Former vice president Joe Biden pledges to have woman as running mate

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, he bumped elbows with fellow contender Sen. Bernie Sanders instead of shaking hands – in a debate with no audience.

Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden smiles as Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks during the seventh Democratic 2020 presidential debate at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., January 14, 2020 (photo credit: REUTERS/SHANNON STAPLETON)
Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden smiles as Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks during the seventh Democratic 2020 presidential debate at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., January 14, 2020
(photo credit: REUTERS/SHANNON STAPLETON)
Former vice president Joe Biden pledged during Sunday's Democratic debate to have a woman as his running mate. Sunday's event his first one-on-one debate with fellow Democratic front runner Sen. Bernie Sanders, after five other candidates dropped out of the race.
The debate is taking place in Washington instead of its original venue in Arizona – and without an audience due to the coronavirus outbreak. 
"If I'm elected president, my cabinet, my administration will look like the country and I commit that I will, in fact, pick a woman to be vice president," said the former vice president. "There are a number of women qualified to be president tomorrow." 
Sanders said that "in all likelihood" he would to the same.
The coronavirus outbreak was the main topic for the event, as both candidates were asked to describe how they would fight the pandemic. Sanders made his case for Medicare for all, while Biden said that the government should treat the coronavirus as a national crisis and not to charge people for healthcare expenses related to the pandemic. Both of them pledged that if they lose, they will support the other candidate.
The two were asked about the protective measures that they are taking in their personal lives to avoid the virus, given that they are both over 77 years old and that Sanders suffered from a heart attack last year. Notably, the two did not shake hands at the beginning of the debate, and bumped their elbows instead.
"I love doing rallies, and we bring many thousands of people out to our rallies," said Sanders. "I enjoy it very much. We're not doing that right now. In fact, our entire staff is working from home," he added.
"On a personal level, I'm not shaking hands. Joe and I did not shake hands. And I am very careful about the people I am interacting with," he continued. "I'm using a lot of soap and hand sanitizers to make sure that I do not get the infection. And I have to say, thank God right now I do not have any symptoms, and I feel very grateful for that."
"Fortunately, I don't have any of the underlying conditions you talked about," Biden told the moderator, CNN's Dana Bash. "Thank God for the time being – that I'm in good health," he added.
"I'm taking all the precautions anyone would take, whether they are 30 years old or 60 years old or 80 years old," Biden continued. "I'm going to make sure that I do not shake hands any longer. Our staff is all working from home. We are not doing rallies any longer. We're doing virtual rallies.

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"I wash my hands God knows how many times a day with hot water and soap. I carry with me hand sanitizer. I don't know how many times a day I use that. I make sure I don't touch my face, and so on. So I'm taking all the precautions we're telling everybody else to take," the former vice president said.