Joe Biden

I've been seeing post-election discussions where some say that Democrats need to do a better job of understanding those who voted for Donald Trump, a group that currently stands at 47% of the electorate, about 73,100,000 voters. OK. That's a laudable goal, so long as Republicans make an comparable effort to better understand those of us who voted for Joe Biden, 51% of the electorate, about 78,700,000 voters. Since I voted for Biden, I'll help Republicans out by sharing my current state of mind about the election. I'm really happy that Biden won. What concerns me is that more than 73…

I'm an optimist. Usually. After Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election on November 7, I figured that it was time to relax, chill out, and watch the peaceful transition of power from Trump to Biden that would take place between then and Biden's inauguration on January 20, 2021. Sure, I knew that Trump wouldn't concede gracefully. Maybe not at all. No big deal, I thought. There's no way Trump could succeed in overturning the will of the voters.  But after looking at my Twitter feed this morning, and reading a bunch of "red alert" warnings from knowledgeable…

Last Tuesday was tough for progressives like me. Sure, I knew that mail-in ballots, largely from Democrats, were going to take a while to count, and in-person voting on election day would be dominated by Republicans. But knowing is one thing. Emotions are a whole other thing.  I worried that somehow Trump would pull out another close victory like he did in 2016. Wednesday I felt better as Trump's lead in battleground states began to shrink. Thursday, even better.  And today, Friday, I'm feeling damn fine!  Now starts the fun part -- basking in the warm glow of Biden's almost…

With six days to go, it seems like the right time for me to make a presidential election prediction. Close enough to feel confident in the prediction, not so close as to be accused of waiting until the last moment when the pre-election cards have all been dealt face up. But I'm going farther, into a prediction of not only what will happen, but how the post-election period will go -- with a bang or a whimper? As a progressive, I understand why many in my political tribe are agonizing over all sorts of dire election possibilities. Some of this…

The real winner of tonight's Trump-Biden debate is everyone who's glad there's no more debates. Which definitely includes me.  Sure, I enjoy debates. But I'm ready for the election. This debate marks the beginning of the home stretch toward November 3. I'm eager for that day to come, especially if, as I both suspect and hope, Biden defeats Trump. Nothing I saw tonight changes my opinion about Biden being the clear favorite to become the next president. Currently FiveThirtyEight places the odds of this happening at 87%.  It's hard to see how Trump's non-disastrous performance in this second debate, a…

It wasn't a mistake for ABC and NBC to hold town halls with Joe Biden and Donald Trump on the same night, at the same time. I thought it would be, but thanks to my DVR, I was able to watch the hour with Trump, then the hour and a half with Biden. I appreciated the immediate stark contrast. Once again, Biden was the clear winner of the debate that wasn't, yet in a a way, was. The most obvious way Biden won was that he made no glaring mistakes, whereas Trump did. Supposedly Biden is the one who makes verbal…

At 1:14 pm today Joe Biden personally texted me with the news that he's chosen Kamala Harris as his running mate. Thank you, Joe! I appreciated being the first to know, along with the millions of other people who had recently texted FIRST to 30330. The news lifted my spirits for the rest of the day. Well, along with doing some marijuana shopping this afternoon. Along that line, Harris apparently now is in favor of marijuana legalization. Hopefully she can bring President Biden along on this issue. Not that I'm counting my presidential election chicken before it is hatched.  Even though…