, 2021."

And there are a few positive signs that Biden's laid-back approach might be working for now: In March, the Biden campaign raised $46.7 million, its best-ever monthly total, and more than three times than the $13.6 million the Trump campaign raised over the same period. (Still the former vice president still lags considerably behind Trump when it comes to available cash on hand, $26.4 million to $98.5 million, based on Federal Election Commission disclosures.)

The unprecedented virtual 2020 race means the former vice-president is campaigning under quarantine from his home in Wilmington, Del., where his team initially struggled with glitchy Internet connection issues, leading Biden to lay low. "I've had a lot of people ask me online, every single day, 'where is Joe Biden?'" MSNBC's Yasmin Vossoughian asked the candidate in a March 30 interview. "Are you making yourself visible enough, especially during this crisis?"