Category: 2020 election

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News Round-Up: October 8, 2020

LGBTQ ally and anti-bullying advocate Ben Cohen
Some news items you might have missed: • Calendar Season: LGBTQ ally and anti-bullying advocate Ben Cohen (above) announces his 2021 calendar is available for shipping by October 30. #WeLoveBenCohen #Woof • The Advocate: Monica Roberts, the transgender activist and blogger who founded TransGriot 15 years ago, has died. She was honored with special recognition award for her blog at the 2016 GLAAD Media Awards and named one of The Advocate’s 2020 Women of the Year in May. • Pink News: CNN’s Anderson Cooper condemned Trump’s “recklessness” while carrying a deadly disease (coronavirus) while pointing out that HIV positive people can be jailed for the same offense. • Instinct Magazine: How do you show up for Black Lives? By actually showing up where they are and getting to know them. • Forbes: Democrats raised $15 million in just over 12 hours after the start of Wednesday night’s vice presidential debate—a sign that Sen. Kamala Harris’ (D-Calif.) performance against Vice President Mike Pence resonated with at least some viewers. • Fox News: Take a few seconds to take in the epic clap back from former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg when he dropped by Fox News prior to last night’s veep debate. The hosts tried to score a dig at Sen. Kamala Harris and Buttigieg didn’t hesitate to throw shade with a straight face. Watch below.

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Poll: Harris Won Veep Debate 59%-38%

In case you missed it, the 2020 Vice Presidential Debate last night was pretty much what we all expected. Vice President Mike Pence spent a lot of the 90 minutes interrupting Sen. Kamala Harris, and a fly landed on his head stealing the veep’s thunder. Harris was fairly restrained and was more successful than Pence at following the agreed upon rules for the debate. A CNN snap poll taken directly after the event found Harris was viewed as the winner of the debate by an overwhelming majority of 59% versus 38% who thought Pence came out on top. Also from that survey, Harris went into the debate with 56 percent favorability and afterward that rose to 63 percent, while Pence began and ended the night at 41 percent. Female respondents said Harris did the best job in the debate by a 69% to 30% margin. Men, meanwhile, split about evenly between Harris (48%) and Pence (46%). Note – women make up a majority of the voting public. Over at the New York Times, the opinion writers were split over the victor with 11 calling it for Harris, 4 for Pence, and 2 a tie. Click here to see what the group of writers thought were the most pivotal moments and some small remarks that resonated. At the end of the day, the veep event did little-to-nothing to change the direction of the election. And in that case, Harris did her job. Social media, however, became enthralled by a fly landing on Pence’s head and remaining for several minutes.

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#flygate #fly2020

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Battleground State Polls: Pennsylvania, Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Arizona

As always, we take polling with a grain of salt, but these battleground state polls may be of interest: • Pennsylvania – Monmouth University Polling – Joe Biden holds a 12-point lead over Donald Trump among all registered voters in Pennsylvania (54% – 42%) and anywhere from an 8-point to 11-point lead among likely voters. This marks an improvement from Biden’s single-digit lead in a Monmouth poll just over one month ago.

• Florida – University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab – 51 percent of voters indicated they will be voting for Joe Biden compared to 45 percent of voters who said they would vote for President Donald Trump. (3,142 registered likely voters – 39 percent Republican, 38 percent Democrat, and 22 percent signaled no party affiliation). • Nevada and Ohio – New York Times/Siena College Poll – Biden leads 48 percent to 42 percent among likely voters in Nevada and 45 to 44 percent in Ohio, the polls found. Six percent of Nevada voters and 7 percent of Ohioans said they remain undecided.

• Arizona – Data Orbital – Biden leads Trump 47.7 percent to 43.2 percent in Arizona, with 6.5 percent saying they were undecided. The poll included 39 percent Republicans and 33 percent Democrats.

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Patti LuPone & Randy Rainbow Parody “If Donald Was Fired!”

Broadway legend Patti LuPone and Randy Rainbow (screen capture)
Political satirist Randy Rainbow is back today with a special guest, Broadway legend Patti LuPone. The duo teams up on a parody of “If Mama Was Married” from the 1959 Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim musical Gypsy. LuPone took home the Best Actress in a Musical Tony Award in 2008 for her star turn in the revival the acclaimed musical. In the video, Rainbow is attempting to ‘moderate’ a presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, but becomes frustrated in the process. LuPone appears in a puff of smoke: “When gay men are in crisis, I just materialize.” I won’t spoil the jokes, but these are some of Rainbow’s best parody lyrics in some time. Hit the play button and enjoy 🙂

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Twitter Fail Of The Day: Tomi Lahren

Tomi Lahren (photo: Flickr/Gage Skidmore – CC License – cropped)
Fox News talking head Tomi Lahren responded to a tweet by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden that encouraged folks to wear a face mask (“Masks Matter. They Save Lives.”) by questioning Biden’s masculinity. “Might as well carry a purse with that mask, Joe,” wrote Lahren.

