With the Republican National Convention wrapping up this week and the Democratic National Convention just behind us, the stretch run has essentially begun in the 2020 presidential campaign. There are just 10 weeks left in this election.
As one who covered national party conventions as a reporter, I found the pandemic-driven introduction of virtual conventions this year to be less enjoyable but perhaps more impactful in terms of the information conveyed. What was sacrificed was the color, the pageantry, and the decided lack of spontaneity in the “spontaneous” floor demonstrations and balloon drops.
For Mississippians, the most notable aspect of the 2020 Democratic National convention was that it was presided over and chaired by Mississippi Second District U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Bolton. That designation made him the first Mississippian in history to preside over a national Democratic Party convention.
Should Biden best Trump in November, Thompson’s influence on federal patronage will likely surpass that he enjoyed during former Democratic President Barack Obama’s two terms in office.
Clearly, Biden and the Democrats have momentum at this juncture. Biden has a lead in the national polls of as much as 10 percent. The initial Nate Silver 538 forecast picks Biden as the winner, Electoral College analyses favor Biden, and if anyone’s paying attention, Vegas oddsmakers are picking Biden to win as well.
Of course, just four years ago, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was leading in the national polls, got the nod to win from Nate Silver, was leading the pre-election Electoral College prognostications, and you guessed it, was favored to win by Vegas oddsmakers.
Presidential election odds are posted in Vegas for entertainment value, but it’s illegal for the gaming industry there to take bets on the actual elections. To bet on U.S. presidential elections, you must take your bets to Great Britain or other non-U.S. venues.
The lack of in-person national political conventions is another part of the toll exacted on tradition by the COVID-19 pandemic. The virtual presentation robbed our nation’s voters of the eccentricities and superstitions of the party faithful on both sides of the political aisle.
I never see national convention delegates in funny hats and partisan garb that I don’t think of walking into Greenville businessman Clarke Reed on the floor of the 2004 RNC in Madison Square Garden in New York. Normally a dapper guy, Reed was sporting an obviously well-worn sport coat. I tried gigging him about how tacky the coat was, but he was having none of it.
"Boy, this coat's older than you are," Reed laughed in his thick Delta drawl. "I've had it about 44 years now. My wife Judy bought it for me."
Reed, a national level powerhouse in GOP politics, gained national attention later that week when distinguished New York Times political analyst R.W. “Johnny” Apple Jr. penned a feature story about that garishly distinctive Black Watch plaid sport coat adorned with gold elephants. Apple published the story with a photo of Reed wearing the same jacket at the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach.
The virtual conventions done, Americans will now focus on bedrock issues like abortion, gun control, religion, immigration, health care, and taxing and spending. They always do. The polling margins will likely tighten, as they did four years ago.
As it was in 2016, most people have already made up their minds between Trump and Biden. The remaining campaign time will be spent appealing to independents and the extremes of both parties. But in Mississippi, there is no reason to expect a significantly different outcome in 2020 that was seen in 2016 – when Trump won nearly 58 percent of the state’s total vote.
Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Sid Salter: Issues Will Determine Election
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
30 comments:
Rain is wet as well, Captain Obvious
Salter is right but wrong. He's right that 'issues' will be the determinant. But, he's wrong in the way those 9ssues (dots) are connected. Salter, as usual, stops when he arrives at issues and fails to drill one level deeper - to the final 'why'.
The top-dot is PANDERING. Lower dots, in no certain order are racial animosity, homosexuality (sometimes referred to as LGBTQ), Alpha-man-haters, pedophilia, the product spit out by liberal classrooms, the entitlement crowd, disgruntled and disposable protesters, the conveniently victimized, white-guilters, peace nicks, abortionists, atheists, the anti-military sector, unions, collectivists, the aimless, the shiftless and those who have been told they are hopeless. Each of those dots constitutes a huge group, like a growing blob of molten lava. When, through excellent pandering, they're assembled and combined, the number won't be defeated.
The goal-post on the left has always been to indoctrinate and win-over those eighteen dots - drill subliminally and overtly into their heads and pour in as much Anti-America slop as the cranium will hold.
The Deep State (with various alternate titles) is the top dot whose goal is simply achieving pandering perfection. They've reached that plateau. Some claim Obama to be behind the curtain of the top dot. He's not. Nor is Hillary. They're pawns just as the disposable protesters are.
At the end of the day, or whenever the final chad is unhung, depending on the excellence of the pandering...Soros wins. America loses and all of those making up dots will, to their surprise, be either disposed of or swirled into the pot of communism.
*YAAAWN*
This dude is actually less relevant than he is interesting. And he is neither.
The polls and betting markets are right this year.
On another note before we start with the End of the World Bullshit if Biden is Elected.
Stop, it didn't end with Trump, Obama or anyone else was elected. That's why the US is the greatest, you can elect a Trump and we still Thrive.
I can't wait for Sid's column next week: "Water is wet, sky us blue, and dog farts smell bad too"
Two comments: "Thompson's influence"??? What a joke. What has he done for his district? Not squat. The DNC knows it and Thompson is too stupid to know he's being used and he's too worthless to care.
As to Clarke Reed's apparel, why is it that when the delegates get to the convention they all of a sudden turn in to Shriners?
The issue that will decide the election is Donald Trump. There is no bigger issue to vote on.
