cnbc--2020-11-03--How President Donald Trump got to Election Day in a turbulent 2020

For President Donald Trump , the year leading to Election Day was even more turbulent than the first three years of his tenure : an impeachment trial , racial unrest that unsettled an already tense nation , and a killer microbe that claimed more than 225,000 lives in the U.S. and crushed the economy .
In a stunning post-midnight tweet 32 days before the election , the 74-year-old Trump announced that he , too , had become infected with the coronavirus , as did first lady Melania Trump .
`` We will get through this TOGETHER ! ''
he said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had faced off against Democrat Joe Biden in the first presidential debate of the campaign .
Both men , maskless , stood at lecterns more than 6 feet apart during the verbal brawl , in which Trump ridiculed the 77-year-old former vice president for wearing `` the biggest mask I have ever seen . ''
Trump survived the infection and came back to argue his case for reelection , debating Biden a second time and traveling to battleground states around the country to rally supporters despite a surge in Covid-19 cases .
For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see : How Joe Biden got to the threshold of the presidency One week before the election , he prevailed in his appointment of conservative Amy Coney Barrett to succeed the late liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court .
It was Trump 's third Supreme Court selection , the most for any first-term president since Richard Nixon , and it appeared to solidify the court 's conservative majority — 6-3 .
The inquiry focused on his request to Ukraine 's newly elected president to investigate Biden 's actions in that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that it was Ukraine , not Russia , that had interfered in the 2016 U.S. election at the behest of Democrats .
Trump 's July 25 , 2019 , phone call , in which he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to `` do us a favor '' and order a corruption probe of Biden and Biden 's son Hunter , was made one day after Mueller finally broke his silence by testifying in Congress about his 22-month Russia probe .
Trump 's leverage was his balking on Zelenskiy 's request for a face-to-face @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 400 million in congressionally mandated military aid to Ukraine , which was fighting a war against Russian surrogates .
After a whistleblower brought the phone call to light , House Speaker Nancy Pelosi approved the impeachment inquiry .
Nearly three months later , the House voted along party lines on Dec. 18 to charge Trump with high crimes and misdemeanors , approving two articles of impeachment : abuse of power and obstruction of Congress for stonewalling the House investigation .
With the Republicans ' 53-47 control of the Senate , the impeachment trial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surprise of the Feb. 5 vote was that one Republican senator — Mitt Romney of Utah — broke ranks to vote to convict Trump on one count , abuse of power .
All the other Republicans voted to acquit and all the Democrats voted to convict .
But in spring 2020 , states began to lock down their economies in an effort to flatten the rise in coronavirus cases .
The shutdowns led to the loss of tens of millions of jobs and wiped out the Trump market gains .
Months later , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ record highs , then turned south in the week before the election .
The mysterious infection emerged in Wuhan , China , on New Year 's Eve .
As the virus spread from China , Trump initially played down the risks .
A day after the first U.S. case was announced on Jan. 21 , CNBC 's Joe Kernen asked Trump whether he was worried about it spreading to the United States .
`` No , not at all , '' Trump replied during the interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it totally under control .
It 's one person coming in from China , and we have it under control .
It 's going to be just fine . ''
He conducted indoor political rallies in Tulsa , Oklahoma , in June and Las Vegas in September , despite warnings that the virus was more likely to spread indoors than outside .
A prominent supporter who attended the Tulsa rally , Herman Cain , died of Covid weeks later .
On Oct. 1 , the day that one of Trump 's closest aides @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was infected , the president traveled from Washington to meet with GOP donors in a fundraiser at his country club in Bedminster , New Jersey .
Hours later , he announced that he and the first lady tested positive for Covid .
Their 14-year-old son , Barron , also was infected .
Several other White House officials also tested positive .
It appeared that Trump 's introduction of Barrett as his Supreme Court nominee in the Rose Garden on Sept. 26 became a super-spreading event and helped turned the White House into a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ broke 150,000 in late June , Trump was pressed by Axios ' Jonathan Swan about the death toll .
`` They are dying , that 's true .
And you have — it is what it is , '' Trump replied .
`` But that does n't mean we are n't doing everything we can .
It 's under control as much as you can control it .
This is a horrible plague . ''
Three months later , the U.S. death toll broke 200,000 among more than 7 million cases , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University .
And just nine days before the election and 25,000 more U.S. deaths , White House chief of staff Mark Meadows acknowledged on CNN : `` We 're not going to control the pandemic .
We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines , therapeutics and other mitigations . ''
Trump himself had earlier encounters with coronavirus : At his Mar-a-Lago resort in March 2020 , he stood next to a Brazilian official who later tested positive .
Weeks later , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ served his food , also tested positive .
Trump 's tests were negative .
In May , Trump said he started to take a daily dose of hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure against the virus .
Without conclusive evidence , he had previously promoted the anti-malaria drug as a game changer .
The Food and Drug Administration had warned that the medication could cause serious heart problems , and experts said its effectiveness against Covid was unproven .
After the president became infected , he was given an 8 gram dose of Regeneron @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taking zinc , vitamin D , famotidine , melatonin and a daily aspirin , according to his physician , Dr. Sean Conley .
Two days after he was hospitalized , he briefly left Walter Reed to wave to supporters outside while driving by in an SUV driven by Secret Service agents .
The following day , he was discharged and flew back on Marine One to the White House , where he removed his mask and recorded a video .
`` Do n't let [ the virus ] dominate you .
Do n't @ @ @ @ @ @ @ n't let it take over your lives , '' he urged Americans .
A month later , he dispatched federal forces in Portland , Oregon , to block protesters at the U.S .
Courthouse .
The forces , using unmarked cars and wearing unidentified camouflage uniforms , were deployed despite opposition from the mayor of Portland and the governor of Oregon , both Democrats .
While appearing at one demonstration , Mayor Ted Wheeler was among those tear-gassed .
Trump threatened to deploy the troops in other cities with `` liberal Democrats '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Philadelphia , Detroit , Baltimore and Oakland , California .
`` We 're sending law enforcement , '' Trump said .
`` We ca n't let this happen to the cities . ''
Amid the convergence of plague and protests , Trump went to war against the post office — specifically voting by mail .
Some states had allowed voters to mail in their ballots for years , and election officials were looking for a safe way to avoid crowded polling places , where the virus could spread .
To Trump , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in history . ''
While making his attacks , he himself voted by mail in Florida 's August 2020 primary , as he did in the state 's presidential preference vote five months earlier .
Then in early September , he suggested in North Carolina that voters cast ballots by mail and in person to test the system , even though multiple voting is a crime .
`` So let them send it in and let them go vote , and if their system 's as good as they say it is , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to vote .
If it is n't tabulated , they 'll be able to vote , '' Trump said .
Weeks later , Trump was asked if he would abide by a peaceful transfer of power if he lost to Biden .
`` Well , we 'll have to see what happens , '' he responded .
`` You know that .
I 've been complaining very strongly about the ballots .
And the ballots are a disaster .
... Get rid of the ballots , and you 'll have a very — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there wo n't be a transfer , frankly , there 'll be a continuation . ''

