Two Weeks To Go

BallotOctober 22, 2024 (Vol. 18 No. 44) - Down the stretch they come!!! The quadrennial horse race we call the presidential election is reaching its final stages. However, the horse racing metaphor doesn't really work here. This year's race for the White House has been more like a blood feud. And, as it has been since the turn of the century, the outcome is going to depend on GOTV - Get Out The Vote. Based on reports across the country, advance voting suggests that this year's turnout will exceed 2020's record turnout of 158 million. However, we have to remember that 2020 was a COVID year with a different dynamic, altogether. Who will a higher early turnout favor? In 2020, it clearly favored the Democrats. But this year, who knows? The Republican nominee, who saw advanced voting as fraudulent, this year has been sending his supporters mixed messages. (I wonder if he really thinks whoever is leading the vote count at midnight Election Night would be declared the winner?) All indications are that the margin of victory this year is going to be razor thin. And there is still plenty of time for an "October surprise," such as an escalation of the war in the Middle East or (God forbid) a terrorist attack someplace. In the meantime, Failure 45 appears to have run off the rails, using profanity this past weekend to describe Vice President Harris and engaging in a vulgar description of golfing great Arnold Palmer's manhood. Even more disgusting is the continuing deliberate misinformation about FEMA's hurricane disaster relief efforts in western North Carolina. (No one, including Republican office holders in the affected states, support the Defeated Former President's characterizations.) There has been an ongoing chorus of psychatric professionals who question the aging candidate's sanity. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris has told her voters to cast their ballots on November 5. The Count of Mar-a-Lardo told his to vote on January 5. I'm fine with that. That's it for now. Fear the Turtle.