THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY ELECTION OF OUR LIFETIME
I’ll just throw out some observations, because I’m in a state of shock. A welcome state in many ways, but still shock. I’m recalling how my mother once told me of the morning after the 1948 election—she was working in an office downtown LA then—and everyone in that then-Republican city walked around in a state of quiet shock all morning.
• I drove back home from Berkeley to the central coast mid-day today, stopping from time to time to check early exit poll leaks and such. Most of of the early exit poll data looked very bad for Trump. The mid-afternoon Drudge headline—”Late Votes Will Determine the Election”—was, I thought, a big “tell” that Trump was losing. There were reports of joy from the Clinton camp.
The evening newscasts started in that mode. Then votes started trickling in. Trump was locked in a tight race in Florida. Georgia and South Carolina were too close to call. If those states were tough, what chance did Trump have? Looked like Hillary had it in the bag. The early coverage all had the subtext of a solid Hillary win.
Then, at some point I wish I had written down, things tipped. The network decision desks have become very cautious ever since the debacles of 2000, 2002, and 2004, but I suspect they saw data they didn’t expect, and passed the word along. Suddenly Trump started looking better. Suddenly, Chris Wallace and Brit Hume started to say—”Hey, Trump might be our next president.” Then you could see the snowball starting to roll downhill. You could even see it on the MSNBC crew.
• One great upside of this will be watching Democrats turn viciously on the Clintons. Long overdue.
• I hear Trump has got Chris Christie to head his transition team. Just what he needs: a real bridge-builder.
• As I write at this late hour waiting for the final state calls, I’m guessing Team Hillary is huddling wondering whether they can challenge the results in two or three close states.
UPDATE: So Podesta came out. That speech was lame. He could have emailed that in.
• Pic of the night:
Much more tomorrow. Buckle up: liberals are going to have a total meltdown head explosion. It will last four years, at least.
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