WASHINGTON _ The death of George Floyd and subsequent vitriolic nationwide demonstrations against police violence have added yet another crisis to a presidential campaign already gripped by a public health emergency and economic calamity, thrusting the race into unprecedented terrain as Donald Trump and Joe Biden seek to show they can lead the country during a perilous moment in its history.
Even against the standard of recent presidential elections, some of which have been run against the backdrop of terrorist attacks and financial catastrophe, the 2020 race is beset with historic challenges few White House candidates have been forced to deal with, say veterans of past presidential campaigns.
"This is up there with World War II and the Civil War in terms of the extent of the crisis and how deeply it is affecting the nation and the world," said Tad Devine, a senior adviser to Democrat John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, a race run in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