“A purse?” Was she calling him a woman? Was she saying women are weak or something? A lot of the Twitterverse thought the remark was pretty assinine including Spokane firefighters:

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Michelle Obama’s ‘Closing Argument’ For Joe Biden

Former First Lady Michelle Obama
The election is in less than a month and early votes are already being cast across the country. But, for anyone who might be undecided, former First Lady Michelle Obama offers this “closing argument” for Americans to support Joe Biden. “If we want to regain any kind of stability, we have to ensure that every eligible voter is informed and engaged on this election,” says Obama. Noting Trump’s “constant downplaying of the importance of masks and social distancing” as well as his “relentless pressure” to reopen schools while people are still in danger, Obama adds, “We simply can’t trust this president to tell us the truth about anything.” Obama added. “It’s painful to think that months into this crisis, this is still where we are, with no clear plan, no peace of mind, and the worst part is, it didn’t have to be like this. Look around the world.” “He boasts about gains in the stock market, but when you look at the lives of regular folks, whether it’s creating blue-collar jobs, making healthcare more affordable, protecting the environment, keeping our families safe from gun violence, let alone the coronavirus, there’s nothing much to brag about.” “By contrast, Joe Biden has lived his life guided by values and principles that mirror ones that most Americans can recognize. I know Joe… he’s a good man who understands the struggles of everyday folks.” Watch the compelling message below. And please – VOTE.

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Early Voting Already Up By More Than 50x 2016 Levels

Ballot watchers are seeing an unprecedented number of early votes being cast which could indicate record-breaking turnout for the 2020 presidential election. From Reuters:

With four weeks to go before Election Day, more than 4 million Americans already have voted, more than 50 times the 75,000 at this time in 2016, according to the United States Elections Project, which compiles early voting data.

The shift has been driven by an expansion of early and mail-in voting in many states as a safe way to cast a ballot during the coronavirus pandemic and an eagerness to weigh in on the political future of Trump, said Michael McDonald of the University of Florida, who administers the project.

“We’ve never seen this many people voting so far ahead of an election,” McDonald said. “People cast their ballots when they make up their minds, and we know that many people made up their minds long ago and already have a judgment about Trump.”

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LuPone Shades Trump’s Balcony Appearance: ‘I Still Have The Lung Power And I Wore Less Makeup’

L-R Patti LuPone, Donald Trump
Who can ‘balcony’ better? I think we know… Tony Award-winning diva Patti LuPone, who knows a thing or two about holding court on a balcony thanks to her Tony Award-winning role in Evita, slammed Donald Trump’s appearance on the balcony of the White House last night when he made his ‘dramatic’ return from Walter Reed Medical Center. Taking note of Trump’s visible gasping for breath in video of his balcony moment, LuPone wrote, “I still have the lung power and I wore less makeup. This revival is closing November 3rd.”

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Trump Announces He’s Leaving Hospital Today ‘Don’t Be Afraid Of Covid!’

Donald Trump leaves the hospital to wave to followers (photo: public domain)
Donald Trump announced this afternoon that he will be leaving Walter Reed Medical Center having been hospitalized since Friday after testing positive for coronavirus and displaying symptoms. In his tweet, he says he’s “feeling really good” and Americans shouldn’t “be afraid of Covid.” He also notes “some really great drugs & knowledge” have been developed regarding the virus in the past few months. As has been reported, though, Trump has received several treatments that aren’t available to the average COVID-19 patient.

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Biden Holds 8+ Lead In Battleground State Arizona

The New York Times reports former Vice President Joe Biden holds a steady lead over Donald Trump in battleground state Arizona, which hasn’t voted for a Democrat since 1996.

According to a new New York Times-Siena College poll Biden leads Trump 49 percent to 41 percent in the Grand Canyon state with just 6 percent of likely voters saying they were undecided.

The poll, which has a margin of error of 4.2 percentage points, was conducted after Trump’s disatrous debate with Biden last Tuesday night but before the president’s coronavirus diagnosis was made public.

Trump won Arizona by 3.5 points in 2016 over Hillary Clinton. Of course, take this all with a grain of salt as the Siena College polls have tended to show Biden slightly more ahead than other polls in Arizona. That said, the New York Times’ average of polls puts Biden leading in the state by 5 points.

(graphic via the New York Times)