There is an old joke, so old that it requires explanation.\u00a0\u00a0When I was a young boy, elevators in most buildings had \u201coperators\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0There was a crank along the wall, and the \u201coperator\u201d rotated the crank ninety degrees in one direction to go up.\u00a0\u00a0When he reached the preferred floor, he then rotated it back to the top to stop. Then the operator would step forward to open the \u201cgate\u201d and let travelers out.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the call-bell rang from a lower floor, he rotated the lever ninety degrees the other way to go down.\u00a0\u00a0He lined up the elevator with the door, so that the floor was level with the hallway floor.\u00a0\u00a0Really good operators got it right on the first try, others had to stop just short, then go up or down the last few inches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mom used to take us shopping in Shillito\u2019s in Cincinnati. (Later, like Lazarus here in Columbus, it became a Macy\u2019s. Cincinnati\u2019s downtown store closed in 2018. The building was remade into condo\u2019s, with, I presume, automatic elevators). The operator would call out the items available on each floor. Second floor was men\u2019s clothing, third floor lingerie, fourth floor housewares, up to sixth floor furniture. So there was a man, a person; the man who ran the elevator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The joke:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMr. Elevator Operator, how\u2019s your day going?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The answer: \u201cWell, it has its ups and downs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In our current age of instant gratification, we seem to have a lot of \u201cups and downs\u201d. Last week, Democrats seemed horrified about possible electoral changes in Nebraska. Now you would think that most Democrats wouldn\u2019t care less about Red-Red-Red Nebraska. But there was always one \u201canomaly\u201d that made Nebraska interesting (besides being the only unicameral, a one House state legislature, in the nation). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nebraska and Maine are the only two states to split electoral votes by Congressional District. So while Republicans invariably won the state\u2019s two overall electoral votes, the other three were split by Congressional Districts. And since one of those Districts included Omaha and Lincoln, Democrats often won one of the five Presidential electoral votes from Red-Red Nebraska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the state legislature \u2013 the single \u201chouse\u201d at the State Capitol in Lincoln, considered changing the rules (at the behest of the Trump Campaign). The very Republican legislature talked about going to \u201cwinner take all\u201d, just like the other forty-eight states. And that could be a \u201cbig deal\u201d (Here we go\u2026) What if Biden and Trump were close in the electoral college, 269 to 268? Then that single vote in Nebraska (or the single vote in Maine, split the same way) would make all the difference. Here we are, less the eight months ahead of the election, and the Republican unicameral legislature in Nebraska is going to change the rules? Democrats, cry FOUL!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take a breath.\u00a0\u00a0They didn\u2019t do it, yet, though MAGA forces are meeting in Omaha to try to pressure local Republicans.\u00a0\u00a0And even if they did, perhaps the bicameral (two house) Democratic legislature of Maine could change their rules to winner take all, a move that would usually mean a Democratic winner.\u00a0\u00a0But either way, for a few days it generated breathless predictions on Twitter, and MSNBC, and gave statisticians like Steve Kornacki additional air time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And now: this just in from Columbus, Ohio. Fresh from the \u201chorror\u201d of the moon blocking out the sun, another scenario darkens the political landscape. Ohio election law has a requirement: candidates for office have to be \u201cdeclared\u201d to be on the state ballot, ninety days before the election. This year\u2019s election is on November 5th<\/sup>, and ninety days before is August 5th<\/sup>. Seems reasonable: ballots have to be developed, proofed, printed and distributed in all 88 counties in the state \u2013 all of that takes time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s the \u201cpanic\u201d. The Democratic Convention, where Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be \u201cofficially\u201d nominated for President and Vice President of the United States, starts in Chicago on August 19th<\/sup> and concludes on August 22nd<\/sup>. That\u2019s more than two weeks after the Ohio deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This isn\u2019t the first time.\u00a0\u00a0In 2020, the pandemic conventions of both parties were after the deadline.\u00a0\u00a0The Democrats went first, about the same time, and the Republicans were in Cleveland the week after that!\u00a0\u00a0The Republican Ohio legislature did the reasonable thing.\u00a0\u00a0They waived the deadline for\u00a0\u00a0both the parties, putting them on a sixty day schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ahh, but this isn\u2019t 2020.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Republican Convention, nominating Donald Trump in Milwaukee, will be July 15th<\/sup>\u00a0to the 18th<\/sup>; in plenty of time for the Ohio law.\u00a0\u00a0So the question, the great crisis of this week, is will the very MAGA-Republican (bicameral) Ohio legislature grant the Democrats a waiver, or will they disallow the Democratic candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States from the ballots of the Great State of Ohio in 2024?\u00a0\u00a0Talk about crying FOUL!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if all that isn’t enough – Alabama is threatening to do the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Look, the Ohio legislature has done a lot of \u201clow down\u201d and \u201cdirty politics\u201d in the recent past, and certainly shows no shame in doing so.\u00a0\u00a0But to prevent the people of Ohio from choosing to support the sitting President? That, probably, is too far, even for them (though I can’t speak for Alabama).\u00a0\u00a0I suspect there will be some kind of accommodation, even though every elected state official or body in Ohio is Republican:\u00a0\u00a0the Secretary of State, the Lieutenant Governor, the Governor, a four of seven justices majority on the Ohio Supreme Court and super-majorities in both houses of the legislature.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nA Long Way to November<\/h3>\n\n\n\n