(Updated 9 p.m. PST 11-4-20). Hours after Donald Trump's pre-dawn bid to preempt the election, Joe Biden captured Michigan and Wisconsin while leading Nevada, as more mail-in ballots were counted in those crucial states -- affording him a clear pathway to the 270 Electoral Votes needed to win the presidency.
At post time, the authoritative Associated Press count showed:
Joe Biden 264 Electoral Votes
Donald Trump 214 Electoral Votes
The count by the venerable news organization includes projected Biden wins in Arizona, Michigan and and Wisconsin -- while the Democratic nominee leads raw vote counts in Nevada (6 EVs), which would give him the final 6 votes in the Electoral College needed to give him the minimum number needed to win.
The Biden campaign said they also remain optimistic about winning Pennsylvania's 20 Electoral Votes. Trump currently enjoys a 165K vote lead in the popular vote, which steadily dwindled through Wednesday, as election officials began to tally nearly 1.5 million mail-in ballots, which have been favoring the Democrat 8-to-1. Trump's once large lead in Georgia and (16 EVs) also shrunk steadily as election officials counted mail ballots.
The new numbers emerged throughout the day, after Trump claimed victory in a bizarre White House appearance at 2:20 a.m EST, calling the continued counting of legally-cast ballots "a fraud on the American public."
His rant capped a months-long crusade to taint millions of mail-in ballots in states which typically rely on the voting method, or which expanded the usage of mail voting because of restrictions caused by the pandemic.
By creating a fake narrative that he had won, while millions of votes remained uncounted, Trump was seeking to frame Biden's late surge as fraudulent and define him as illegitimate for the 40 percent of voters who live in the Fox News bubble, even before his term begins.
"It was outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect," Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon said of Trump's attempt to spread doubt about the legitimacy of the election among his followers, calling it "a naked effort to take away the democratic rights of American citizens."
The legal mafia. Although Biden is poised to meet the requirement for election, it is certain that Trump and his attorneys will spend weeks creating distractions and blasting noise into the political atmosphere while desperately seeking friendly judges -- Trump vowed early Wednesday to take the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Among his legal army is Santa Barbara Republican activist and attorney Mike Stoker, who flow back East over the weekend in anticipation of a post-election battle.
Objecting to a Newsmakers headline accusing Trump of trying to "steal the election," Stoker emailed to say, "You cannot steal an election by going to court."
You're right Mike, "hijack" is really the mot juste.
Stoker also sent notes on key states where Biden is leading, saying this is "realistically what could happen."
"WI: It is within 1%. That is recount territory. "MI: Outlying GOP counties still to be counted. Confident in a pathway that includes MI. "PA: 5 big pro-Trump counties still have ballots to count. The team's math adds up to 40,000-vote win even if Biden gets 95% of outstanding ballots in Philadelphia "NV: Late-breaking mail gets Trump a win by a margin of 5,500." He also challenged the decision by both the AP and Fox News to put Arizona (11 Electoral Votes) in Biden's column,
"AZ: Very much still in play. According to the NYT an error in an Edison Research data feed of results ... the actual estimate is that 86% of the vote has been counted — not 95%+. Donald Trump projected to keep pulling 2:1 of remaining votes. The state was called too early. There is still a pathway that includes AZ."
Brutum fulmen, bro.
Shocking postal problems (Not). In a related development, a federal court filing, in a case being heard by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, showed that the U.S. Postal Service failed to deliver huge numbers of mail-in ballots in time for Election Day in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, among other states where small margins separate Trump and Biden.
"In central Pennsylvania, just 61.3% of the mail-ballots in the postal system were delivered on time, the court filing shows. In Philadelphia, slightly more than 66% of the mail-in ballots had been delivered on Election Day...
"Detroit postal facilities reported less than 79% percent of mail-in ballots delivered that day...
"And in Lakeland, Wisconsin, slightly less than 77% of such ballots were delivered, the filing revealed...
“Someone may have a price to pay for that,” said Sullivan..."
So there's that.
Images: The Joker (oozlemedia.com); Stoker (SB Independent); Judge Sullivan (emptywheel.net).
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