It's the middle of a pandemic and people are (a) stressed out (b) fumbling with technology and (c) working at home. Mix all of those together and you get unfortunate events like what happened. Those who think Toobin is the only one who takes a break to watch some pr0n and spank the monkey - are seriously naive or just hypocrites. Wonder why his employer had to reveal this to the public, it's not like he intended to hurt anyone.

that the entrant must accept the conditions of secularism and freedom of expression, where any/all religions and beliefs are open to being critiqued and even mocked. Fragility is not compatible with democracy.

They never could've foreseen the outsized role the Senate and the judiciary would have on issues of national importance, or how lopsided population-wise the states would become.

Rat-faced Mike Lee from a small religious state, as 1 of 100 senators, gets to tell the rest of the country 'we are not a democracy' while installing his RW handmaid on the Supreme Court for life.

Basically what we have is taxation without representation, where a retrograde minority sets the agenda.

It's a state with the mail-in voting uncertaintly, the registration of white rural voters being higher, etc. But we did win recent statewide races there, and are running a strong campaign (Lincoln Project running tough ads) there this time in a way that we did not last time. Biden was also born in PA and was the longtime Senator from a neighboring state.

But clearly there is something going on in the Sunbelt (AZ, TX, GA, NC). I could see a scenario where we win some of those states and for some crazy reason lose PA even though 538's 'snake' would indicate otherwise.

I just have a feeling Texas is going to shock the world. Biden is polling closer in TX than Trump polled in the Midwest last time. If there is a polling error in Biden's favor he could easily win Texas.

Everyone knows Joe and has a good sense of who he is, which is simple but decent guy - and there is very little if anything that can change that.

The Biden-Trump head-to-head polls have been pretty steady for about a year now even before Joe became the nominee, which is remarkable. It says that voters already wanted to get rid of Trump even before Covid - and if given someone they trust and know well like Joe they would make the change in a second.

He also fights back against RW social media narratives. His site and sites like Rawstory are not 'hard news' but really like our version of Drudge.

in close races a commercial they can use to show themselves as 'bipartisan'.

DiFi, what exactly has Grahman and the GOP done to show they are operating in good faith? They stole Garland's seat and are now stealing RBG's seat that should be filled by Biden. We are going to have a 6-3 hard right Supreme Court and this is what our Dem leaders do to fight for us? These hearings were a sham and even Kamala Harris said so.

Dems are supposed to be the party that stands in defense of those who have been historically left out. This is exactly why younger voters and PoC often feel alienated from the party.

2020 is much more favorable terrain on paper for us; but the reality is we are in the middle of a pandemic with unprecedented levels of mail in voting in states that lack a history of doing it. Mail-in voting during the primaries across the country saw a relatively high rate of 'spolied ballots' (those discarded on technicalities). Polls show Dem voters are heavily the ones using mail in, where GOP voters are going in person. Then add in the typical GOP voter suppression tactics and this election is far from certain. Trump/Turtle are desperate and will do anything to hold onto power, and we have to hope our Dem lawyers etc are ready to fight as hard as Repubs do. We can't have another 2000 situation where we were played (Brooks Brothers Riot, etc) and a RW Supreme Court gave the election to Bush.

So while things look good on paper, in reality we need to vote like our lives depend on it and be prepared to battle it out afterwards if necessary.

The problem with our presidential elections is that due to the Electoral College the president is chosen by moderate and independent white voters in swing states who don't really question social biases etc, and tend to be center-right if anything - and this holds back the country. If we went by the popular vote then more liberal and urban and diverse voters would play a much greater role in shaping how we are.

Katie Couric joined the conversation and did question them about sexism, some of their responses were interesting.

Note that this same focus group after the Trump-Biden debate was actually upset at Biden for calling Trump a clown/racist/failure etc and thought Biden was 'just as responsible' for the debate devolving. Some saw Trump as strong and Biden as weak and old, yet didn't see Biden as justified in defending himself. They seem to have a both-siderist worldview and tend to side with existing power structures.

Keep in mind that Luntz is a GOP pollster. The CNN focus groups (post Biden-Trump debate and post Harris-Pence debate) showed much better reactions for Biden and Harris, as well as the polls which showed that they won.

of mail-in ballots (which are likely to be heavily Dem this time) and will do anything to reinstall their cult leader. Not to mention the run of the mill GOP voter suppression that causes many ballots to be spoiled (thrown out) on technicalities. During the primaries across the country there was a relatively high rate of spoiled ballots. The only true way to make sure your vote counts is to go in and vote. Most states have early voting.