On Thursday evening, the two sides in the East Coast and Gulf Coast port strike announced a settlement that will allow the members of the International Longshoremen’s Association to return to work. Before the strike, JP Morgan had estimated that a prolonged strike could cost the U.S. economy up to $5 billion a day. If the supply chain had become seriously backed up, there could have been serious economic damage. A tentative agreement and a return to work take a potential election issue off the table.
VP Debate
This past week saw the two Vice Presidential candidates in a debate that was probably the last meeting between the two national tickets before Election Day. To the surprise of many, the debate between Senator JD Vance and Governor Tim Walz was a civil, issue-oriented meeting.
As I have written in the past, no one votes for the U.S. President based on the VP choice. Therefore, “winning” the VP debate is likely good for the ego, but in my view, it doesn’t impact the race.
Senator Vance had a mission to accomplish, as he had received bad press since his nomination. Much of this has come from questionable comments he made, such as those about Haitian immigrants in the Ohio town of Springfield. In my view, for the Republican VP candidate, mission accomplished.
As someone who has prepared U.S. Senate candidates for debates, I thought that in the end, they both did a good job. They both stuck to the issues and were civil with each other – even on issues in which there was disagreement.
The race
All polls continue to show a very tight race. To date, no breakout event has significantly moved the needle to favor one candidate over the other. While national polls show a trend, at the end of the day, the U.S. elects its President with 50 state elections and a magic winning number of 270 Electoral votes.
