2020 Democratic Primaries/General Election Thread

[stevew]

Dammit, I missed Rudy on a live mic.

[Butter]

Georgia is now 50/50 on the betting market.

[timmynausea]

Offshore betting markets now have Biden's chances > 86%.

Also seeing Pennsylvania ~73% and Georgia ~45% for Biden.

[Ben E Lou]

Dear 6lb-8oz Baby Jesus, I thank thee for the small things in life---like the fact that this happened somewhere other than the South.

NEW: A conspiracy theorist wearing a t-shirt that says "BBQ, Beer, Freedom" interrupts a press conference by the Clark County, Nevada Registrar of Voters. [KSNV-TV] #Election2020 pic.twitter.com/Rz2FgK38vZ

— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) November 4, 2020

[GrantDawg]

I so want to be excited, but I can't. Without winning the Senate, it is a very hollow victory. When the ACA gets overturned by the Supreme Court, I am going to lose my health insurance with no way to replace it. McConnell is never going to allow a replacement through the Senate. I am screwed.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[JPhillips]

What the fuck is this nonsense?

We have claimed, for Electoral Vote purposes, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (which won’t allow legal observers) the State of Georgia, and the State of North Carolina, each one of which has a BIG Trump lead. Additionally, we hereby claim the State of Michigan if, in fact,.....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

What the fuck is this nonsense?

We have claimed, for Electoral Vote purposes, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (which won’t allow legal observers) the State of Georgia, and the State of North Carolina, each one of which has a BIG Trump lead. Additionally, we hereby claim the State of Michigan if, in fact,.....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020

SHOTGUN!

[whomario]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

What the fuck is this nonsense?

We have claimed, for Electoral Vote purposes, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (which won’t allow legal observers) the State of Georgia, and the State of North Carolina, each one of which has a BIG Trump lead. Additionally, we hereby claim the State of Michigan if, in fact,.....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020

Wait, is this like the election version of "dibs" ?

[GrantDawg]

I have claimed I actually own Amazon.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[ISiddiqui]

308,114 lead in PA with still 84% of the votes counted (additional votes from Montgomery County).

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

What the fuck is this nonsense?

We have claimed, for Electoral Vote purposes, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (which won’t allow legal observers) the State of Georgia, and the State of North Carolina, each one of which has a BIG Trump lead. Additionally, we hereby claim the State of Michigan if, in fact,.....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020

It's what wannabe fascists do

[jbergey22]

He is such a moron...Thank god his days are numbered.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

He is such a moron...Thank god his days are numbered.

He is definitely a moron. If he was smart, he would have claimed Hawaii and finally gotten the proof for Obama's birth certificate.

[bronconick]

I'm hereby claiming Hawaii. I want some warm weather

[Arles]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

308,114 lead in PA with still 84% of the votes counted (additional votes from Montgomery County).

Wow, Biden could pull this off! I really hope he wins AZ, NV and PA just to put a stake through the heart of the Trump chaos machine.

[Ben E Lou]

Twitter has already put a fact check thingy on his “hereby claim” nonsense.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

He is definitely a moron. If he was smart, he would have claimed Hawaii and finally gotten the proof for Obama's birth certificate.

LMAO!

[Jas_lov]

What happens if Biden only gets to 270 and Trump bribes one elector to switch?

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Jas_lov

What happens if Biden only gets to 270 and Trump bribes one elector to switch?

I was wondering this also. But it sure seems like Pennsylvania is going to end up in the Biden column when the votes are finished.

[Arles]

[sovereignstar v2]

Haha nice @Arles

[cuervo72]

Jeez, I never realized Metcalf was eight feet tall.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Jas_lov

What happens if Biden only gets to 270 and Trump bribes one elector to switch?

Washington state set precident in 2016 and the SC backed them in saying states can force electors to vote with the will of the people.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Washington state set precident in 2016 and the SC backed them in saying states can force electors to vote with the will of the people.

Pennsylvania is one of the states that does not force their electors to vote the way the state goes, fwiw.

[whomario]

"Both the Biden and Trump campaign are expressing confidence in their odds"

Way to both-side this ****, CBS. (And yes, i know they then went more in depth after that but that is still just weird in a summary of events)

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Dear 6lb-8oz Baby Jesus, I thank thee for the small things in life---like the fact that this happened somewhere other than the South.

