The thing about runoffs in GA is turnout. Turnout, turnout, turnout.

Most runoffs get like 50% of the turnout the main election gets. So the question is: which side cares enough to turn out one more time?

That's a tricky question this year. Previously, GOP voters were always the ones who turned back out. But previously, GOP voters always had a great day on Election Day, so they were still enthused.

This time, (1) Trump will not be on the ballot, and (2) Biden won.

Nobody knows how those 2 things are going to affect runoff turnout.

Maybe all the Trump voters will be pissed off and go vote. And maybe there were just enough GOP voters who held their noses and voted for Biden, but also want to see a GOP Senate, which could shift the margin of victory.

But then again, maybe there are a bunch of GA Dems who are overjoyed about finally winning a statewide race and see the chance to give Biden a Dem Senate. Maybe the flood of runoff votes will come from them.

Again -- nobody really knows. But a WHOLE lot of money will be spent trying to boost turnout for both sides, that's for sure...

Hope this helps...

-CW

It's got legs on its own.

We can only watch and see how your characterisation plays out.

LL&P

I don't see why not. With Short Fingers depressing Republican turnout and Abrams increasing Dem turnout, they should have a chance. After all, who thought Biden would win GA even a few months ago?

Mitch, rightly or obviously, has determined that Georgia is a heavy lift if Trump's truculence to co-operate without markers continues....And he's quite right to worry.

LL&P

So, you think Democrats have a fighting chance to get both Georgia senate seats?

He might pause long enough to have that obscene building fumigated before moving in, but how long can that take?

Well, I'd be more worried about listening devices and other surveillance. Heh.

The rest of your [8] I didn't understand - how it relates to voters in Georgia voting in their own best interests ... ??

not on wall street. partisan gridlock is good for business.

Well, yeah, Wall Street loves the status quo and divided government will, ah, keep it that way. Heh.

But, I was talking more about the average voter in Georgia and hoping that they have had enough of divided government and can clearly see that a Republican win of just one of those seats will be nothing but bad news for them, their lives and their livelihoods.

It would be kinda like voting in your own interest if you vote Democratic in both senate elections, regardless of your party affiliation.

Wait a sec ... how many wall street types and one percenters are eligible to vote in the great state of Georgia? Negligible, I'm hoping ... :)

-CW

The only possible answer to that is:

"Fuck off! ... We're the People's Front of Judea!"

Heh.

For those who don't know what we're talking about.

-CW

I'm curious, for the last four years, you've essentially been 'phoning-in' this columnal observation, in large part to the Trumpian farce.

If nothing else, Trump has been a journalist's Christmases come all at once (over four years, err).

I'm comfortable with a bit of partisan drift, personally. But when the dust settles, and if some self-serving political adventurer decides to use the Trumpian model for reference, be it left or wrong, I assume you'll be there, stoned, with your trusty putter, bleating loudly.

I believe Liberalism is code by which enlightened people choose to see the world We Liberally-minded (reformed) people can't abide 99% of Trump's outrages, and nor can we abide it when employed by folks to which we are aligned, and more importantly, maligned with.

The MDDOTW will get congested, I can feel it. When Trump is put out to pasture, the cover he provided for other politicians as the 'Grifter-in-Chief' will no longer cast his shadow over all other corruptions...

I hope it gets messy because that's what it should be. The halcyon days of uniting against the common enemy, (Judean People's Front, for the Life of Brian) Trump, are almost over.

;)

LL&P

Agreed. Rude has to be the last arrow in any warped quiver for all time henceforth.

From this time forward, when a 'Hail Mary' is abandoned in the face of unassailable reality, it should be known colloquially as a Guiliani...

Here's a laugh. I wanted to draw a line under the 'Trump v Hitler' narrative before it becomes cold.

This fell into my lap, indulge me;

It's looking more and more like Michigan is where Trump and his henchpersons will make their last stand, so to speak. I can't think there's another redoubt for the ever-shrinking conspiracy. To that end, and all its delicious entendre, I suspect the people of Michigan would sooner Trump attend a performance of “Wagner’s ‘Gotterdammerung,’ in a Detroit Parking Garage,” by Alex Ross, instead of performing his own version in their backyard.

No shit, behold:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/11/02/wagners-gotterdammerung-in-a-detroit-parking-garage

I love how the universe just spits out zinger after zinger. Karmic lord.

LL&P

That my friends would be fitting.

-CW

I missed it, but from what I'm already hearing it was one for the ages. Apparently, on the WH (or maybe the campaign's) official video feed, you can hear people making snarky remarks about the hair dye dripping down Giuliani's face during the presser.

Personally, when I heard Rudy was taking over the whole legal effort, I breathed a BIG sigh of relief. I mean, he's not exactly Ted Olson or anything. As one late-night comic (Seth? Colbert? forget) put it last night: "Rudy Giuliani wants to be paid $20,000 a day for his legal efforts, but the Biden campaign said it may not be able to afford it."

Heh.

-CCW

Am I missing something or was my joint too large for the time of day.

Fucking sweaty, dirty mess that Guido is, surely the greater American experience has no truck with this bent narrative?

Oh, wait...

LL&P

I believe that the Democrats' chances depend very much on how much the orange one gets involved. So far, he's way too self-involved. He's not on the ballot and that's a drag for the GOP. He's attacking the GA secretary of state and that won't help the GOP either. Stacy Abrams and the Dems need to GOTV again.

Calling this country a democracy is a stretch anyway, but I believe that this will be short-lived. The Dems are not without means of retribution. Congress can reject new members, for example. Escalation and mutual destruction is a huge risk. The Big Money puppet-masters don't like Fat Donny that much.

not on wall street. partisan gridlock is good for business.

LL&P

The longer this (perceived) awkward power vacuum continues, the more Biden should allow this soap-operatic joke to play out. I think the risk/reward ratio is heavily skewed in Biden's favour if all about him don't lose their heads, he's the old hat here, he knows how things work well enough to find the coffee machine one the first day.

He might pause long enough to have that obscene building fumigated before moving in, but how long can that take?

LL&P

I mean, aren't the days of loving divided government over?

...And fools rush in where Angels fear to tread.

I sensed a cunning trap, subtly weaved into that seemingly innocuous remark...

LL&P

It's the truism behind all nihilistic implosions, indifference to the suffering of others to the point of personal satisfaction at the chaos left in the wake of their perceived injustice of personal setback. It's clinical to the point of mediocracy, which is a cliche for Trump and his life-long downward slog in business and in life.

It's a poorly-timed coda, but again, Trump only amazes when he somehow can't make the bar he himself placed so low. It's flabbergasting to watch, and luckily our penance will be served before too long

But at what cost? While Trump is pocket-pool with GOP lawmakers, (which at any other time would lend a certain carnival-like mood to an otherwise long and chilly winter) most of the US would prefer he swung the axe and exited stage creepy along with that utter shower of a family.

Personally, I think Trump is playing silly buggers more to solidify himself in the annals of the American right-wing experience than he is trying to hamstring Biden. His profile suggests he's more likely to accept defeat if and when he realises Biden didn't beat him, the entirety of his own support let him down unutterably and therefore his persecution of them will be slow and all-encompassing. He's too lazy to run again, he'll wring as much pleasure from lauding his grip of the GOP base over the party and go back to cheating his friends out of golf wins and his children out any moral compass usually forged between parent and child.

His final act of nausea will be to inflict one or other of his vile sons on the US in a failed attempt to create a political dynasty.

LL&P

He lies sometimes.