Well, in lieu of a decision, read this

With 72% of Americans feeling the nation is on the “wrong track,” and Vice President Kamala Harris’ favorable ratings lower than whale shit six months ago, it is miraculous that she was tied with former President Donald J. Trump.

Given that he is a convicted felon, guilty of sexual assault, and given to insane rants during rallies, it is amazing he was tied with his Democratic opponent.

It was all but certain that we would not have a certain winner Tuesday night.

Since I can’t raise a victory flag, I’ll just run down some interesting factoids, sidelights, and analyses I saw Tuesday night. At midnight, all news outlets were expecting no decision before noon, and I was not prepared to stay up all night.

First, wasn’t it nice for Pennsylvania (and Philadelphia) to be bathed in the national — no, international — spotlight?

Second, this was the most unusual election cycle in our lifetime. (Maybe I should have made this No. 1.) I mean, two candidates who were likely intellectually impaired, one of whom was stabbed in the back talked into standing down, and being replaced by a Kamala blitzkrieg. No one twitched to remove the felon. 

I mean, if you saw this in a movie, you wouldn’t believe it.

An early, and unreliable indicator: The six voters of Dixville Notch, N.H., divided evenly — 3 voters for Kamala, 3 votes for Trump. They vote at midnight, so they make news every four years. And 4 years ago they voted 5-0 for Joe Biden. Was breaking the Notch wall a harbinger of a Trump victory? Or a stalemate?

The turnout seemed to be heavy, maybe record-breaking. In 2020, Joe Biden versus Trump, set a modern record, with a 66.6% turnout, the largest in seven decades, topping the 63.8% racked up in 1960’s epic contest between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon,

We know Pennsylvania, the Keystone State, is a keystone to victory. Philadelphia is the state’s largest city, by far, but turnout has been disappointing to Democrats in the past few elections.

In 2020, Philly delivered 603,790 votes for Joe Biden.

If Philly Dems fall short, look for calls for the scalps of city Demo chair Bob Brady, and state chair Sharif Street. If the total beats 2020, then Brady and Street are golden.

At 10:15, MSNBC reported half the Philly vote was in, 258,069 for Kamala, meaning she will get about 90,000 fewer votes than Biden if the second half equals the first.

By 9 p.m., legal betting sites were favoring Trump to win, by more than 60%.

The stock market went up today and that usually favors the party in power.

Throughout the evening, CNN listed fewer electoral votes for Kamala than did Fox News. Was CNN being cautious? Fox News being reckless? Fox did well with its predictions in 2020.

Even NewsNation was calling races before CNN. Never heard of NewsNation? It’s a startup that claims to be more centrist than NewsMax, which is farther right than Fox News. 

At 10:25, NewsNation had an odds website suggesting Trump had an 80% chance of winning. It was the earliest network to award North Carolina and Georgia to Trump, which put Kamala in a deep hole.

As the campaign closed, the reliable Des Moines Register poll had reported Kamala was competitive in Iowa. Had she flipped the bright red Hawkeye State, that would have been huge.

At 10:25 p.m., MSNBC reported she had not.

At 10:30, CNN reported Trump was doing better in the Hispanic community this year, as opposed to 2020, despite the Madison Square Garden “comedy routine” that put a beat down on Puerto Rico. An example of theTeflon Don. Stuff doesn’t stick to him.

Before 11 p.m., a Kamala campaign official put out a notice to staffers that the result won’t be known tonight, but that the Blue Wall of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania was intact.

At 11:06, ABC’s Jonathan Karl reported his Democratic sources were “very concerned about the trends they are seeing.”

I began to get a deja vu feeling about 2016.

At 11:51, Fox News reported the GOP took control of the U.S. Senate. 

I don’t know. Will I wake up to a new President?