President Donald Trump arrives at Southwest Florida International Airport ahead of a campaign stop in Fort Myers, Florida, U.S., October 16, 2020. Carlos Barria | Reuters
For President Donald Trump, the year leading to Election Day was even more turbulent than the first three years of his tenure: an impeachment trial, racial unrest that unsettled an already tense nation, and a killer microbe that claimed more than 225,000 lives in the U.S. and crushed the economy. In a stunning post-midnight tweet 32 days before the election, the 74-year-old Trump announced that he, too, had become infected with the coronavirus, as did first lady Melania Trump. "We will get through this TOGETHER!" he said. Just two days earlier, Trump had faced off against Democrat Joe Biden in the first presidential debate of the campaign. Both men, maskless, stood at lecterns more than 6 feet apart during the verbal brawl, in which Trump ridiculed the 77-year-old former vice president for wearing "the biggest mask I have ever seen."
watch now
Trump survived the infection and came back to argue his case for reelection, debating Biden a second time and traveling to battleground states around the country to rally supporters despite a surge in Covid-19 cases. For a profile of Democrat Joe Biden, see: How Joe Biden got to the threshold of the presidency One week before the election, he prevailed in his appointment of conservative Amy Coney Barrett to succeed the late liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. It was Trump's third Supreme Court selection, the most for any first-term president since Richard Nixon, and it appeared to solidify the court's conservative majority — 6-3.
Impeached but not removed
Yes, the impeachment trial started only nine months ago, on Jan. 16. Months after surviving special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, the New York real estate baron and reality TV star who made an astonishing rise to the Oval Office found himself at the center of the impeachment probe.
President Donald Trump holds a copy of The Washington Post as he speaks in the East Room of the White House one day after the Senate acquitted him of two articles of impeachment, February 6, 2020 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer | Getty Images
The inquiry focused on his request to Ukraine's newly elected president to investigate Biden's actions in that country and on a debunked conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that had interfered in the 2016 U.S. election at the behest of Democrats. Trump's July 25, 2019, phone call, in which he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to "do us a favor" and order a corruption probe of Biden and Biden's son Hunter, was made one day after Mueller finally broke his silence by testifying in Congress about his 22-month Russia probe. Trump's leverage was his balking on Zelenskiy's request for a face-to-face meeting and his withholding of nearly $400 million in congressionally mandated military aid to Ukraine, which was fighting a war against Russian surrogates. After a whistleblower brought the phone call to light, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi approved the impeachment inquiry. Nearly three months later, the House voted along party lines on Dec. 18 to charge Trump with high crimes and misdemeanors, approving two articles of impeachment: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress for stonewalling the House investigation. With the Republicans' 53-47 control of the Senate, the impeachment trial had a predicable outcome. The only surprise of the Feb. 5 vote was that one Republican senator — Mitt Romney of Utah — broke ranks to vote to convict Trump on one count, abuse of power. All the other Republicans voted to acquit and all the Democrats voted to convict.
The plague
The acquittal came just as Trump was blindsided with an unprecedented challenge — the coronavirus. Starting immediately with Trump's 2016 election as the nation's 45th president, stocks moved from record high to record high during his first three years in the White House. The market had extended its bull run to more than 10 years, and the economy continued its slow expansion with 50-year lows in the unemployment rate and little inflation.
President Donald Trump speaks while Dr. Anthony Fauci (L) and Vice President Mike Pence stand by during the daily coronavirus task force briefing at the White House on March 31, 2020 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee | Getty Images
But in spring 2020, states began to lock down their economies in an effort to flatten the rise in coronavirus cases. The shutdowns led to the loss of tens of millions of jobs and wiped out the Trump market gains. Months later, equity indexes clawed their way back to record highs, then turned south in the week before the election. The mysterious infection emerged in Wuhan, China, on New Year's Eve. As the virus spread from China, Trump initially played down the risks. A day after the first U.S. case was announced on Jan. 21, CNBC's Joe Kernen asked Trump whether he was worried about it spreading to the United States. "No, not at all," Trump replied during the interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "And we have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine."
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President Donald Trump wears a mask as he visits Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland' on July 11, 2020. Alex Edelman | Getty Images
He conducted indoor political rallies in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June and Las Vegas in September, despite warnings that the virus was more likely to spread indoors than outside. A prominent supporter who attended the Tulsa rally, Herman Cain, died of Covid weeks later. On Oct. 1, the day that one of Trump's closest aides, Hope Hicks, found out she was infected, the president traveled from Washington to meet with GOP donors in a fundraiser at his country club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Hours later, he announced that he and the first lady tested positive for Covid. Their 14-year-old son, Barron, also was infected. Several other White House officials also tested positive. It appeared that Trump's introduction of Barrett as his Supreme Court nominee in the Rose Garden on Sept. 26 became a super-spreading event and helped turned the White House into a coronavirus hot spot. As U.S. fatalities broke 150,000 in late June, Trump was pressed by Axios' Jonathan Swan about the death toll. "They are dying, that's true. And you have — it is what it is," Trump replied. "But that doesn't mean we aren't doing everything we can. It's under control as much as you can control it. This is a horrible plague." Three months later, the U.S. death toll broke 200,000 among more than 7 million cases, the highest number of infections in the world, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. And just nine days before the election and 25,000 more U.S. deaths, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows acknowledged on CNN: "We're not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigations." Trump himself had earlier encounters with coronavirus: At his Mar-a-Lago resort in March 2020, he stood next to a Brazilian official who later tested positive. Weeks later, his White House military valet, who served his food, also tested positive. Trump's tests were negative.
President Donald Trump pulls off his face mask as he poses atop the Truman Balcony of the White House after returning from Walter Reed hospital for treatment of Covid-19, in Washington, U.S. October 5, 2020. Erin Scott | Reuters
In May, Trump said he started to take a daily dose of hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure against the virus. Without conclusive evidence, he had previously promoted the anti-malaria drug as a game changer. The Food and Drug Administration had warned that the medication could cause serious heart problems, and experts said its effectiveness against Covid was unproven. After the president became infected, he was given an 8 gram dose of Regeneron's polyclonal antibody cocktail and had been taking zinc, vitamin D, famotidine, melatonin and a daily aspirin, according to his physician, Dr. Sean Conley. Two days after he was hospitalized, he briefly left Walter Reed to wave to supporters outside while driving by in an SUV driven by Secret Service agents. The following day, he was discharged and flew back on Marine One to the White House, where he removed his mask and recorded a video. "Don't let [the virus] dominate you. Don't be afraid of it. ... Don't let it take over your lives," he urged Americans.
The protests
As monumental as it was, the pandemic and the economic meltdown it spawned weren't the only crises ahead of the election. Just as the nation was emerging from a more than two-month lockdown, the videotaped death of an unarmed Black man, 46-year-old George Floyd, sparked widespread protests and the nation's worst racial disturbances since the Rodney King rioting 28 years earlier. Floyd died on Memorial Day while a White Minneapolis officer knelt on his neck for nearly eight minutes. Protests swept through dozens of cities, including Washington. During one demonstration at the White House gates, Trump briefly took shelter in a secret bunker under the Executive Mansion. Rather than offer words of healing, Trump preached confrontation against the protesters, promising "the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons" and warning on Twitter that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."
Three days later, he castigated governors for what he perceived as weakness, saying: "When they have bricks ... you are allowed to fight back."
"If a city or state refuses to take the actions necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them," Trump told reporters in the Rose Garden later that day. As Trump uttered those words, riot and military police outside the White House used tear gas to clear protesters out of Lafayette Square. Then, Trump and his top aides marched through the square to historic St. John's Episcopal Church, which had been damaged days earlier. He stood in front of the church's marquee board, held up a Bible and posed for photos.
President Donald Trump holds up a Bible in front of St John's Episcopal Church after walking across Lafayette Park from the White House in Washington, DC on June 1, 2020. Brendan Smialowski | AFP via Getty Images


