Speaking to a crowd in Wilmington, Delaware, Joe Biden sought to calm Democratic Party nerves rattled by Donald Trump dealing him an unexpectedly large defeat in Florida, where the final result lies about 5% off the polls.
The only other swing state to be called by the networks by midnight was Ohio, also for Trump. With other midwestern states slow to count and with unclear totals as of 12:30 a.m. eastern time, the prospect of an overnight result seems slim.
Fox News, however, called Arizona for Biden, a blow to Trump. Also, just as it seemed Trump had Georgia in the bag, an unexpectedly blue tranche of results sent it (and the New York Times' loathed and worshipped election needle) back into toss-up territory.
In any case, the notion of a Biden landslide is a distant memory.
Donald Trump, responding to the speech, tweeted that Biden is trying to "STEAL the election" and that votes "cast" after the "Poles" were closed do not count. Twitter quickly flagged it as misleading and hid it behind a warning.
