Mess on Aisle America

So Very 2020: Well, we were warned that this election would be messy and that the results would take a while to come in and, unlike the polls which appear to have widely missed their mark once again, those warnings have proven true.  As I write this at 530 AM Biden is leading Trump in the electoral college, the AP has him at 238 to Trump’s 213, NBC has it at 224 to 213.  As anticipated results from Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia as well as a few other less electoral vote rich states are still dribbling in and North Carolina which appears to be leaning Trump remains too close to call.  That dribble is important because a lot of it comes from Democratic leaning absentee ballots.  Much to Trump’s dismay Fox called Arizona for Biden relatively early last night, something that so pissed off the Trump camp that the pundit side of the Fox crew called the outlet’s polling expert to quiz him about how he reached his decision, he stood firm, dismissing the Trump camp’s complaints but possibly because of the Trump kvetch a number of the other media outlets still haven’t put Arizona firmly into the Biden tally.  The experts, to the extent they are to be believed, and really who believes them anymore, say that Biden is still likely to win once those final votes from Michigan and Wisconsin come in regardless of what happens in Pennsylvania and Georgia.  They base that conclusion on Biden’s apparent Arizona win as well as his pick up of one electoral college vote from Nebraska’s Second District 2 which awards its vote independently from the state.  So far, Biden appears to be eking out a very close win in Wisconsin while Michigan is still counting a lot of ballots.   

The Candidates: Biden took to the podium last night to express optimism that he would ultimately emerge the winner.  Upbeat, he asked people to remain patient while votes are counted.  In response Trump immediately tweeted “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election.  We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Poles are closed!”  No comment from the Polish government about that but Trump did follow-up somewhere around 230 AM, taking to his COVID House podium to declare victory, he then rambled something about how he wouldn’t stand for continued voting and threatened plans to get his Supreme Court to confirm his reign.  My attempts at humor aside, Trump’s words were frightening so much so that even a few Republicans, only a few, such as Chris Christie who looks like he still hasn’t recovered from his Trump induced COVID called Trump’s decision to prematurely call victory “Bad.”  Bad is an understatement. As to the Supreme Court, they might get called in to rule on whether or not late arriving Pennsylvania ballots get counted, but even with Judge Amy on board no one expects them to stop the counting of ballots that arrived on time and anyway, no one is still voting, that ship has sailed. 

Senate and House: Regardless of what happens on the presidential front, and it’s still reasonable to believe that Biden will eventually emerge on top not to discount lots of Trump complaints, threats and a few suits, it looks increasingly likely that the Senate will remain in Republican hands.  Mitch McConnell easily won his reelection bid, as did Lindsey Graham. Though it’s not yet a done deal it look like those sexts and affairs caught up with North Carolina’s Cal Cunningham, Republican Thom Tillis is all but certain to be returning to the Senate.  Sadly but not surprisingly, my personal favorite Alabama’s Doug Jones was beaten badly by former football coach/hedge fund fraudster Republican Tommy Tuberville.  On a positive note, Arizona astronaut Mark Kelly beat Republican Martha McSally and former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper beat Republican Corey Gardner. Susan Collin’s chances of returning to her role as Senate pearl clutcher remain up in the air.  As of now she has slightly less than 50% of the Maine vote, assuming that her tally remains below 50%, as a result of Maine’s ranked voting system, votes will be recomputed allocating voters’ second choice selections to the totals so its too early to count Democrat Sara Gideon out.  Then there is Georgia, where nothing is decided yet.  At last count Republican Senator David Perdue, has a smidge over 50% of the vote, enough to avoid a run off against his main rival Democrat Jon Ossoff but not all the votes are in yet from the state’s Democrat leaning areas. The other Georgia Senate race will definitely go to a run off with Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler facing Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock.  With all the focus on the presidential and Senate races, the House races have gotten short shrift.  As of now  a few seats have changed hands but the overall balance looks the same with Democrats retaining their margin of control but given that back in 2018 quite a few seats weren’t decided for several weeks, expect some changes, not in overall control, but in individual seats before the month is out.  

Other Shenanigans:  Like most of us, US District Judge Emmet Sullivan, the same judge who has waged a war on the Justice Department over their Michael Flynn games, is not happy with Postmaster Louis DeJoy.  He ordered the USPS to rush delivery of around 300,000 scanned mail-in ballots that have been left hanging in piles around various and sundry post offices throughout the country, mostly in swingy states like Pennsylvania.  DeJoy has resisted.  Sullivan isn’t happy.  A hearing is scheduled for later today. 

By the time you read this, the election results will probably have changed so stay tuned.  You are on your own for the rest of the day. 

I am so tired, of this year, the virus, the election and Trump. #BigSigh