Tuesday, November 3, 2020

I tracked MSNBC’s Decision 2020’s coverage of the election; tuning in at around 7:00pm and staying up until a half hour after 2:00am; spending an evening with Rachel Madow, Joy Reid, and Nicole Wallace. It should not be overlooked: Steve Kornacki did work at the big board. In particular, his ability to interpret the votes as they were coming in county-by-county and then comparing those results to the 2016 Clinton / Trump race was helpful, as the numbers offered a sense of ground that Biden had made up from 2016, or ––– in the case of Miami-Dade County in Florida, had lost.

In order to skip past commercials, I had the blessing of watching the coverage about fifteen minutes behind from real time –––– hence, the call-times that are listed below are a few minutes behind when they were actually called live. While Brian Williams’ calls of projected outcomes had a way of generating small waves of suspense and excitement just before the screen shifted to a visual of what looked like Rockefeller Plaza –––– one half blue, and the other half red, as for the actual results, there were no surprises. Often the projections amounted to “Too Early to Call,” and “Too close to call.”

And with the exception of the Nebraska’s second congressional, the only electoral college vote that Biden, as of last night, was able to flip from Trump, the states that had voted Republican in 2016 were voting red again in 2020. But this is part of what made the night interesting: North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania are all missing from this list below; as not one of those states were projected by MSNBC last night.

The highlight for me was watching Joe Biden deliver remarks from Wilmington, Delaware; which I started watching at 1:02am and transcribed below. In my mind, he said everything that he needed to say, and he said it with just enough confidence and calm.

The President spoke about an hour later; and by then, I had nodded off and slipped into and out of sleep at least once or twice. It was a blessing to still be fifteen minutes behind MSNB’s coverage. As when Trump approached the podium of the East Wing, I was quite lucky: pressing the “15sec > forward” button frequently. Everything he said was nonsense, though much closer to frightening and dangerous ––– more than hinting at an intent to incite civil discourse and violence on account of an inability for state governments to count hundreds of thousands of votes within three to five hours And I was glad to turn off the last remaining light in my apartment, close my laptop, and actively decide to go to bed without hearing him speak; instead, having Vice President Biden’s remarks making a deeper impression in my heart and mind:

“And folks, you heard me say it before: every time I’d walk out of my grandpa’s house up in Scranton he’d yell, ‘Joey, keep the faith.’ And then my grandma, she would be laughing and she would always say, ‘No, Joey, spread it.’

Keep the faith guys, we’re going to win this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Your patience is great.”

7:07pm - Indiana (11): - Donald J. Trump (11);

7:19pm - Vermont (3): - Joseph R. Biden (3);

7:44pm - Kentucky (8): - Donald J. Trump (19);

8:00pm - New Jersey (14): - Joseph R. Biden (17);

8:00pm - Massachusetts (11): - Joseph R. Biden (28);

8:00pm - Maryland (10): - Joseph R. Biden (38);

8:00pm - Oklahoma (7): - Donald J. Trump (26);

8:00pm - Delaware (3): - Joseph R. Biden (41);

8:00pm - District of Columbia (3): - Joseph R. Biden (44);

8:15pm - Tennessee (11): - Donald J. Trump (37)

8:23pm - West Virginia (5): - Donald J. Trump (42);

8:23pm - Connecticut (7): - Joseph R. Biden (51);

8:51pm - Arkansas (6): - Donald J. Trump (48);

9:01pm - New York (29): - Joseph R. Biden (80);

9:10pm - South Dakota (3): - Donald J. Trump (51);

9:20pm - Colorado (9): - Joseph R. Biden (89);

9:24pm - North Dakota (3): - Donald J. Trump (54);

9:30pm - Alabama (9): - Donald J. Trump (63);

9:33pm - South Carolina (9): - Donald J. Trump (72);

10:10pm - New Mexico (5): - Joseph R. Biden (94);

10:21pm - Louisiana (8): - Donald J. Trump (80)

10:21pm - Kansas (6): - Donald J. Trump (86);

10:23pm - New Hampshire (4): - Joseph R. Biden (98);

10:40pm - Utah (6): - Donald J. Trump (92);

10:45pm - Missouri (10): - Donald J. Trump (102);

10:51pm - Illinois (20): - Joseph R. Biden - (118);

10:56pm - Nebraska (west) (5 split electoral votes) - Donald J. Trump (105);

11:00pm - Mississippi (6) - Donald J. Trump (111);

11:00pm - Wyoming (3) - Donald J. Trump (114);

11:07pm - California (55) - Joseph R. Biden (173);

11:10pm - Oregon (7) - Joseph R. Biden (180);

11:11pm - Washington (12) - Joseph R. Biden (192);

12:05am - Ohio (18) - Donald J. Trump (132);

12:11am - Idaho (4) - Donald J. Trump (136);

12:12am - Virginia (13) - Joseph R. Biden - (205);

12:50am - Florida (29) - Donald J. Trump - (165);

______________________________

1:02am

Joe Biden - A Message from Delaware:

Hello to Delaware!

Hello! Hello! Hello!

Good evening:

Your patience is commendable. We knew this was going to go long, but who knew we were going to go maybe into tomorrow morning, and maybe into longer, but look: we feel good about where we are. We really do.

I am here to tell you tonight, we believe w’re on track to win this election. We knew, because of the unprecedented early vote and the mail-in vote, that it was going to take a while. And we’re going to have to be patient until the hard work of tallying votes is finished. And it ain’t over until every vote is counted; and until every ballot is counted.

But we’re feeling good. We’re feeling good about where we are. One of the networks has already suggested that we’ve won Arizona, and we’re confident about Arizona ––– that’s a turn-around. It was also just called for us winning Minnesota. And we’re still in the game in Georgia; although that’s not what we expected.

We’re feeling really good about Wisconsin and Michigan. And by the way, it’s going to take time to count the votes, but we’re going to win Pennsylvania. I’ve been talking to folks in Philly, Allegheny County, and Scranton, and they’re really encouraged by the turnout and what they’ve seen.

Look, we can know the results by as early as tomorrow morning, but it may take a little longer. As I’ve said all along, it’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to declare who has won this election –––– that’s the decision of the American people. But I’m optimistic about this outcome. And I want to thank every one of you who came out and voted during this election.

And by the way, Chris Coons, the Democrat, congratulations here in Delaware. Hey, John! You’re the gov! The whole team, man; you’ve done a great job. I’m grateful to the poll-workers, to our volunteers, to our canvassers, everyone who participated in this democratic process. And I’m grateful to all of my supporters –––– here in Delaware and across the nation. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

And folks, you heard me say it before: every time I’d walk out of my grandpa’s house up in Scranton he’d yell, “Joey, keep the faith.” And then my grandma, she would be laughing and she would always say, “No, Joey, spread it.”

Keep the faith guys, we’re going to win this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Your patience is great.

______________________________

1:20am - Iowa (6) - Donald J. Trump - (171);

1:35am - Texas (38) - Donald J. Trump (209);

1:38am - Montana (3) - Donald J. Trump (212);

1:45am - Rhode Island (4) - Joseph R. Biden (209);

1:50am - Nebraska’s Second Congressional District (Omaha 1) - Joseph R. Biden (210);

2:02am - Minnesota (10) - Joseph R. Biden (220);