Goodâwell, wait; is it a good morning?
Terry McAuliffe and Glen Youngkin are neck and neck, as youâre reading. Thereâs been a lot of early voting, in a 45-day period thatâs the longest in the stateâs history (a measure passed by Democrats after they took control of both houses of the state legislature; elections matter). It is said to favor McAuliffe heavily. But Election Day voting always favors Republicans about as heavily. Eyes are focused on Loudoun County, outside Washington, D.C., as a particular bellwether. McAuliffe will win it. Joe Biden hammered Donald Trump there,
by 25 points. Steve Kornacki thinks if itâs under 15 or so, McAuliffe could be in real trouble.
But if Youngkin wins, the fallout will be about a lot more than partisan politics. The man is actually going around whipping up his crowds by promising to ban something that does not exist (the teaching of critical race theory in public schools). He is intentionally creating race-based division. In a state with Virginiaâs history. He is sick. And if he wins, this poison will be replicated by Republicans everywhere.
On Capitol Hill, Punchbowl News (subscription) reports Tuesday morning that the House is trying to move full steam ahead to vote on both major bills this week, after Joe Manchinâs press conference yesterday. Manchinâs
statement was, well, extraordinary: This is happening on my terms, he said, or it ainât happening at all. Um, when was he elected president? I somehow missed that. He got reelected in 2018 with
290,000 votes. The actual president got 81 million. And the 81-million guy has no leverage over the 290,000 guy. Thatâs our system.
The two matters are, of course, related. If the Democrats had passed these bills with minimal sturm und drang in September or Octoberâa $1.1 trillion infrastructure bill and, say, a $2.3 trillion budget billâMcAuliffe would be running mostly on that, and I have little doubt heâd be ahead. That that didnât happen is almost entirely the fault of two people. Ron Brownstein has a
typically sharp piece on that up at CNN.com today.Â
In somewhat more encouraging news, the Supreme Courtâs oral arguments on the Texas abortion law
seemed to indicate that the court will allow abortion providers to challenge the law. Remember, in September, the court issued a âshadow docketâÂ
5â4 ruling that the law could go into effect. The surprise players here were Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, who asked questions indicating to courtroom observers that they were open to a challenge.
And of course thereâs Glasgow. Tuesdayâs headlines are about Biden seeking to place
heavy regulations on methane. This would be a regulation; no Congress required. Sounds reasonably promising. From the
Times: âAccording to the [Environmental Protection Agency], the regulation, once finalized, will reduce 41 million tons of methane emissions from 2023 to 2035, the equivalent of 920 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. That is more than the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from all U.S. passenger cars and commercial aircraft in 2019, the agency said.â
OK, thatâs enough for now,
Michael Tomasky, editor