cnbc--2020-11-03--How Joe Biden got to the threshold of the presidency

Joe Biden was one of the youngest people to be elected to the Senate and is one of the oldest to run for president .
Biden served eight years as President Barack Obama 's vice president but decided not to seek the Democratic Party 's 2016 presidential nomination .
That decision cleared the way for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to run in the election , which ended in a shocking upset by then-novice politician Donald Trump .
The former vice president balked again at seeking the 2020 nomination but announced his candidacy on April 25 , 2019 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ concerns about his age and the effect of a presidential run on his family .
He said one major motivation was Trump 's declaration after the deadly neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville , Virginia , in 2017 that there were `` very fine people on both sides . ''
`` With those words , the president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it , '' Biden said in a 3½-minute video announcing his candidacy .
`` At that moment , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was unlike any I had ever seen in my lifetime .
... We are in the battle for the soul of this nation . ''
So now , the quintessential D.C. insider is trying to dislodge the incomparable outsider from the White House .
It 's the third time he has run for president , stumbling in bids for the nomination in 1988 and 2008 .
For a profile of President Donald Trump , see : How President Donald Trump got to Election Day in a turbulent 2020 Biden was on the mat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire , finishing in fourth place in the former and picking up zero delegates in the latter .
He was in such bad shape that he left the Granite State even before the polls closed on Feb. 11 and raced to his do-or-die state , South Carolina , which voted 18 days later .
Picking up the crucial endorsement of Rep. Jim Clyburn , the state 's most powerful Democrat and the highest-ranking Black member of Congress , Biden won the first presidential primary of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of seven candidates , winning 48 % of the vote , with the runner-up , Sen. Bernie Sanders , winning 20 % .
Biden wound up sweeping all but eight states in the primaries and caucuses .
Days before the Democratic National Convention , Biden selected as his vice presidential candidate one of his primary opponents , Sen. Kamala Harris of California , despite her evisceration of him in the first Democratic debate for his opposition to busing during the 1970s and '80s .
She is the first woman of color to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` I need someone working alongside me who is smart , tough , and ready to lead .
Kamala is that person , '' Biden said .
`` I need someone who understands the pain that so many people in our nation are suffering .
Whether they 've lost their job , their business , a loved one to this virus .
...
This president says he 'does n't want to be distracted by it . '
...
If we 're going to get through these crises — we need to come together @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kamala gets that . ''
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born Nov. 20 , 1942 , in Scranton , Pennsylvania , the oldest of four children of Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden and Biden Sr .
The elder Biden worked as a furnace cleaner and used-car salesman .
In a search of a better job , he moved the family to Delaware when Joe Jr. was 10 .
As a boy , Biden had to fight taunts from classmates because he stuttered .
After graduating from the University of Delaware , Biden married Neilia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Syracuse University Law School two years later .
The Bidens moved to Claymont , Delaware , where he began practicing law and was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1969 .
Two years later , at age 29 , he won a stunning upset in a U.S. Senate race , defeating two-term Republican J. Caleb Boggs , who also had served two terms in the House and two terms as governor .
Six weeks after that triumph , while Biden went to Washington to check out his new office , his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year-old daughter to shop for a Christmas tree .
The car she was driving was involved in a crash with a tractor-trailer .
Neilia and their daughter , Naomi , were killed , and sons Beau , 3 , and 2-year-old Hunter were seriously injured .
Biden considered giving up the Senate seat but decided otherwise .
He was sworn in on Jan. 5 , 1973 , in a chapel at the Wilmington Medical Center , where Beau and Hunter were treated .
Just six weeks before the small ceremony , Biden had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ serve in the upper chamber .
`` One of my earliest memories was being in that hospital , my Dad always at our side .
We , my brother and I , not the Senate , were all he cared about , '' Beau Biden recalled at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver .
`` He decided not to take the oath of office .
He said then , 'Delaware can always get another senator , but my boys ca n't get another father . '
However , great men , great @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Hubert Humphrey — men who had been tested in their own right — convinced him to serve .
He was sworn in at the hospital , at my bedside . ''
Thus began Biden 's 36 years in the Senate .
Rather than moving to Washington , he commuted by Amtrak four hours a day for the 110-mile trip from Wilmington to the nation 's capital , so he could be with his sons in Delaware .
It was a tradition he kept for his entire career on Capitol Hill .
Four @ @ @ @ @ @ @ married Jill Jacobs Stevenson , a teacher he had met on a blind date .
She became the stepmother of Biden 's sons and in 1981 the mother of the couple 's daughter , Ashley .
In the Senate , Biden became chairman of the Judiciary and Foreign Relations committees .
In the mid-1970s , he was a leading opponent of using busing against racial segregation of schools in Northern states such as Delaware , aligning himself with Sen. Jesse Helms , R-N.C. His stance came back to haunt him during a 2019 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for working with segregationists .
`` There was a little girl in California who was a part of the second class to integrate her public schools , and she was bused to school every day , '' she said .
`` And that little girl was me . ''
Staggered , Biden said it was a `` mischaracterization '' of his position .
`` What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education , '' he said .
Biden was floor manager of the 1984 Comprehensive Crime Control Act , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Committee chairman , he helped draft the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act , which expanded the federal death penalty , banned assault weapons and provided for harsher standards for crack cocaine violations than for powdered forms of the drug .
The crack provisions disproportionately affected Black people .
In early 2019 , three months before launching his presidential campaign , Biden called his role in backing the anti-crime measures `` a big mistake . ''
In another move he came to regret , Biden led the interrogation of Anita Hill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court justice in 1991 .
A reluctant witness , Hill accused Thomas of sexually harassing her when he was her supervisor at the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission .
Biden blocked other witnesses who were ready to testify to the all-male committee in support of Hill .
Biden said he did n't want to violate Thomas ' privacy but went on to vote in the minority against the nomination .
On the first day of Biden 's 2020 presidential bid , his campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ call with Hill , the former vice president had expressed `` his regret for what she endured '' three decades earlier .
Hill , a law professor at Brandeis University , told The New York Times she found the conversation unsatisfying , but she eventually endorsed Biden over Trump , `` notwithstanding all of his limitations in the past . ''
`` I believed her story from the very beginning , '' Biden told CNN last July .
`` I wish I could have protected her more .
...
I wish I could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But when it ended , I was determined to do two things .
One , make sure never again would there not be women on the committee .
... And I was determined to continue and finish writing and passing the Violence Against Women Act . ''
He did co-sponsor that legislation , which became law in 1994 as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act .
On the Foreign Relations Committee , Biden voted against authorizing the Gulf War in 1991 after Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait @ @ @ @ @ @ @ among the first to call for arming Bosnian Muslims and allowing NATO airstrikes against Serb forces in the Balkan War .
Eight years later , Biden backed the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and co-sponsored legislation with Republican Sen. John McCain that called on President Bill Clinton to use force against Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic for atrocities in the Kosovo War .
After the Sept. 11 , 2001 , terrorist attacks and the U.S. military action against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan , Biden was an early supporter of a continued U.S. military peacekeeping @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where the al-Qaeda plotters of 9/11 had been based .
`` Whatever it takes , we should do it , '' Biden said in February 2002 .
`` History will judge us harshly if we allow the hope of a liberated Afghanistan to evaporate because we failed to stay the course . ''
During the tensions ahead of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq , Biden helped draft a resolution that gave President George W. Bush the authority to use military force as a last resort against Saddam 's purported program to develop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1988 presidential campaign lasted less than three months , flaming out after he was accused of plagiarizing a speech by British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock during a debate at the 1987 Iowa State Fair .
It was n't the last time Biden put his foot in his mouth .
In 2006 , two years after announcing his intention to run for president again , Biden rambled seemingly endlessly during the confirmation hearing for then-Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito Jr .
The senator managed to ask only five questions in his allotted 30 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say — and then too much to add , '' The Washington Post 's Richard Cohen said in a column the next day .
`` He is an anatomical disaster .
His Achilles ' heel is his mouth . ''
During the 2008 presidential campaign , Biden touted his foreign policy credentials , but that bid also fizzled , again because of remarks he made , starting on Day One of his candidacy .
In an interview published that day , Jan. 31 , 2007 , in The New York Observer , Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
`` I mean you got the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy , '' Biden said .
Obama at first brushed it off , saying he did n't think Biden `` intended to offend , '' but he later took issue with the remarks .
`` Obviously they were historically inaccurate , '' Obama said .
`` African American presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson , Shirley Chisholm , Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton gave a voice to many important issues through their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them inarticulate . ''
Nearly a year later , Biden dropped out of the race .
Luckily for him , Obama took the high road and named him his running mate in the 2008 campaign , selecting the Irish American senator — a member of the `` sensible center of the Democratic Party , '' as it was known — for his popularity with blue-collar voters and for his expertise in national security .
Even during Biden 's successful bid for the 2020 nomination , his mouth got him in trouble .
Three @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Floyd on Memorial Day , Biden apologized within hours of making a racially insensitive statement on `` The Breakfast Club , '' a podcast popular with Black millennials .
`` If you 've got a problem figuring out whether you 're for me or for Trump , then you ai n't Black , '' he said .
The comment shook and angered Black voters .
Only 2½ months earlier , African American voters in South Carolina had saved the presidential bid for the man who was vice president to the nation 's first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the country struggling to pull out of the Great Recession .
Biden helped get support for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 , then was placed in charge of oversight for the $ 787 billion package , which included income and unemployment subsidies , tax cuts and funds for `` shovel-ready '' infrastructure projects .
The New York Times in May 2020 called Biden 's oversight role `` perhaps the most significant ... assignment of his time in office . ''
In a 2010 report , the nonpartisan Congressional Budget @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gross domestic product by between 1.7 % and 4.5 % , lowering the unemployment rate by between 0.7 and 1.8 percentage points and increasing the number of full-time jobs by a range of 2 million to 4.8 million .
Republicans , however , criticized it .
A report by McCain and Sen. Tom Coburn , R-Okla. , targeted 100 projects that received funds , including $ 555,000 for new windows for a closed visitor 's center at Mount St. Helens and $ 762,000 for a computerized dance program at the University of North @ @ @ @ @ @ @ across-the-aisle talents were used to win deals with Sen. Mitch McConnell , R-Ky. , to avoid falling off the `` fiscal cliff '' during standoffs in 2011 and 2012 over the federal deficit and debt .
Their agreement in 2012 led to the American Taxpayer Relief Act of that year , which made permanent many of the tax cuts enacted under the George W. Bush administration .
While Biden was Obama 's vice president , the `` Joe bombs '' continued .
During the swine flu outbreak in 2009 , he got in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would advise his family to avoid travel on public transit or planes , eliciting a clarification from the White House .
In May 2012 , his statement that he was `` absolutely comfortable '' with same-sex marriage was a clearer endorsement than Obama 's self-described `` evolving '' position on the issue .
Biden apologized to Obama privately , but the president later moved to clearly advocate for same-sex marriage .
Biden made numerous visits to U.S. troops in Iraq and supported NATO 's military intervention in Libya during the demise of Moammar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ assassination .
He argued , unsuccessfully , against then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 's call for sending 21,000 more troops to the war in Afghanistan in 2009 .
`` The best thing about Joe is that when we get everybody together , he really forces people to think and defend their positions , to look at things from every angle , and that is very valuable for me , '' Obama said in a statement later that year to Politico .
`` I also know , when he gives me his advice , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' Biden 's hopes for the White House were derailed in 2015 , this time by another family tragedy .
His son Beau , who had served in Iraq and as Delaware attorney general and had been a front-runner in the race for governor , died of brain cancer on May 30 , 2015 .
He was 46 .
Five months later , Biden announced in the White House Rose Garden that he was taking himself out of the 2016 presidential race .
`` As the family and I have worked through the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said all along what I 've said time and again to others : that it may very well be that that process , by the time we get through it , closes the window on mounting a realistic campaign for president .
That it might close , '' Biden said .
`` I 've concluded it has closed . ''
Before Biden reopened that window more than four years later , Trump considered him such a threat that he pressured the head of a foreign country — President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma .
According to an unfounded conspiracy theory , then-Vice President Biden sought to withhold loan guarantees to Ukraine to pressure its government to fire a prosecutor in order to protect Hunter in a corruption investigation of Burisma .
However , the call for the removal of the Ukrainian prosecutor was supported by Republicans and Democrats and by major U.S. allies because he was considered soft on corruption .
Trump 's call to Zelenskiy became the basis of the impeachment trial that ended in his acquittal by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Hunter , although he and his son conceded that Hunter could have exercised better judgment in joining the Burisma board .
`` Look , my son did nothing wrong at Burisma , '' Biden said during the first election debate against Trump .
`` This is not about my family or his family , this is about your family — the American people . ''
Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube .

Joe Biden speaks in Wilmington, Delaware, about the Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, June 30, 2020. Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Joe Biden was one of the youngest people to be elected to the Senate and is one of the oldest to run for president. Biden served eight years as President Barack Obama's vice president but decided not to seek the Democratic Party's 2016 presidential nomination. That decision cleared the way for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to run in the election, which ended in a shocking upset by then-novice politician Donald Trump. The former vice president balked again at seeking the 2020 nomination but announced his candidacy on April 25, 2019, at age 76, despite his personal concerns about his age and the effect of a presidential run on his family. He said one major motivation was Trump's declaration after the deadly neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 that there were "very fine people on both sides." "With those words, the president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it," Biden said in a 3½-minute video announcing his candidacy. "At that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I had ever seen in my lifetime. ... We are in the battle for the soul of this nation." So now, the quintessential D.C. insider is trying to dislodge the incomparable outsider from the White House. It's the third time he has run for president, stumbling in bids for the nomination in 1988 and 2008. For a profile of President Donald Trump, see: How President Donald Trump got to Election Day in a turbulent 2020 Biden was on the mat in the first two 2020 nominating contests, with poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, finishing in fourth place in the former and picking up zero delegates in the latter. He was in such bad shape that he left the Granite State even before the polls closed on Feb. 11 and raced to his do-or-die state, South Carolina, which voted 18 days later. Picking up the crucial endorsement of Rep. Jim Clyburn, the state's most powerful Democrat and the highest-ranking Black member of Congress, Biden won the first presidential primary of his life. He crushed the field of seven candidates, winning 48% of the vote, with the runner-up, Sen. Bernie Sanders, winning 20%. Biden wound up sweeping all but eight states in the primaries and caucuses. Days before the Democratic National Convention, Biden selected as his vice presidential candidate one of his primary opponents, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, despite her evisceration of him in the first Democratic debate for his opposition to busing during the 1970s and '80s. She is the first woman of color to be chosen for a major party ticket. "I need someone working alongside me who is smart, tough, and ready to lead. Kamala is that person," Biden said. "I need someone who understands the pain that so many people in our nation are suffering. Whether they've lost their job, their business, a loved one to this virus. ... This president says he 'doesn't want to be distracted by it.' ... If we're going to get through these crises — we need to come together and unite for a better America. Kamala gets that."
Early tragedies and triumphs
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born Nov. 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the oldest of four children of Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden and Biden Sr. The elder Biden worked as a furnace cleaner and used-car salesman. In a search of a better job, he moved the family to Delaware when Joe Jr. was 10. As a boy, Biden had to fight taunts from classmates because he stuttered. After graduating from the University of Delaware, Biden married Neilia Hunter in August 1966 and graduated from Syracuse University Law School two years later. The Bidens moved to Claymont, Delaware, where he began practicing law and was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1969. Two years later, at age 29, he won a stunning upset in a U.S. Senate race, defeating two-term Republican J. Caleb Boggs, who also had served two terms in the House and two terms as governor. Six weeks after that triumph, while Biden went to Washington to check out his new office, his wife took their two young sons and year-old daughter to shop for a Christmas tree. The car she was driving was involved in a crash with a tractor-trailer. Neilia and their daughter, Naomi, were killed, and sons Beau, 3, and 2-year-old Hunter were seriously injured.
Then Sen.-elect Joseph Biden swears to his U.S. citizenship at the office of the Secretary of the Senate. Biden, who just turned 30 at the time, became the youngest Senator in the 93rd Congress on Jan. 3, 1973. Left is William Ridgely, Senate financial officer, and center is Frank Valeo, secretary of the Senate. Bettmann | Getty Images
Biden considered giving up the Senate seat but decided otherwise. He was sworn in on Jan. 5, 1973, in a chapel at the Wilmington Medical Center, where Beau and Hunter were treated. Just six weeks before the small ceremony, Biden had turned 30, the minimum age to serve in the upper chamber. "One of my earliest memories was being in that hospital, my Dad always at our side. We, my brother and I, not the Senate, were all he cared about," Beau Biden recalled at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. "He decided not to take the oath of office. He said then, 'Delaware can always get another senator, but my boys can't get another father.' However, great men, great men like Ted Kennedy, Mike Mansfield, Hubert Humphrey — men who had been tested in their own right — convinced him to serve. He was sworn in at the hospital, at my bedside." Thus began Biden's 36 years in the Senate. Rather than moving to Washington, he commuted by Amtrak four hours a day for the 110-mile trip from Wilmington to the nation's capital, so he could be with his sons in Delaware. It was a tradition he kept for his entire career on Capitol Hill. Four years into his first term, Biden married Jill Jacobs Stevenson, a teacher he had met on a blind date. She became the stepmother of Biden's sons and in 1981 the mother of the couple's daughter, Ashley.
Joe Biden greets his wife, Jill, on the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention from the Chase Center on August 20, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Win McNamee | Getty Images
In the Senate, Biden became chairman of the Judiciary and Foreign Relations committees. In the mid-1970s, he was a leading opponent of using busing against racial segregation of schools in Northern states such as Delaware, aligning himself with Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C. His stance came back to haunt him during a 2019 presidential debate, when Harris attacked him for working with segregationists. "There was a little girl in California who was a part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day," she said. "And that little girl was me." Staggered, Biden said it was a "mischaracterization" of his position. "What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education," he said. Biden was floor manager of the 1984 Comprehensive Crime Control Act, which toughened penalties for criminals. As Judiciary Committee chairman, he helped draft the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which expanded the federal death penalty, banned assault weapons and provided for harsher standards for crack cocaine violations than for powdered forms of the drug. The crack provisions disproportionately affected Black people. In early 2019, three months before launching his presidential campaign, Biden called his role in backing the anti-crime measures "a big mistake." In another move he came to regret, Biden led the interrogation of Anita Hill at the Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearing for Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court justice in 1991.
Then-Sen. Joseph Biden holds up the book "Order and Law" by Charles Fried during the Clarence Thomas hearings. Wally McNamee | Corbis Historical | Getty Images
A reluctant witness, Hill accused Thomas of sexually harassing her when he was her supervisor at the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Biden blocked other witnesses who were ready to testify to the all-male committee in support of Hill. Biden said he didn't want to violate Thomas' privacy but went on to vote in the minority against the nomination. On the first day of Biden's 2020 presidential bid, his campaign officials disclosed that during a recent phone call with Hill, the former vice president had expressed "his regret for what she endured" three decades earlier. Hill, a law professor at Brandeis University, told The New York Times she found the conversation unsatisfying, but she eventually endorsed Biden over Trump, "notwithstanding all of his limitations in the past." "I believed her story from the very beginning," Biden told CNN last July. "I wish I could have protected her more. ... I wish I could have done it differently under the rules. But when it ended, I was determined to do two things. One, make sure never again would there not be women on the committee. ... And I was determined to continue and finish writing and passing the Violence Against Women Act." He did co-sponsor that legislation, which became law in 1994 as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. On the Foreign Relations Committee, Biden voted against authorizing the Gulf War in 1991 after Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. The same year, Biden was among the first to call for arming Bosnian Muslims and allowing NATO airstrikes against Serb forces in the Balkan War. Eight years later, Biden backed the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and co-sponsored legislation with Republican Sen. John McCain that called on President Bill Clinton to use force against Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic for atrocities in the Kosovo War. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the U.S. military action against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Biden was an early supporter of a continued U.S. military peacekeeping presence in the Central Asian country, where the al-Qaeda plotters of 9/11 had been based. "Whatever it takes, we should do it," Biden said in February 2002. "History will judge us harshly if we allow the hope of a liberated Afghanistan to evaporate because we failed to stay the course." During the tensions ahead of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, Biden helped draft a resolution that gave President George W. Bush the authority to use military force as a last resort against Saddam's purported program to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Foot in mouth
Biden's 1988 presidential campaign lasted less than three months, flaming out after he was accused of plagiarizing a speech by British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock during a debate at the 1987 Iowa State Fair. It wasn't the last time Biden put his foot in his mouth. In 2006, two years after announcing his intention to run for president again, Biden rambled seemingly endlessly during the confirmation hearing for then-Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito Jr. The senator managed to ask only five questions in his allotted 30 minutes. "He has much to say — and then too much to add," The Washington Post's Richard Cohen said in a column the next day. "He is an anatomical disaster. His Achilles' heel is his mouth." During the 2008 presidential campaign, Biden touted his foreign policy credentials, but that bid also fizzled, again because of remarks he made, starting on Day One of his candidacy. In an interview published that day, Jan. 31, 2007, in The New York Observer, Biden described then-Sen. Obama's historic presidential bid. "I mean you got the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said. Obama at first brushed it off, saying he didn't think Biden "intended to offend," but he later took issue with the remarks. "Obviously they were historically inaccurate," Obama said. "African American presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton gave a voice to many important issues through their campaigns, and no one would call them inarticulate."
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden wave during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sept. 6, 2012. Tom Pennington | Getty Images
Nearly a year later, Biden dropped out of the race. Luckily for him, Obama took the high road and named him his running mate in the 2008 campaign, selecting the Irish American senator — a member of the "sensible center of the Democratic Party," as it was known — for his popularity with blue-collar voters and for his expertise in national security. Even during Biden's successful bid for the 2020 nomination, his mouth got him in trouble. Three days before the police killing of George Floyd on Memorial Day, Biden apologized within hours of making a racially insensitive statement on "The Breakfast Club," a podcast popular with Black millennials. "If you've got a problem figuring out whether you're for me or for Trump, then you ain't Black," he said. The comment shook and angered Black voters. Only 2½ months earlier, African American voters in South Carolina had saved the presidential bid for the man who was vice president to the nation's first Black president.
Vice President Biden — 'forces people to think'
The Obama administration began with the country struggling to pull out of the Great Recession. Biden helped get support for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, then was placed in charge of oversight for the $787 billion package, which included income and unemployment subsidies, tax cuts and funds for "shovel-ready" infrastructure projects. The New York Times in May 2020 called Biden's oversight role "perhaps the most significant ... assignment of his time in office." In a 2010 report, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office credited the act for raising real gross domestic product by between 1.7% and 4.5%, lowering the unemployment rate by between 0.7 and 1.8 percentage points and increasing the number of full-time jobs by a range of 2 million to 4.8 million. Republicans, however, criticized it. A report by McCain and Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., targeted 100 projects that received funds, including $555,000 for new windows for a closed visitor's center at Mount St. Helens and $762,000 for a computerized dance program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. But Biden's across-the-aisle talents were used to win deals with Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to avoid falling off the "fiscal cliff" during standoffs in 2011 and 2012 over the federal deficit and debt. Their agreement in 2012 led to the American Taxpayer Relief Act of that year, which made permanent many of the tax cuts enacted under the George W. Bush administration. While Biden was Obama's vice president, the "Joe bombs" continued. During the swine flu outbreak in 2009, he got in trouble with his boss by saying he would advise his family to avoid travel on public transit or planes, eliciting a clarification from the White House. In May 2012, his statement that he was "absolutely comfortable" with same-sex marriage was a clearer endorsement than Obama's self-described "evolving" position on the issue. Biden apologized to Obama privately, but the president later moved to clearly advocate for same-sex marriage. Biden made numerous visits to U.S. troops in Iraq and supported NATO's military intervention in Libya during the demise of Moammar Gadhafi's regime and the dictator's assassination. He argued, unsuccessfully, against then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's call for sending 21,000 more troops to the war in Afghanistan in 2009. "The best thing about Joe is that when we get everybody together, he really forces people to think and defend their positions, to look at things from every angle, and that is very valuable for me," Obama said in a statement later that year to Politico. "I also know, when he gives me his advice, he gives it to me straight." Biden's hopes for the White House were derailed in 2015, this time by another family tragedy. His son Beau, who had served in Iraq and as Delaware attorney general and had been a front-runner in the race for governor, died of brain cancer on May 30, 2015. He was 46. Five months later, Biden announced in the White House Rose Garden that he was taking himself out of the 2016 presidential race.
Then-vice presidential nominee Joe Biden and son Beau acknowledge the crowd at the Democratic National Convention, August 27, 2008 in Denver. Mark Wilson | Getty Images


