It's Almost Over -- Or Not!

The first Tuesday after the first Monday in November is just hours away, and you know what that means. On the outside chance you’ve been in a coma, it means the 2020 presidential campaign will soon be over, thank God.  Except, maybe it doesn't mean any such thing this time around.

Maybe this time, if the election is too close to call tomorrow night, the charges and counter-charges, the bloviating and exaggerating, the accusations and counter-accusations will continue until we finally have a winner. And who knows when that might be.

While we wait and see how it all plays out, let me offer a few thoughts on what this election may very well come down to.

Yes, it matters how voters feel about the president’s handing of the virus. And yes, it matters how he’s handled the economy. So yes, issues do matter. But the fundamental question for voters in 2020 may not so much be about issues, and instead may simply come down to this:

Will voters reject Donald Trump largely because of his toxic personality? Or will they reject Joe Biden … fearing what America would become if he’s elected president?

Or to put it even more bluntly: Is hating Donald Trump enough? Are negative feelings about him a good enough reason to hand over power to Joe Biden and a Democratic Party where Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and AOC may be calling the shots?

Voters rolled the dice four years ago and got Donald Trump. And along the way they also got a strong economy and historically low unemployment … until the virus derailed all that. But they also got 4 years of Trump narcissism, dishonesty and divisiveness.

So, the question now is: Will they roll the dice again? Will they take a chance on Joe Biden who will be reminded by the progressives that he has a debt to pay to them -- in exchange for their support?

Would the American electorate rather have 4 more years of Mr. Trump … or 4 years of … who knows what?

We pretty much know what we’ll get if Donald Trump is re-elected – the good and the bad. We don’t know what we’ll get if Joe Biden wins.

Right now, the polls are tightening but they are still telling us that voters have had enough of Donald Trump and are willing to take a chance on Biden, who’s been keeping a low profile and trying to run out the clock … and whose main promise to voters is: I’m not Donald Trump.

But if voters conclude that putting up with a defective personality like Donald Trump’s is less of a gamble than taking a chance on Joe Biden and progressives who tell us that they want to fundamentally change America … then Mr. Trump still has a chance, albeit a slim chance if those polls are right.

Yes, tomorrow is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Which means we’ll either know who won sometime tomorrow night – or we won’t know for a few days, or maybe a few weeks.

So in a year where just about nothing has gone right, we may still be at each other’s throats around Thanksgiving or maybe even Christmas.

Happy holidays, right?