Scoop: Trump's plan to declare premature victory  —  President Trump has told confidants he'll declare victory on Tuesday night if it looks like he's “ahead,” according to three sources familiar with his private comments.  — That's even if the Electoral College outcome still hinges …

My party is destroying itself on the altar of Trump  —  Benjamin L. Ginsberg practiced election law for 38 years.  He co-chaired the bipartisan 2013 Presidential Commission on Election Administration.  —  President Trump has failed the test of leadership.  His bid for reelection is foundering.

I'm Here To Remind You That Trump Can Still Win  —  A 10 percent chance isn't zero.  And there's a chance of a recount, too.  —  It's tempting to write this story in the form of narrative fiction: “On a frigid early December morning in Washington, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 …

False video of Joe Biden viewed 1 million times on Twitter  —  New York (CNN Business)A deceptively edited video of Joe Biden making it appear the Democratic presidential nominee forgot what state he was in was viewed more than one million times on Twitter over the weekend.

It's the End of an Era for the Media, No Matter Who Wins the Election  —  Trump made the legacy media great again.  Here's what's next for them.  —  There's a media phenomenon the old-time blogger Mickey Kaus calls “overism”: articles in the week before the election whose premise …

Tests Show Genetic Signature of Virus That May Have Infected President Trump  —  The White House did not take basic steps to investigate its outbreak.  We worked with geneticists to sequence the virus that infected two journalists exposed during the outbreak, providing clues to how it may have spread.

Texas Supreme Court rejects Republican-led effort to throw out nearly 127,000 Harris County votes  —  A handful of GOP activists and candidates had asked the state's highest civil court to rule Harris County's drive-thru voting locations illegal, and invalidate votes that have already been cast.

Forty-One Percent.  —  I've been covering American politics for a long time and I can't remember a number that so dramatically altered the political community's perception of a presidential campaign as that number did, last night, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time.  —  The source of the number …

The man and the record  —  “He's unpresidential.”  —  “He's crude and unkind.”  —  “He's just not a good man.”  —  These things, and much worse, are commonly said of President Donald Trump.  His personality totally eclipses his record.  —  So we, seemingly, have him on the dunk tank, ready for a very cold bath.

Election at Hand, Biden Leads Trump in Four Key States, Poll Shows  —  Joseph R. Biden Jr. leads President Trump in Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona and, by a wide margin, in Wisconsin, according to a Times/Siena College poll.  —  Joseph R. Biden Jr. holds a clear advantage over President Trump across four …

Trump's supporters block traffic on major roadways in New York and New Jersey.  —  Caravans of President Trump's supporters blockaded the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge and the Garden State Parkway on Sunday, snarling traffic on two of the busiest highways in the New York metropolitan area just two days before Election Day.

Lindsey Graham tells women: 'There's a place for you in America' if you ‘follow traditional family structure’  —  Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told women over the weekend that they can “follow traditional family structure” if they want to be welcome in America.

Poll: Donald Trump set to win US presidency by electoral college landslide  —  DONALD TRUMP is on course to win four more years in the White House with a one point lead in the popular win, the final Democracy Institute poll for the Sunday Express has found.  —  Sign up for FREE now and never miss the top politics stories again.

Joe Biden really is in pole position  —  President Donald Trump will enter election day with much worse odds than he had in 2016  —  IN SOME WAYS, this presidential election has been remarkably dull, at least for a psephologist.  There have been plenty of unpredictable events …

Biden team weighs informal ban on naming Democratic senators to Cabinet  —  Joe Biden's team is considering an informal ban on naming Democratic U.S. senators to the Cabinet if he wins — which would effectively block Elizabeth Warren for Treasury or Bernie Sanders for Labor — people familiar with the discussions tell Axios.

Trump's Dismissal of Covid Risk Paved Way to White House Outbreak  —  From the pandemic's earliest days, President Donald Trump was of two minds on coronavirus.  —  In public he was dismissive and belittling of the virus, and those who feared it.  In private, for all his bravado, he acted like a man who dreaded catching it.

NBC News Decision Desk: How we call races on election night 2020  —  Here's how NBC News calls races on election night, the steps NBC News takes to verify results, as well as the answers to some frequently asked questions.  —  Early on election night, the NBC News Decision Desk uses exit poll data …

Election Day will be the media's D-Day.  The skill we need most is the one we've never mastered.  —  Almost two months before the 2016 presidential election, Dave Wasserman, an editor at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, wrote a prescient piece.  —  The headline?

Intel committee senators fear constitutional crisis  —  Top lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee tell Axios their biggest fear in the immediate days after Tuesday's election is a “perception hack” that throws the country into a constitutional crisis.

How There Was No October Surprise for President Trump  —  Trump's hope that an economic recovery, a Covid vaccine or a Biden scandal could shake up the race fades with the last light of October.  —  President Trump began the fall campaign rooting for, and trying to orchestrate …

Untangling Faith and Love of Country  —  How one national security expert found freedom from fear by looking to Jesus.  —  In August, I joined over 100 former Republican national security officials in explaining our security concerns with the current president.

American Flag Collapses at Trump Rally in North Carolina  —  Donald Trump had only been onstage for a few minutes in Hickory, North Carolina, when there was a loud bang.  The lift holding up an American flag at the back of the venue had blown over and half the flag — the striped portion …

‘2020 is the time’: California voters weigh bringing back affirmative action  —  More than two decades after affirmative action was banned in California, voters will decide whether to restore the practice with a ballot measure supporters say would bring greater access to educational …

Pentagon Draw-Down at U.S. Embassies Prompts Concern About Ceding Field to Global Rivals  —  Moves come as U.S. shifts defense resources from Africa, Europe, Middle East, toward China, Russia  —  WASHINGTON—The Pentagon has quietly begun withdrawing top military officers from U.S. embassies …

Our biggest Election Day concern  —  Opinion by Richard H. Pildes and Richard L. Hasen  —  John Avlon breaks down early voting turnout  —  Richard H. Pildes is the Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law and an author of “The Law of Democracy.”

Why Trump Can't Afford to Lose  —  The President has survived one impeachment, twenty-six accusations of sexual misconduct, and an estimated four thousand lawsuits.  That run of good luck may well end, perhaps brutally, if Joe Biden wins.  —  The President was despondent.

Why this is Joe Biden's hour  —  The last presidential candidate to win the White House on his third try was Ronald Reagan in 1980.  How Joe Biden brought himself to the verge of repeating that feat explains a lot about who he is.  —  One clue as to how he has executed what even Republicans concede …

Veteran journalist and author Robert Fisk dies aged 74  —  Highly regarded, controversial foreign correspondent had long relationship with Ireland  —  about 2 hours ago Updated: 52 minutes ago  —  Robert Fisk joined the London Independent in 1989 and continued to work for that publication until his death.

Scholars warn of collapse of democracy as Trump v Biden election looms … Dozens of historians of fascism and authoritarianism have signed a letter warning that democracy “is either withering or in full-scale collapse globally”, and urging ordinary people to take action.