cnbc--2020-11-03--'The fight for America': The world is watching the U.S. election. Here's what it thinks

US President Donald Trump speaks during a Make America Great Again rally at Kenosha Regional Airport November 2 , 2020 , in Kenosha , Wisconsin .
LONDON — As the day of the 2020 U.S. election dawns , the whole world is watching with bated breath .
Campaigning by incumbent President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden amid an unprecedented public health crisis — the coronavirus pandemic — has given the outside world an insight into the issues that matter to American voters , from the economy and jobs to health care and racial equality .
The run-up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ political polarization that has split American voters .
Beyond its shores , the U.S. election matters because the next president will shape not only America 's future , but the international political landscape , too .
A disputed result and potential civil unrest in the U.S. are in focus the world over .
CNBC has a roundup of what the world 's media thinks as Election Day finally arrives .
The U.K. is a good place to start given its `` special relationship '' with the U.S. Papers are focused on the possibility @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrangling over the vote count and even potential unrest on the streets .
The left-wing Guardian newspaper headlines its coverage of the election and the final hours of campaigning by the candidates with `` U.S. braces for historic election amid fears democracy is in danger , '' leading with concerns over Trump 's `` incendiary '' tweet Monday ( that Twitter also labeled as potentially misleading ) that there could be `` violence on the streets '' if the vote count is not cut short in Pennsylvania .
The right-leaning Telegraph newspaper also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , its election coverage headlined with `` America braces for election violence with shops boarded up and National Guard on standby . ''

US President Donald Trump speaks during a Make America Great Again rally at Kenosha Regional Airport November 2, 2020, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI | AFP | Getty Images
LONDON — As the day of the 2020 U.S. election dawns, the whole world is watching with bated breath. Campaigning by incumbent President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden amid an unprecedented public health crisis — the coronavirus pandemic — has given the outside world an insight into the issues that matter to American voters, from the economy and jobs to health care and racial equality. The run-up to the vote has also highlighted the political polarization that has split American voters. Beyond its shores, the U.S. election matters because the next president will shape not only America's future, but the international political landscape, too. A disputed result and potential civil unrest in the U.S. are in focus the world over. CNBC has a roundup of what the world's media thinks as Election Day finally arrives.
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The U.K. is a good place to start given its "special relationship" with the U.S. Papers are focused on the possibility of a disputed election result, protracted wrangling over the vote count and even potential unrest on the streets. The left-wing Guardian newspaper headlines its coverage of the election and the final hours of campaigning by the candidates with "U.S. braces for historic election amid fears democracy is in danger," leading with concerns over Trump's "incendiary" tweet Monday (that Twitter also labeled as potentially misleading) that there could be "violence on the streets" if the vote count is not cut short in Pennsylvania. The right-leaning Telegraph newspaper also leads with concerns over a disputed result, its election coverage headlined with "America braces for election violence with shops boarded up and National Guard on standby."
'Fight for America'
The election dominates world politics coverage by Europe's news outlets on Tuesday with quick guides to the vote and opinion pieces weighing up what a Biden administration, or continuation of the Trump presidency, could mean for international relations, particularly Europe's relationship with the U.S. following a fractious four years between Trump and the Continent's leaders since his election in 2016. In France, an editorial in Le Figaro newspaper is headlined "An American Suspense" with author Philippe Gelie noting that "outside of the World Cup (soccer) finals, there is hardly any planetary suspense comparable to the U.S. presidential election." Italian daily La Repubblica leads its coverage saying "the world is waiting" for the results of the vote, with its editor writing about the need to "reconstruct" America.
Supporters of the President Donald Trump listen as he speaks during a rally on November 3, 2020 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Kamil Krzaczynski | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Germany's financial news site, Handelsblatt, focuses on how the election will affect financial markets while tabloid newspaper Bild's election coverage highlights what it calls "The fight for America" between the candidates. Meanwhile at Die Welt newspaper, its chief foreign policy correspondent, Clemens Wergin, asks in an opinion piece "What will remain of Trump?" as he believes that "for many Americans and transatlantic people abroad, the Trump presidency is a lingering nightmare that they hope to wake from on November 4th."
'We don't need America'
Given accusations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and the 2020 vote, too, Russian papers are highlighting Russians' perspectives on the vote, and how the next leader of the U.S. will affect relations with Moscow. Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes that what it calls the "unprecedentedly scandalous" 2020 U.S. presidential campaign "that has kept the world in suspense" has come to an end. Izvestia newspaper leads its coverage by focusing on how the vote will affect the balance of power in Congress, and speaks to experts who warn that the risk of political turbulence is "very high."
Democratic presidential candidate and former vice president Joe Biden gestures after speaking a rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 2, 2020. JIM WATSON | AFP | Getty Images
Russian newspaper Kommersant discusses the importance of a victory for the candidates in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania while an opinion piece by commentator Sergei Strokan evaluates whether Trump or Biden would be better for Russia. Ultimately Strokan contends that "there is more and more reason to come to the conclusion that we have not needed America for a long time, although we do not openly admit this. Neither Trump's America nor Biden's America."
Beyond Europe
Europe is not the only continent watching the U.S. election closely. Latin America is focusing on the contest, as well as the importance of the Hispanic vote.
The Latin American edition of Spain's El Pais newspaper notes that "the Latin vote will be decisive in Florida, Pennsylvania and Arizona," adding that "the participation of the Hispanic electorate in some states may overturn the presidential elections in the U.S." U.S.-Latin American relations have been somewhat strained given Trump's opposition to immigration and U.S. intervention during Venezuela's 2019 political uprising against the leftist regime of that country's president, Nicolas Maduro. Newspapers in the region, including the Buenos Aires Times in Argentina, weighed up how the election "could set the tone for the next phase of U.S.-Latin America relations."
Election workers sort through some of the thousands of mail-in ballots at the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana, California, November 2, 2020. Mike Blake | Reuters


cnbc--2020-11-04--Biden projected to win Michigan — he's now 17 Electoral College votes short of White House victory

