On Tuesday, as voters across the country streamed to the polls in what are expected to be record numbers, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign manager uttered a statement that seemingly portended trouble for her candidate, claiming that Biden could win the presidential election without winning the states of Florida and Pennsylvania.
Charlotte Alter, senior correspondent for TIME, reported that Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon claimed, “We continue to have multiple pathways to 270 electoral votes” without winning the states of Pennsylvania and Florida.
Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon: "We continue to have multiple pathways to 270 electoral votes" says they can win 270 even without PA and FL
— Charlotte Alter (@CharlotteAlter) November 3, 2020
FiveThirtyEight.com reported in mid-September: “According to FiveThirtyEight’s presidential forecast, Pennsylvania is by far the likeliest state to provide either President Trump or Joe Biden with the decisive vote in the Electoral College: It has a 31 percent chance of being the tipping-point state.… In fact, Pennsylvania is so important that our model gives Trump an 84 percent chance of winning the presidency if he carries the state — and it gives Biden a 96 percent chance of winning if Pennsylvania goes blue.”
Business Insider asserted, “In 85% of simulations where Biden wins the presidency, he also wins the state of Pennsylvania, according to Decision Desk HQ’s data-science and race-call-team director,” and also stated, “Conversely, Trump in simulations wins a second term 70% of the time when he takes Pennsylvania.”
Even Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, has stated that whoever wins Pennsylvania will win the presidency. He acknowledged, “We are the Keystone State. It’s clear from an Electoral College perspective, if you look at the map from last cycle, just how pivotal Pennsylvania is. At the end of the day, I think if Pennsylvania goes, so will go the country,” as Politico reported, adding, “If Florida and the other Sun Belt swing states he won in 2016 are secured, however, Trump still needs one more big win up north. Pennsylvania looks like the place to do it, according to the campaign’s polling and public surveys that show it closer than Wisconsin or Michigan.”
Rob Gleason, the former chairman of Pennsylvania’s Republican Party, said of the Biden campaign, “I don’t understand why they’re not doing any canvassing or get-out-the-vote. In 2016, the Clinton people boasted about their ground game. We started working our ground game a year ahead of time. You can’t just turn this on and off.”
Dillon’s claim that Biden could win without winning Florida and Pennsylvania was derided by various political pundits, among others, who see winning the two states as pivotal to victory in the presidential race.
Dilbert creator Scott Adams: “The cat fell off the roof, but the veterinarian is optimistic about its chances.”
The cat fell off the roof, but the veterinarian is optimistic about its chances. https://t.co/EgIEfFPZu2
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) November 3, 2020
Syndicated columnist Phil Kerpen: “Good luck with that.”
Good luck with that https://t.co/sTD94sN5Fz
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) November 3, 2020
Chris Pandolfo of The Blaze: “This is true, but it’s a stark contrast from the landslide narrative the Biden campaign and the media was going with for the past six months.”
This is true, but it's a stark contrast from the landslide narrative the Biden campaign and the media was going with for the past six months. https://t.co/FQvDkegJ4z
— Chris Pandolfo (@ChrisCPandolfo) November 3, 2020
Greg Price of The Daily Caller: “It’s only 12:30 and the Biden camp is already trying to find ways to win without the two most important states.”
It's only 12:30 and the Biden camp is already trying to find ways to win without the two most important states https://t.co/4j56Z3Q9DF
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 3, 2020