NEW: A conspiracy theorist wearing a t-shirt that says "BBQ, Beer, Freedom" interrupts a press conference by the Clark County, Nevada Registrar of Voters. [KSNV-TV] #Election2020 pic.twitter.com/Rz2FgK38vZ
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) November 4, 2020

I love how a significant number of replies are "He's a plant! He's a false flag to make the Trumpers look stupid!"

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I love how a significant number of replies are "He's a plant! He's a false flag to make the Trumpers look stupid!"

SI

"Love"

SI

[sabotai]

Here's a list of states and their faithless elector laws.

Faithless Elector State Laws - FairVote

[Ben E Lou]

PA under 300K

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

I so want to be excited, but I can't. Without winning the Senate, it is a very hollow victory. When the ACA gets overturned by the Supreme Court, I am going to lose my health insurance with no way to replace it. McConnell is never going to allow a replacement through the Senate. I am screwed.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

I hope this is wrong, but...

They're going to do nothing for 2 years with a weak economy and lose perfectly winnable Senate races in 2022. Mitch is going to obstruct the crap out of everything: cabinet, judiciary, etc - since there's clearly no electoral penalty. The Supreme Court is going to start knocking down everything we think they will from ACA to abortion access. And, as a bonus, they're going to start dismantling the administrative state so Biden can't do much from the Executive Branch. This all sets up for a 2024 nightmare with a Cotton or Hawley or, Christ, Tucker Carlson or whoever who can sweep the election and be like a competent(-ish) Trump and put our Democracy out of its misery.

SI

[cuervo72]

It's interesting that our ABC affiliate - owned by Sinclair - hasn't marked WI or MI for Biden. (But has for AZ.)

[ISiddiqui]

PA is now at 300,331 lead with 85% counted (according to NYT). Philadelphia County still at 70% counted.

edit: Now 292,412.. these are Allegany County votes, where Pittsburgh is.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

If I'm a Republican strategist who doesn't care about anything else, I'm all in on Trumpism. I view this as positively as a loss can be viewed and I'm more bullish on the future of the party than I have been since at a minimum 2004.

I see an incompetent blowhard who might have just become modern America's most successful one-term president from the political side. There's never been a better example of media bias to trumpet than this just-completed election. What previous Republican presidents failed to accomplish in terms of addressing the party expanding demographically by more sensible and traditional methods, Trump achieved. Turning away from that now would just alienate a whole raft of voters.

Going forward then, you hammer home the idea that if everything didn't conspire against him, Trump would have won. Despite all of his flaws, he connected. Protests against his election in '16 starting the day after by people who didn't even vote. Calls for impeachment before his inauguration and eventual impeachment proceedings on charges most people couldn't understand much less care about - there was never any silver bullet. The least support from his party's establishment and worst media coverage of any modern president by several orders of magnitude, pandemic, recession, and still he almost won.

Viewing Biden as a one-term target in 2024, you're looking for Trump Lite - somebody who is brash, takes no prisoners, in your face on the offense all the time, shunning irrelevancies like dignity of the office and traditional norms, but somebody who also knows how to park it when necessary. This kind of candidate could consolidate and retain these gains, and win in almost any other political environment. You don't have to worry about the federal judiciary moving back in the wrong direction - the Senate will ensure the best Biden can do is replace liberals with moderates. Help them if they want to nominate a SCOTUS justice anytime after the '22 midterms.

People like Bush, Rubio, nevermind Kasich etc. are the party's past. Going forward anyone more traditional or mainstream than Cruz is too weak to be your standard-bearer. Isolationism, strong borders, fighting back against the ivy tower know-nothing elites that constantly spit on the values of ordinary Americans and whose propaganda drumbeat only barely was enough to get Biden in office, keep the socialists out, etc.

These will all of course be exaggerated to the nines, but there are elements of truth in all of them to sell to independents when you remove the unnecessary negatives of a candidate like Trump. If I'm a purely politically-oriented strategist, I look at this situation and I see a winning Republican future.

I agree with with everything you have wrote here.

The equivalent on the other side would not make it past the third primary because we go high blah blah blah.

[Ghost Econ]

I know he's easy to make fun of, but this is the President of the Fucking United States saying he doesnt care what the votes say and he's calling dibs. And an entire party is just saying, fuck yeah.

I honestly don't want to think how much more embarrassing this can get.