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is projected to win the state of Michigan , leaving him just 17 Electoral College votes short of being elected to the White House , NBC News reported Wednesday .
Biden , the former vice president , now is projected to win two states that were won by his opponent , incumbent President Donald Trump , in the 2016 election .
The other state is Wisconsin .
Trump beat then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in Michigan by just 0.2 % in 2016 — the closest popular vote margin of any state that election .
Biden 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 253 Electoral College votes , according to the current tally by NBC News .
He needs 270 electoral votes to win .
The states whose popular vote tallies remain to be called are Arizona , where 11 Electoral College votes are at stake , Georgia , which has 16 electoral votes , Pennsylvania , with 20 electoral votes , Nevada , which has six such votes , and North Carolina , which has 15 electoral votes .
Biden currently has slim leads in the popular votes of Nevada and Arizona .
Trump 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ halt the counting of ballots in Michigan as it demanded better access for observers watching the vote tallying at locations in the state .
Michigan voted for Republican presidential candidates from 1972 to 1988 before flipping to Democratic winners from 1992 to 2012 .

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is projected to win the state of Michigan, leaving him just 17 Electoral College votes short of being elected to the White House, NBC News reported Wednesday.
Biden, the former vice president, now is projected to win two states that were won by his opponent, incumbent President Donald Trump, in the 2016 election. The other state is Wisconsin.
Michigan has 16 Electoral College votes.
Trump beat then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in Michigan by just 0.2% in 2016 — the closest popular vote margin of any state that election.
Biden's projected victory in the state gives him 253 Electoral College votes, according to the current tally by NBC News. He needs 270 electoral votes to win.
The states whose popular vote tallies remain to be called are Arizona, where 11 Electoral College votes are at stake, Georgia, which has 16 electoral votes, Pennsylvania, with 20 electoral votes, Nevada, which has six such votes, and North Carolina, which has 15 electoral votes.
Biden currently has slim leads in the popular votes of Nevada and Arizona.
Trump's campaign filed suit earlier Wednesday seeking to halt the counting of ballots in Michigan as it demanded better access for observers watching the vote tallying at locations in the state.
Michigan voted for Republican presidential candidates from 1972 to 1988 before flipping to Democratic winners from 1992 to 2012.


cnbc--2020-11-05--Trump campaign says it is suing to stop Michigan and Pennsylvania ballot counts

President Donald Trump 's campaign said Wednesday that it filed suits to halt the counting of ballots in Michigan and Pennsylvania , as the campaign demanded increased access to observe the tallying process at numerous locations in those battleground states .
The states have a combined 36 Electoral College votes at stake , more than double the 17 electoral votes that Democratic nominee Joe Biden needed as of Wednesday evening to clinch victory in the White House race .
The Trump campaign said that its Michigan lawsuit demands that the campaign be allowed to `` review those ballots '' ... @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we did not have meaningful access . ''
The lawsuit came before NBC News projected Biden , a former vice president , as the winner of Michigan 's presidential vote .
In Pennsylvania , the Trump campaign said that it is moving to intervene in an existing Supreme Court case related to that state 's extension of its mail-in ballot receipt deadline .
Separately in the Keystone State , the campaign is filing two legal actions : one aimed at stopping what the campaign called the `` hiding '' by Democratic officials of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republican poll observers '' and another that seeks to undo an order extending the deadline for absentee and mail-in voters to provide missing proof of identification .
As the actions were announced , Trump 's inner circle tried to prematurely and falsely claim victory for the president in Pennsylvania even as the count remained incomplete there .
Later Wednesday , the Trump campaign said it had filed suit in Georgia seeking to require all counties there to separate ballots that arrive after the voting deadline from other , `` legally cast ballots .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ spurred by a Republican poll observer who reportedly witnessed 53 late-arriving absentee ballots `` illegally added to a stack of on-time absentee ballots in Chatham County . ''
As in Pennsylvania , Trump 's lead against Biden is narrowing in a count of ballots in Georgia , where an updated tally on Wednesday night showed the president ahead of the challenger by less than 50,000 votes , a margin of about 1 percent of all ballots counted .
Trump is also behind Biden in Nevada and Arizona .
If Biden wins both those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ College voters , enough to secure a national win .
In Pennsylvania , where 20 Electoral College votes are at stake , Trump was leading , with 3,099,477 votes , or 52.3 % , compared with 2,745,468 votes , or 46.4 % , for Biden .
A total of 83 % of the expected votes had been tallied in Pennsylvania , which does not expect to have a final result for days .
NBC News has the current Electoral College tally as 253 for Biden and 214 for Trump .

President Donald Trump's campaign said Wednesday that it filed suits to halt the counting of ballots in Michigan and Pennsylvania, as the campaign demanded increased access to observe the tallying process at numerous locations in those battleground states.
The states have a combined 36 Electoral College votes at stake, more than double the 17 electoral votes that Democratic nominee Joe Biden needed as of Wednesday evening to clinch victory in the White House race.
The Trump campaign said that its Michigan lawsuit demands that the campaign be allowed to "review those ballots" ... "which were opened and counted while we did not have meaningful access."
The lawsuit came before NBC News projected Biden, a former vice president, as the winner of Michigan's presidential vote.
In Pennsylvania, the Trump campaign said that it is moving to intervene in an existing Supreme Court case related to that state's extension of its mail-in ballot receipt deadline.
Separately in the Keystone State, the campaign is filing two legal actions: one aimed at stopping what the campaign called the "hiding" by Democratic officials of "ballot counting and processing from our Republican poll observers" and another that seeks to undo an order extending the deadline for absentee and mail-in voters to provide missing proof of identification.
As the actions were announced, Trump's inner circle tried to prematurely and falsely claim victory for the president in Pennsylvania even as the count remained incomplete there.
Later Wednesday, the Trump campaign said it had filed suit in Georgia seeking to require all counties there to separate ballots that arrive after the voting deadline from other, "legally cast ballots."
The campaign said the suit was spurred by a Republican poll observer who reportedly witnessed 53 late-arriving absentee ballots "illegally added to a stack of on-time absentee ballots in Chatham County."
As in Pennsylvania, Trump's lead against Biden is narrowing in a count of ballots in Georgia, where an updated tally on Wednesday night showed the president ahead of the challenger by less than 50,000 votes, a margin of about 1 percent of all ballots counted.
Georgia has 16 Electoral College votes at stake.
Trump is also behind Biden in Nevada and Arizona. If Biden wins both those states, he would have 270 Electoral College voters, enough to secure a national win.
In Pennsylvania, where 20 Electoral College votes are at stake, Trump was leading, with 3,099,477 votes, or 52.3%, compared with 2,745,468 votes, or 46.4%, for Biden. A total of 83% of the expected votes had been tallied in Pennsylvania, which does not expect to have a final result for days.
NBC News has the current Electoral College tally as 253 for Biden and 214 for Trump.


cnbc--2020-11-05--McConnell says reaching an economic stimulus deal is ‘job one’ when Senate returns

`` As I 've said repeatedly in the last few months , we need another rescue package , '' McConnell , R-Ky. , said Wednesday morning .
`` Hopefully , the partisan passions that prevented us from doing another rescue package will subside with the election .
And I think we need to do it and I think we need to do it before the end of the year . ''
He also said that state and local aid , a consistent Democratic demand in relief discussions with the White House , could be included in a new bill .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ reelection bid for a seventh six-year Senate term , said from a news conference in Kentucky that another relief package would be the chamber 's chief focus when it reconvenes next week .
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday said his top priority remains passing a new economic stimulus bill before the end of the year .
`` I think that 's job one when we get back , '' McConnell said .
`` Hopefully we get a more cooperative situation than we 've had . ''
Although Republicans appeared set to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Wednesday afternoon , McConnell struck a cautious outlook and cited tight contests in key battleground states .
Democrats did win the Senate race in Colorado , and are leading in Arizona , but as of 1:55 p.m .
ET they appear to be set to fall short of becoming the majority .
NBC News projects Democrats will keep control of the House of Representatives .
Maine Democrat Sara Gideon 's concession to incumbent Sen. Susan Collins makes flipping the chamber even more difficult , though NBC News has yet to make an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , McConnell 's comments could rekindle relief talks between the two parties after months of stalled negotiations between Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and White House officials including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin .
The mired talks come even as the U.S. recorded another 91,500 new cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday , the second-highest single-day tally to date , according to Johns Hopkins data .
The disease has now killed more than 230,000 Americans .
Up until the weeks immediately preceding the election , McConnell had warned that a potential $ 2 trillion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lack sufficient support in the Senate out of fears it could be too expensive .
`` The Speaker laid out a $ 2.5 trillion package with all kinds of things that I felt were simply unrelated to the subject , '' the majority leader said Wednesday .
`` I laid on the Senate floor not once , but twice , half a trillion dollars ... targeting the school situation , the need to replenish PPP small loan program . ''
McConnell tried early in 2020 to advance his own , far-smaller bill that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ governments as well as omitted another round of $ 1,200 direct payment checks to most Americans .
That effort was blocked by Senate Democrats — who argued that it lacked enough relief — and by some Republicans that said even the watered-down bill was too costly .
Congress has not enacted any new major stimulus since the spring when lawmakers muscled through four bipartisan bills worth about $ 3 trillion .
`` Ultimately , you 've got to kill the [ virus ] before we get back to normal .
Because there 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ normal .
You can keep keep pumping money into the economy forever and it wo n't solve the problem until we kill the virus , '' McConnell said .
`` Having said that , there are other sectors that need help and I outlined what I think is appropriate , but I do n't get to make the final decision .
We have to deal with the Democrats , '' he added .
`` And what I 'm saying is , I think now that the election 's over , the need is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work this out . ''

