I'm going to try and pay a minimum of attention to this election until the polls have closed and the projectors are projecting. Here is why…
- Everyone is scurrying about, living or dying by a one-point shift in one poll that has a three-point margin of error. That's not a trend. That's isolated noise in one poll out of dozens.
- A record number of ballots have already been cast. I'm also thinking that a record number of minds have already been set in marble. I do not believe we have a significant number of undecided voters out there who will cast ballots next Tuesday but have yet to decide, at least on the presidency. City councilperson, maybe.
- A lot of the suspense being generated now is not unlike how a sportscaster must sometimes find a way to make a game more interesting than it really is. Folks running news sites or those in the mainstream press know that the only political news that'll really get your attention this week is when they tell you that the race is narrowing here, this or that state may flip, some new "game-changer" is really significant. Some things may be significant but they say that about everything.
- I do not believe that either Clinton's side or Trump's is sitting on some bombshell revelation and is waiting to release it at the proper time. The proper time was before so many people had engaged in early voting.
- If something does come along between now and next Tuesday, a lot of people are going to treat it with great skepticism, just because it's turning up too late for the other side to disprove. Some of the things now being said are so ridiculous that I think a lot of voters are just tuning it all out.
- The only possible exception to the above would be something like a shooting or a terrorist attack or some event where neither side could have controlled the timing. But we have no idea if that'll happen or how it could impact the race…and again, a lot of ballots are already in.
- There is nothing I can do to change how this election will turn out.
- There is nothing you can do to change how this election will turn out.
- It has always been this way but now it's even more this way, if you know what I mean.
I have better things to do than sit on the edge of my chair, falling for clickbait, worrying that the race is shifting because one plumber in Juneau who's always voted for the nominee of his party just decided for the first time ever to not vote for the nominee of his party. I hope you do, too.