The prevailing mood on Saturday morning is one of frustration. Joe Biden leads in Pennsylvania, in Arizona, in Georgia, and in Nevada. In all of those states, his advantage seems unassailable. While some political analysts, and even foreign media organizations, have declared Biden the winner, neither the Associated Press or any of the major U.S. networks has stepped up to make the call.
On Friday evening, Biden spoke to the nation in a brief address that acknowledged the tedium of watching the numbers change in fits and starts, knowing that when they stop, they will give him the White House. Biden expressed confidence in that eventual outcome, and called out the list of states that he believes will fall into his column, but didn’t directly claim victory. He did say that he hopes to speak to the nation again today, when hopefully the call will finally be made.
Overnight, reporting of new numbers slowed down, but everything that did happen was favorable to Biden. The nation is really at a point where it’s not just frustrating, but irresponsible for the networks to hold off on their call, since Donald Trump is filling the lull by encouraging conspiracy theories and fueling potential violence. Here’s where things stand on Saturday morning:
Alaska: Nothing changed on Friday. Nothing changed on Thursday, either. There are still about half the votes in the state waiting out there, and no clear date when they’ll arrive.
Arizona: Biden’s edge in Arizona fell from 38,455 on Friday morning, to 29,861 on Saturday. That may not seem like a good thing. However, that change came as a large mass of votes were counted that Trump’s team had been hoping would push him, if not into the lead, at least very close to Biden. But those votes did not lean toward Trump has much as he needed to change the outcome in Arizona. In fact, with each passing day, the votes being counted in Arizona have leaned less toward Trump. There are still thought to be around 170,000 votes to be counted in the state, including provisional ballots. But at this point, it doesn’t seem like AP or Fox, who called the state for Biden early, are going to need to update that decision.
Georgia: An early morning set of votes extended Biden’s lead in the state to 7,248. There are still some outstanding provisional ballots, but more of them are from Biden-leaning areas than anywhere else, and it’s unclear how many of those ballots will actually end up going in. Georgia is still in recount range, and the “official” numbers are unlikely to come before (brace yourself) early December. But Biden’s edge is well beyond the type of margin likely to be affected by any sort of recount, and there’s no reason that media organizations can’t go ahead and make this call. None.
Nevada: Biden’s edge has grown to 22,657. With 90% of remaining votes in Democratic-leaning Clark County, this state may be the lock among locks for Biden. Why don’t the networks call it? Because if either AP or Fox called Nevada, that would put Biden at 270. Also, we might all stop watching for a few minutes and turn on a movie.
North Carolina: No real change. Tiny updates came in on Friday. Trump is still likely to hold onto the state.
Pennsylvania: Biden’s lead in Pennsylvania has grown to 28,833, placing him just short of the 0.5% edge that would take the state out of recount range. Biden’s lead survived, and even grew, on Friday despite votes arriving from areas that Trump supporters had hoped would reverse the trends in the state. There are still as many as 83,000 votes to be counted in Pennsylvania, including provisional votes. But those votes are almost all in Biden-leaning areas.
The fastest route to seeing Joe Biden take the stage again is probably seeing the edge in Pennsylvania continue to grow. If it extends above 30,000, and especially above 40,000, it will take the race out of the point where the state would cover the cost of a recount. That might finally give the networks what they need to stop milking this thing for all it’s worth.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump shares deep thoughts.
Source: Daily Kos
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