"As I've said repeatedly in the last few months, we need another rescue package," McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday morning. "Hopefully, the partisan passions that prevented us from doing another rescue package will subside with the election . And I think we need to do it and I think we need to do it before the end of the year."
He also said that state and local aid, a consistent Democratic demand in relief discussions with the White House, could be included in a new bill.
McConnell, who Tuesday evening won his reelection bid for a seventh six-year Senate term, said from a news conference in Kentucky that another relief package would be the chamber's chief focus when it reconvenes next week.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday said his top priority remains passing a new economic stimulus bill before the end of the year.
"I think that's job one when we get back," McConnell said. "Hopefully we get a more cooperative situation than we've had."
Although Republicans appeared set to retain their majority in the Senate as of Wednesday afternoon, McConnell struck a cautious outlook and cited tight contests in key battleground states.
Democrats did win the Senate race in Colorado, and are leading in Arizona, but as of 1:55 p.m. ET they appear to be set to fall short of becoming the majority. NBC News projects Democrats will keep control of the House of Representatives.
Maine Democrat Sara Gideon's concession to incumbent Sen. Susan Collins makes flipping the chamber even more difficult, though NBC News has yet to make an official call on that race.
Still, McConnell's comments could rekindle relief talks between the two parties after months of stalled negotiations between Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and White House officials including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The mired talks come even as the U.S. recorded another 91,500 new cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday, the second-highest single-day tally to date, according to Johns Hopkins data. The disease has now killed more than 230,000 Americans.
Up until the weeks immediately preceding the election, McConnell had warned that a potential $2 trillion package negotiated between Mnuchin and Pelosi may lack sufficient support in the Senate out of fears it could be too expensive.
"The Speaker laid out a $2.5 trillion package with all kinds of things that I felt were simply unrelated to the subject," the majority leader said Wednesday. "I laid on the Senate floor not once, but twice, half a trillion dollars ... targeting the school situation, the need to replenish PPP small loan program."
McConnell tried early in 2020 to advance his own, far-smaller bill that lacked fiscal support for state and local governments as well as omitted another round of $1,200 direct payment checks to most Americans.
That effort was blocked by Senate Democrats — who argued that it lacked enough relief — and by some Republicans that said even the watered-down bill was too costly. Congress has not enacted any new major stimulus since the spring when lawmakers muscled through four bipartisan bills worth about $3 trillion.
"Ultimately, you've got to kill the [virus] before we get back to normal. Because there's no other way to get back to normal. You can keep keep pumping money into the economy forever and it won't solve the problem until we kill the virus," McConnell said.
"Having said that, there are other sectors that need help and I outlined what I think is appropriate, but I don't get to make the final decision. We have to deal with the Democrats," he added. "And what I'm saying is, I think now that the election's over, the need is there and need to sit down and work this out."


cnbc--2020-11-04--Susan Collins is apparent winner in Maine Senate race against Sara Gideon

Incumbent U.S. Sen. Susan Collins , R-Maine , left , and Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon , D-Freeport , right , who are running in the Nov. 3 , 2020 , election to represent Maine in the U.S. Senate .
Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins is the apparent winner of her reelection fight against state House Speaker Sara Gideon , according to NBC News .
Gideon conceded on Wednesday afternoon .
NBC News calls a candidate the `` apparent winner '' when they are projected to win but the race remains close enough that it could be affected by a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you , thank you .
I will serve you with all my heart .
I will work hard for you each and every day , '' Collins told supporters in a video posted to her Twitter account .
`` We will come together to work on the problems and challenges that are facing our state and our country . ''
The hard fought race was shadowed by Collins ' vote in 2018 to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court , which was seen as a betrayal by activist groups in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republican moderate .
That wound was reopened after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September .
Read more : Susan Collins struggles to change the subject from Brett Kavanaugh in Maine Senate race After Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky. , pledged to seat Ginsburg 's replacement before Election Day , Collins broke with the party and said she opposed such a hurried timeline .
She was the lone Republican to vote against the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett last month .
The race was one of the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 100 million raised in all , according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics .
Gideon outspent Collins dramatically , dropping about $ 50 million on her bid to deny Collins a fifth term .
Collins spent around $ 23 million .
Maine 's Senate contest was seen not only as a referendum on Collins , but also as a test of the country 's growing partisan polarization .
Collins , the only Republican senator from New England , is one of a vanishing number of lawmakers considered to be moderates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ President Donald Trump 's deep unpopularity in Maine , and declined to say ahead of the election whether she would cast her vote for him .
Trump is projected to lose the presidential race in Maine to former Vice President Joe Biden , NBC News is projecting .
Biden led Trump by about 11 points in the state with 82 % of the expected vote in .

Incumbent U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, left, and Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon, D-Freeport, right, who are running in the Nov. 3, 2020, election to represent Maine in the U.S. Senate.
Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins is the apparent winner of her reelection fight against state House Speaker Sara Gideon, according to NBC News. Gideon conceded on Wednesday afternoon.
NBC News calls a candidate the "apparent winner" when they are projected to win but the race remains close enough that it could be affected by a recount or other factors.
"Thank you, thank you. I will serve you with all my heart. I will work hard for you each and every day," Collins told supporters in a video posted to her Twitter account. "We will come together to work on the problems and challenges that are facing our state and our country."
The hard fought race was shadowed by Collins' vote in 2018 to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, which was seen as a betrayal by activist groups in the state, who had previously supported the Republican moderate.
That wound was reopened after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September.
Read more: Susan Collins struggles to change the subject from Brett Kavanaugh in Maine Senate race
After Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pledged to seat Ginsburg's replacement before Election Day, Collins broke with the party and said she opposed such a hurried timeline. She was the lone Republican to vote against the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett last month.
The race was one of the most expensive of the cycle, with approximately $100 million raised in all, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. Gideon outspent Collins dramatically, dropping about $50 million on her bid to deny Collins a fifth term. Collins spent around $23 million.
Maine's Senate contest was seen not only as a referendum on Collins, but also as a test of the country's growing partisan polarization. Collins, the only Republican senator from New England, is one of a vanishing number of lawmakers considered to be moderates.
The Caribou native was dogged by President Donald Trump's deep unpopularity in Maine, and declined to say ahead of the election whether she would cast her vote for him.
Trump is projected to lose the presidential race in Maine to former Vice President Joe Biden, NBC News is projecting. Biden led Trump by about 11 points in the state with 82% of the expected vote in.


cnbc--2020-11-04--Joe Biden is the apparent winner in Wisconsin, a state Trump won in 2016

Joe Biden is the apparent winner in Wisconsin , according to an NBC News projection , flipping a state that President Donald Trump had won in 2016 .
As of Wednesday afternoon , NBC showed Biden leading Trump by approximately 21,000 votes .
Wisconsin has 10 Electoral College votes , and Biden 's victory brings his Electoral College total to 237 .
Trump won the swing state by less than a percentage point in 2016 , ending Wisconsin 's seven-election streak of backing Democratic candidates .
Winning back the state this year was a priority for Democrats , who view @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so-called `` blue wall '' of Midwestern states that have been Democratic strongholds for decades .
The Trump campaign has already announced that it will request a formal recount in the state , claiming that there were unspecified `` irregularities '' during the vote .
But there is little evidence that a recount would actually help Trump make up a 20,000 vote deficit .
Recent election recounts in Wisconsin have failed to produce significant shifts in the tally for one candidate or another .
Following the 2016 presidential election , a recount of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ margin of victory by just 131 votes , out of three million cast .
Former Wisconsin Gov .
Scott Walker , a Republican , expressed doubts on Wednesday about the effectiveness of a recount .
`` After recount in 2011 race for WI Supreme Court , there was a swing of 300 votes , '' Scott tweeted .
`` After recount in 2016 Presidential race in WI , [ Trump 's ] numbers went up by 131 .
As I said , 20,000 is a high hurdle . ''
The definition of an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ projected that a candidate has won the race , but the results are close enough that the outcome may depend on a potential recount and/or confirmation that the results that have been reported are accurate .

