With less than a week left until the election, many of us are still counting down the days until this seemingly endless campaign ends. As the days pass, the chaos and carnage of the campaign seem to be accelerating. The coverage of the race has taken on a frenetic and frenetic quality that will only accelerate and intensify until every vote is counted (and possibly recounted) and the election is over.
I’m exhausted, you probably are too, and the campaigns are running on adrenaline, but we’re not done yet.
In the past few days, novel revelations have emerged. FBI Director James Comey sent a letter to Congress on Friday to notify that FBI agents “have learned of the existence of emails that appear to be relevant to the investigation” into Secretary Clinton’s personal email server.
On Monday, in a novel batch of WikiLeaks emails, it emerged that Donna Brazile, the current interim chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (then a CNN commentator), had emailed Clinton campaign chairman John D. Podesta and Clinton campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri with information about the Democratic nomination process to assist Clinton debate Bernie Sanders.
Subject: “One of the questions for HRC tomorrow comes from a woman with a rash.” At the next Democratic primary debate, both Clinton and Sanders were asked a similar question. At the time of the email, the DNC chairwoman was Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Wasserman Schultz resigned in July after leaked emails revealed that top DNC aides were trying to defeat Sanders in his bid for the Democratic nomination.
It will be compelling to see if Brazile resigns as well, or if the fact that she, too, worked to secure Clinton’s nomination will be glossed over because of the tight general election schedule. Brazile and CNN have severed ties.
In response, the Clinton campaign is attacking Comey for his timing and noting that Brazile’s emails were hacked. Attacking the FBI may not be the best way to convince the public that your candidate is worthy of their votes. And the Clinton campaign’s response that the emails were private amounts doesn’t address the issue — that the former first lady’s campaign tried to rig the primary process.
Where are we now? We’ll stick with voters. The question is this: who will actually show up, take the time, and vote in the 2016 election.
According to the website Real Clear Politics, states that are secure, probable, or leaning toward Clinton have a combined 259 electoral votes, while states that are secure, probable, or leaning toward Trump have a combined 164 electoral votes. That’s their theoretical ceiling. Clinton 259, Trump 164. Remember, it takes 270 to win.
The 10 states in the toss-up category total 115 electoral votes. These states and their electoral votes are: Ohio (18), Florida (29), North Carolina (15), Nevada (6), Iowa (6), New Hampshire (4), Georgia (16), Colorado (9), Arizona (11), Maine (1).
In the Senate race, there are 47 secure or unfilled seats for Republicans and 47 secure or unfilled seats for Democrats. The six seats in the toss-up category are Indiana, where Evan Bayh, D, is running against Todd Young, R; Pennsylvania, where Katie McGinty, D, is running against incumbent Pat Toomy, R; Nevada, where Joe Heck, R, is ramming Catherine Cortes Masto, D; North Carolina, where Deborah Ross, D, is running against incumbent Richard Burr, R; New Hampshire, where Maggie Hassan, D, is running against incumbent Kelly Ayotte, R; and Missouri, where Jason Kandor, D, is running against incumbent Roy Blunt, R.
Three states appear on both lists: Nevada, North Carolina, and New Hampshire. Voters in those states will be bombarded with ads and commercials from now until Election Day. All four are in the Eastern Time Zone, but vote counting in those states could last until delayed election night.
While there could be some novel surprises in November this week, the election is likely to be decided in several states, and voting (and recounting) may not take place until the next morning.
More than a year ago, during the first Democratic debate, Sanders said people were tired of hearing about Clinton’s “damn emails.” I suspect Sanders might have reacted differently if he had known then what we know now.