It's really difficult to make a topic as interesting as the 2020 election mind-numbingly boring, but damn it Salter you've done it again.
There is only one issue - Drama Queen Don
Much ado about nothing. The whole election comes down to Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania and who shows up and what the weather is on Election Day.
10:36 is exactly right. the winner needs to win two of the three of them.
anyway--I do have a serious question. In listening to the RNC, I've been hearing about the loss of 'Religious Freedom.'
When Obama was president, my church met every week. We prayed. I was able to share my faith openly with those around me. Nothing has changed since Trump has become president.
What freedoms have the potential to be lost? I'd really like to know.
I actually found the "August 26, 2020 at 8:29 AM" commentary much more enlightening than Salter's ramblings.
The real issue is the democrat party, in collusion with the media, are willing to burn down cities, politicize a plague, and commit acts of treason against this nation to take down Donald Trump. And he is still going to win. Every metric that predicted his 2016 win says he will win again. It is only the same leftist media who wrongly predicted Hillary's landslide in 2016, that believe Biden has a chance.
Bernie & Tulsi, maybe a chance. But Biden and Kamala? It's like they don't even want to win.
A final though for those that still doubt me. The recors numbers of people buying millions of guns legally (another metric) because their cities are on fire, will be votong Donald J. TRUMP.
the lines are bright and clear. Order vs Chaos. Its that simple. 911 response or a recording. Edward Gibbon wrote about it in 1776. Great read. And will scare the @#$@% out of you. Its coming.
But then there's the Dunning Kruger effect; The loudest often live on Mt Stupid. Unfortunately, those with the loudest voices often have the most confidence but little competence.
And-"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than knowledge." Charles Darwin.
that opinion seems true regarding the current political situation
By election Day over 200k will be dead, and the stock markets are going to bust as soon as the 3rd quater numbers are released. The forces of Trump's inaction and the economic perils people are facing will doom Trump. I agree we have survived Trump and we will survive again even if Trump is reelected. He would probably get impeached and convicted but we would still survive.
The truly scary thing is the Drama Queen already saying he won’t accept the result if he loses. The election simply doesn’t matter since an entire political party appears willing to disregard the constitution and support a dictator. The founding fathers must be rolling in their graves every time he tweets.
@12:22
The irony is that the Democrats haven't accepted that Trump won the 2016 election and spent the last 4 years undermining the entire country trying to prove it a lie about collusion. When everything else failed the left has tried to foment civil unrest. Problem is (as Don Lemon admitted) the rioting helps Trump.
Trump tried to close the the nation off from Covid-19 in March. He was thwarted by the left. You can still find video of Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco Chinatown calling Trump a racist xenophobe for daring to try. You can't blame anything COVID-19 on him after that. Your narrative is a complete lie.
I wonder who will take Trump away? He has just about said he won't leave.
The playing field is much different than 2016.
Black voters are engaged, wait until you see the get out the vote programs Harris' sorority sisters wage along with other Greeks.
He can forget about the Catholics this time, he has gone overboard on immigration while doing nothing to solve the problem.
Suburban women aren't buying it either, their kids are doing just fine in the diverse schools they attend, they are not worried about brown people moving in, they are already here.
Then there are the people who are just tired of him, they gave him a chance and all he does is tweet. They are the ones not showing up this election.
Sleepy Sid strikes again.
Does he actually get paid to write this pathetic drivel ?
I would love to hear Sid's thoughts about tail gateing being cancelled at his beloved MSU.
What's that little campus section they created a few years ago . . . the " Petticoat Junction" ?
Those Mississippi State folk will invent anything they think they think is as historic as the Ole Miss Grove.
You people are all farting in a whirlwind...not even understanding the socialist train heading through the tunnel that's about to smack the living shit out of you. Literally.
4:41. thanks to trump’s hijacking of the conservative movement, we are a lot closer now to socialism than obama.
biggest budget defecits. biggest government spending. he’s going to expand medicaid and social security (already has). bigger trade imbalances.
face it, trump is a social conservative and a fiscal liberal.
The pasture at the MSU baseball field was a great place to enjoy a beer while watching a game 50 years ago 3:46. But like anything that isn't planned by the athletic director, etc., it was closed off ostensibly to protect the cattle and the visitors outfielders from beer bottles.
The Chaos and Routing that right wingers like to talk about under a Biden Presidency is happening right now . So I guess nothing will change.
I am ready for a return to normal. Our streets are burning, a plague is ravaging our country, the entire country is at each other’s throats - and it didn’t even take 4 years to ruin it all. We seem to be on a path to a civil war which I guess a lot of the right wants to vote for, but not me.
@7:37
The left/right paradigm is a dead boomer construct. The flames of civil war have kindled. Only through acceleration can the new fashwave future manifest. The 1% have overplayed their hand once again.
"...he’s going to expand medicaid and social security (already has). bigger trade imbalances."
Bull farkin' shit, 5:19. First you people claim Trump is going to do away with social security and now you claim he's going to expand it. Make up your damned mind. Have you no clue what the president has done and continues to do to reverse the trade deficit. It's like you sit on the couch eating pablum and watching Maddow in your jockey shorts. But thanks for posting six times.
For the past 20 years it has seemed obvious to me that the GOP/Wall St conspiracy has been to trash SS while pushing to force individuals to get in the market. How could anyone who pays even the slightest attention to the financial situation overlook that?
Post a Comment