One Day Until The Election And A Quick Journey Around The World

PNUT GALLERY

We’ve got good news, and we’ve got great news! The good news is that the election should end tomorrow—assuming Florida doesn’t require a recount and everyone accepts the results. The great news is that the Pnut will stick around to help you fill that empty feeling you’ll have after the election.

Meanwhile, our email format will be a little bit different over the next few days as we give you in-depth coverage of the election.  

PNUT4PREZ: FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

#Pnut4Prez: It’s Almost Over People!

Game Time: With the end so close you can taste it, both candidates and their surrogates are blitzing through the swing states to sway undecided voters and ensure their base is sufficiently energized to go out and vote. In fact, millions of people have already voted as multiple states report record early voting numbers giving pundits on both sides enough ambiguous data for everyone to be a winner.

Unnecessary Roughness: Hillary’s lead over Trump narrowed over the last two weeks, accelerated by FBI Director James Comey’s remarks that he may be reopening the investigation into Hillary’s email scandal. Turns out, all that anxiety was for naught as Comey decided last night that there was no wrongdoing and he would stick to his initial assessment not to indict… Thank you for that unnecessary heartburn, Comey.

What Now? Things looked so precarious for Clinton that it seemed Trump might be able to breach her “Democratic Firewall” of states with some polls showing him in the lead in New Hampshire and a tight race in Nevada. That fear seems to have abated over the weekend as some polls showed her widening her lead again.

Early voting data shows a mixed bag. African-American voters, a reliably Democratic demographic, haven’t cast as many ballots in North Carolina and Florida as in 2012 (Obama lost NC in 2012). That’s been slightly offset by an uptick in Hispanic voters, particularly in Florida and western states like Nevada and Arizona. They are presumed to largely favor Clinton, although not by as wide a margin as African American voters. With early voting coming to a close, Hillary Clinton’s extensive ground game is expected to be her secret weapon going into Tuesday.

President Trump? A lot would need to go right for Trump to win. First, he would have to sweep the swing states. If he loses Florida, Ohio or North Carolina the race would essentially be over for him. Assuming he sweeps the swing states he would then have to breach Clinton’s “firewall” in at least one place. The state that looks most vulnerable is New Hampshire, but he has also pursued a “Midwestern” strategy campaigning in Wisconsin, Michigan and even Minnesota while simultaneously trying for Pennsylvania as well. Polls would have to have a Brexit-style error for him to win those states. Hillary can take solace in the fact that, so far, the “silent majority” that has come out in this election is the Hispanic vote.

In other news on the campaign trail:

• A ruckus at a Trump rally in Reno caused the candidate to be rushed off stage by the Secret Service after someone yelled “gun!” It later emerged that there was no gun in the crowd.
• Obama scolded the crowd at one of his rallies after they were booing a protestor. He told them to respect freedom of speech and to exercise their own rights by going out to vote on Tuesday. “Don’t Boo! Vote!”
• Two of Chris Christie’s allies were found guilty in the “Bridgegate” trial. They are accused of knowingly closing a bridge to punish a mayor who didn’t endorse Christie.
• Melania Trump said that, as first lady, she would work hard to prevent cyber bullying, particularly of children. We assume she will start by restricting her husband’s internet access.
• Bret Baier of Fox News mistakenly reported that there was a looming indictment in the FBI’s investigation of the Clinton Foundation. He has since apologized and said there wasn’t even an investigation but not after the story was picked up by the alt-right press.
• BuzzFeed news tried to find out where all the fake news on Facebook was coming from. Turns out a lot of it comes from this little town in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

SPREAD THE WORD: 15 States Have Same-Day Voter Registration

AROUND THE WORLD 

• World vs. ISIS: As the Iraqi Army continued its offensive into Mosul, Syrian Kurds announced another offensive on ISIS, this time targeting their self-proclaimed capital, Raqqa. The Kurds will be supported by Arab militias and US airstrikes as they try to deliver a knockout blow to the group.

PNUTTY VIDEO: “The most harrowing experience that I personally have ever been through.”

• Turkey vs. Democracy: The Turkish government arrested 12 parliamentarians from the Kurdish opposition party HDP including their two co-leaders, claiming they supported terrorism. The move drew international condemnation, and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he “didn’t care if people called him a dictator.” Can we call him other names, as well?
• Delhi vs. Pollution: India declared a state of emergency and shut down schools as pollution levels were more than 16 times the safe level. Beijing was quite happy to not be the world’s most polluted capital for a few days.
• Italy vs. Protesters: Anti-government protesters were met with that usual loving embrace of police, otherwise known as tear gas, when they were marching in opposition to a referendum being held next month. Italy’s PM Mateo Renzi is trying to pass a referendum that should make Italy less of a clusterf**k to govern but is facing resistance from an opposition party known as the “5-star movement” that is headed by a former comedian. Nothing to laugh at here though.
• Indonesia vs. Protesters: Hard-line Islamists came out in droves on Friday to protest against the Christian governor of Jakarta. Governor Ahok comes from the country’s 10% Christian minority and the even smaller ethnic Chinese minority. His opponents accuse him of blasphemy but the truth is that they never really liked him in the first place.

PNUTTY VIDEOS

Arwa Damon recounts the gun battle she witnessed in Mosul. The veteran war reporter described it as the most harrowing experience she has ever had.

Saturday Night Live got its final jokes in before Election Day. And they even made some time to be earnest too.