The race for the American presidency invariably devolves into a popularity contest with the perceived aspects of the character of the contestants and their records touted as their best selling points. Most of the negative gets swept under the carpet. Americans are tolerant. What determines results? Was Nixon ousted because of Watergate or the withdrawal from Vietnam? Is Biden's retreat from Afghanistan his Achille's heel and a weakness? Who cared about Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe? The public was shielded from Reagan's mental decline but the fall of the USSR was perceived as a great success. FDR was dying when elected for a fourth time. In contrast to Biden's many blunders, nobody cared much about George W Bush's verbal and grammatical gaffes or his mental acuity. Likewise Donald Trump's threat to our democratic institutions, his poor record economically and recommending Clorox as a cure for Covid count for little. In other words it's all a crap shoot. The result in November? Your guess is as good as mine. Reason or logic or rhetoric or past record would not seem to be that important. And a week is a long time in politics. A lot can happen. Let's vote.