Joe Biden is the apparent winner in Wisconsin, according to an NBC News projection, flipping a state that President Donald Trump had won in 2016.
As of Wednesday afternoon, NBC showed Biden leading Trump by approximately 21,000 votes. Wisconsin has 10 Electoral College votes, and Biden's victory brings his Electoral College total to 237.
Trump won the swing state by less than a percentage point in 2016, ending Wisconsin's seven-election streak of backing Democratic candidates.
Winning back the state this year was a priority for Democrats, who view Wisconsin as a key piece of the so-called "blue wall" of Midwestern states that have been Democratic strongholds for decades.
The Trump campaign has already announced that it will request a formal recount in the state, claiming that there were unspecified "irregularities" during the vote.
But there is little evidence that a recount would actually help Trump make up a 20,000 vote deficit.
Recent election recounts in Wisconsin have failed to produce significant shifts in the tally for one candidate or another. Following the 2016 presidential election, a recount of the vote in Wisconsin increased Trump's margin of victory by just 131 votes, out of three million cast.
Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, expressed doubts on Wednesday about the effectiveness of a recount.
"After recount in 2011 race for WI Supreme Court, there was a swing of 300 votes," Scott tweeted. "After recount in 2016 Presidential race in WI, [Trump's] numbers went up by 131. As I said, 20,000 is a high hurdle."
The definition of an Apparent Winner is that NBC News has projected that a candidate has won the race, but the results are close enough that the outcome may depend on a potential recount and/or confirmation that the results that have been reported are accurate.


cnbc--2020-11-04--The ways Joe Biden or Donald Trump would get 270 electoral votes and the White House

It could still take days to know whether President Donald Trump or Democratic nominee Joe Biden will hold the White House for the next four years .
Tallies in undecided states so far show the paths both hopefuls have to racking up the 270 electoral votes needed to win .
As of Wednesday , Biden had won 237 electoral votes , according to NBC News projections .
Trump trailed with 214 .
The race appeared to come down to a handful of states NBC classified as either too close or too early to call : Pennsylvania , Michigan , Georgia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Alaska .
As of 2:30 p.m .
ET on Wednesday , Biden held at least narrow leads in states that collectively award 33 electoral votes .
Winning all of those — Michigan , Arizona , Nevada — would get him to the finish line with exactly 270 electoral votes .
Biden got a major boost Wednesday as NBC News called him the apparent winner of Wisconsin 's 10 electoral votes .
NBC also expects Biden will carry 3 of Maine 's 4 electoral votes , and Trump will win 1 .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is `` on track '' to win the presidential election .
If Trump held his current advantages in Pennsylvania , Georgia , North Carolina and Alaska , he would fall just short of a second term with 263 electoral votes .
He would therefore have to overtake Biden elsewhere , as well .
The rivals may only have tenuous holds on their leads in some states as election officials continue counting votes .
More counted votes , particularly Democratic-leaning mail-in ballots , could still change the dynamic in uncalled states and give the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needs to carry Pennsylvania in order to win the election .
He had a lead of more than 450,000 votes Wednesday afternoon with about 80 % of votes counted .
Pennsylvania has not tallied more than 1 million remaining mail-in ballots , according to the secretary of state 's office .
The votes are expected to include hundreds of thousands from the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas , which skew heavily Democratic .
In Philadelphia County , Biden has won more than three-quarters of the vote counted so far , according to NBC .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ need Pennsylvania to get to 270 electoral votes .
If he fails to overtake Trump in the Keystone State , he would have to hold on in Michigan .
Biden led Trump by about 38,000 votes there Wednesday afternoon .
Wayne County , the heavily Democratic home of Detroit , has an array of votes outstanding : an estimate of more than 150,000 , according to NBC .
Without beating Trump in a state where the president currently leads , Biden would have to hold on in both Arizona and Nevada .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 90,000 votes , but the Trump campaign argues it can make up ground with an estimated hundreds of thousands of votes outstanding .
Biden holds a lead of only about 8,000 votes in Nevada .
Still , at least 150,000 more votes are expected to come in from Clark County , the Democratic-leaning area that includes Las Vegas .
Biden has one more big opportunity to gain ground on Trump .
He currently trails the president by about 80,000 votes in Georgia .
The state still has to report votes in several areas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

Avishek Das | LightRocket | Getty Images
As states worked to tally remaining ballots two days after Election Day, Democratic nominee Joe Biden sat just shy Thursday of the electoral votes needed to win the White House. Votes counted in undecided states so far show the paths both he and President Donald Trump have to the 270 electoral vote threshold that would earn them the presidency. As of Thursday morning Biden had won 253 electoral votes, according to NBC News projections. Trump trailed with 214. The race appeared to come down to a handful of states NBC classified as either too close or too early to call: Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, Nevada and Alaska.
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As of 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, Biden held at least narrow leads in states that award 17 electoral votes. Winning both of those — Arizona and Nevada — would get him to the finish line with exactly 270 electoral votes. Biden got a major boost Wednesday as NBC News said it expects him to win a combined 29 electoral votes in Michigan, Wisconsin and Maine. The Democrat's campaign said Wednesday that he is "on track" to win the presidential election.
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If Trump held his current advantages in Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Alaska, he would fall just short of a second term with 263 electoral votes. He would therefore have to overtake Biden elsewhere, as well. The rivals may only have tenuous holds on their leads in some states as election officials continue counting votes. More tallied votes, particularly Democratic-leaning mail-in ballots, could still change the dynamic in uncalled states and give the candidates new pathways to winning. For Biden, winning Arizona and Nevada alone would get him to 270 electoral votes.
If Biden can carry Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes, he does not need any other states to win the presidency.
Several combinations of states, including Georgia's 16 electoral votes and Nevada's six, would also get him across the finish line.
Meanwhile, Trump's most clear path to victory is holding his current lead in every state and surpassing Biden in Arizona, which awards 11 electoral votes. Trump needs to carry Pennsylvania in order to win the election. He had a lead of more than 150,000 votes Thursday morning with about 90% of votes counted. Pennsylvania has not tallied more than 750,000 remaining mail-in ballots, according to the secretary of state's office. The votes are expected to include many from the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas, which skew heavily Democratic. In Philadelphia County, Biden has won more than three-quarters of the vote counted so far, according to NBC.
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cnbc--2020-11-04--Trump campaign says it will request a recount in Wisconsin

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump 's campaign manager said Wednesday that Trump plans to request a formal recount in Wisconsin , where Joe Biden holds a slim lead after nearly all the votes have been counted .
`` Wisconsin has been a razor-thin race as we always knew that it would be , '' Bill Stepien said in a statement .
`` There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results , '' Stepien said without citing evidence .
`` The president is well within the threshold to request @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so . ''
A top election official in the crucial swing state confirmed Wednesday that nearly all the votes in the state have been counted in the presidential election .
While NBC News has not independently called the race , the network 's vote tally has Biden leading Trump by more than 20,000 votes , with an estimated 99 % of the vote in .
`` All of the ballots have indeed been counted , '' Meagan Wolfe , the administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission , told NBC 's `` TODAY '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that there 's any counties that have n't posted their results on their websites . ''
Wolfe later clarified that one town was still outstanding , with around 300 votes .
An estimated total of 3.3 million votes were cast in Wisconsin , according to NBC News .
Biden is leading with 49.4 % of the votes , while Trump has 48.9 % , according to NBC News ' latest tally .
The state is considered a must-win in the quest for the necessary 270 Electoral College votes for victory .
Trump clinched @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taking Wisconsin .
The two campaigns are now locked in a post-election day battle to win key battleground states that have yet to count all their ballots .
This story has been updated to include statements from the Trump campaign and updated information from the Wisconsin Elections Commission .

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's campaign manager said Wednesday that Trump plans to request a formal recount in Wisconsin, where Joe Biden holds a slim lead after nearly all the votes have been counted.
"Wisconsin has been a razor-thin race as we always knew that it would be," Bill Stepien said in a statement.
"There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results," Stepien said without citing evidence. "The president is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so."
A top election official in the crucial swing state confirmed Wednesday that nearly all the votes in the state have been counted in the presidential election.
While NBC News has not independently called the race, the network's vote tally has Biden leading Trump by more than 20,000 votes, with an estimated 99% of the vote in.
"All of the ballots have indeed been counted," Meagan Wolfe, the administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, told NBC's "TODAY" show. "We're not seeing that there's any counties that haven't posted their results on their websites."
Wolfe later clarified that one town was still outstanding, with around 300 votes. An estimated total of 3.3 million votes were cast in Wisconsin, according to NBC News.
Biden is leading with 49.4% of the votes, while Trump has 48.9%, according to NBC News' latest tally.
The state is considered a must-win in the quest for the necessary 270 Electoral College votes for victory. Trump clinched his 2016 win over Hillary Clinton by taking Wisconsin.
The two campaigns are now locked in a post-election day battle to win key battleground states that have yet to count all their ballots.
This story has been updated to include statements from the Trump campaign and updated information from the Wisconsin Elections Commission.