Thursday 5 November 2020

Democracy sucks (well, US-style democracy)

 In my last post I stated my "wish list":

So here's my wish list.

1) Biden takes Arizona (11), Florida (29), Pennsylvania (20), Georgia (16), and Texas (38). This will be my Bingo card. I expect I will be disappointed by Texas and Georgia. Maybe even more.

2) Graham loses his Senate seat. Again, with a 77% chance of him winning, this is a wish, more than a hope. I am almost sure to be disappointed.

3) And I would like to see Mitch ditched. But he has a 96% chance of being re-elected. So, doubt it will happen. But it's on my wish list.

As at midnight of the 5 Nov (Thursday morning), Biden has won Arizona. 

But Trump has taken Florida and Texas.

So I am not going to get "Bingo" on my 5 state wish list.

Biden has 238 electoral votes as predicted (though the make-up of the 238 may not be the same as the prediction), and Trump has 213. Biden is short by 32, and Trump is short by 57.

There are about 90 votes left to be picked up and the count has been paused for the night in some states.

(Those lazy bastards! In SG, we count until we're done!)

Biden is likely to take Michigan, with 16 Electoral votes. If so he would just need another 16 votes to clinch the presidency. 

Pennsylvania with 20 votes could do it. The bad news is that Trump is currently leading in the count there with over 60% of the votes counted. However, there is a whole lot of mail-in ballots still to be counted, and most of those votes may go towards Biden.

Georgia has 16 votes. But Georgia is a traditionally Red (Republican) state. Biden is slightly favoured to win, but polls have been wrong and the count is tight and too close to call at this time, though Trump is ahead on the count.

North Carolina has 15 votes. But the count has so far been close, with Trump ahead slightly.

Wisconsin has 10 votes. Biden is slightly ahead, but no official call yet.

Nevada with 6 votes has Biden in a slight lead, but still too close to call. 

Biden's path to 270, could be Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nevada. Or Pennsylvania.

Anyway, as I set myself up for disappointment, I did not get my "Bingo Card". Trump took Texas and Florida. I expect he would take Georgia too.

I also wanted Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham to lose their senate seats. They kept their seats. Quite comfortably.

The polls predicted that the Democrats would take control of the Senate. I hear they are not going to.

So in a weeks time, we may find that Trump has another 4 more years to try to Make America Grate Again Again.


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