[timmynausea]

Georgia margin down to 60k.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

I know he's easy to make fun of, but this is the President of the Fucking United States saying he doesnt care what the votes say and he's calling dibs. And an entire party is just saying, fuck yeah.

I honestly don't want to think how much more embarrassing this can get.

My guess is, they now know that they can completely shit the bed and their supporters are more than happy to take a nap in it with them.

[ISiddiqui]

277k vote lead in PA. Still 85% of the vote counted.

[SirFozzie]

Copying this from FB, just my thoughts on the process, not the results.



On another friend's FB page I suggested that if "I made the rules", I'd require all folks with federal decision making industry (Basically elective positions from president down to congressmen, as well as those with a significant decision making/procurement ability at the various national departments) are required to put their significant financial holdings in a blind trust during their service.

More things I would do if I was supreme rules-maker for the US.

1) Universal Vote-By-Mail option.
2) Allow early counting of mail in ballots (not publicly but have it all plugged in and ready to go online the second polls start being counted.
3) Make voting a paid holiday. I think that this was the highest vote total ever, and the greatest percentage of possible votes in a century, and I think that while It fell short of the RESULT I wanted, that it was good that as many people as possible of all political striped got their say.

I'm not calling for a REVOLUTION of voting method, just an evolution. Fix the holes (whether you consider them errors of omission or comission), and make it better for all Americans. "E Pluribus, Unum" (Out of many, one)

Other things: I would like there to be an interstate national compact, so that every American can feel like their votes count (from the Trump supporter in the deepest blue state, to the Biden supporter in the reddest state), but realize that truly is States Rights. So that's something I'd like, but wouldn't mandate if "I made the rules".

Same with Term Limits. I think there's a bunch of lobbyists who can be the real power brokers, and limiting Congressmen to two terms would just mean the Lobbyists would become MORE of a shadow government as they guide the "newbies" on "how things are done". So I support it in theory, but in practice? Not so much.

Why do I support term limits for Presidents but not Congresscritters? Because there's 400+ Representatives, 100 Senators, but only one President. A fish rots from the head down.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Trump is up by 68k votes in Georgia now with 94% of the vote in. Still have 10-12% we are waiting on from Dekalb, Cobb, Clayton, Muscogee, Richmond and Chatham counties. Fulton and Douglass seem to be fully counted.

~58K

[JPhillips]

“A lawsuit without provable facts showing a statutory or constitutional violation is just a tweet with a filing fee,” said Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

lol

[Ben E Lou]

NV now releasing more results tonight. Race could be called this evening.

[molson]

[whomario]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Same with Term Limits. I think there's a bunch of lobbyists who can be the real power brokers, and limiting Congressmen to two terms would just mean the Lobbyists would become MORE of a shadow government as they guide the "newbies" on "how things are done". So I support it in theory, but in practice? Not so much.
.

Wouldnt this be partly curtailed by at least some semblance of sanity re: campaign contributions/money in politics ? Many of your senate races have more money in TV ads alone than is spend im total for everything (not all advertising, but truly everything) in the entirety of the german national election by all 6 nationally operating parties.

[SirFozzie]

I think it would be a lot harder to get money out of politics, now that it's got its foot in the door, so to speak.

[albionmoonlight]

So go the other way.

Any party that got more than [X]% of the vote in the prior election gets federal funding.

Make it big enough that the marginal value of campaign donations is reduced.

[SirFozzie]

But how do you regulate the "dark money" to things like SuperPACs etcetera. In some cases, they dwarf the official campaign spending,

[Arles]

Live look at the White House bunker where Trump is trying to stop the counting of ballots.

The internet remains undefeated... pic.twitter.com/nd79MMYSuS

— Rex Chapman���� (@RexChapman) November 4, 2020

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by Arles

Live look at the White House bunker where Trump is trying to stop the counting of ballots.

The internet remains undefeated... pic.twitter.com/nd79MMYSuS

— Rex Chapman���� (@RexChapman) November 4, 2020

Oh man, that was like watching a Stephen Miller home movie.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

I know he's easy to make fun of, but this is the President of the Fucking United States saying he doesnt care what the votes say and he's calling dibs. And an entire party is just saying, fuck yeah.

I honestly don't want to think how much more embarrassing this can get.

Embarrassing for whom?

[larrymcg421]

Why did Gideon concede? Collins is only at 50.3%