Like so much of 2020, the presidential race is a wait and see proposition. The U.S. is still waiting to see when the pandemic will flatten out, when the employment picture will brighten, when police brutality will end, when there will be a return to a relative sense of normalcy. That holding pattern is most disturbing in a nation mired in a sweeping crisis mode.

As we go to press, several battleground states remain up for grabs as Joe Biden struggles to hold his slim Election College edge over Trump. From the outset, there were clear indications that it was going to be a tight race, particularly in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, all of which were crucial in Trump’s victory in 2016. Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina are also possible game changers and the final tallies may still be days away.

What appears to be certain is the impact of the Black vote in these key states, where such major urban centers as Detroit, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Atlanta can turn the tide for Biden. These results are delayed because of the large turnout in these locations as well as tabulating the absentee and mail-in votes.

Meanwhile, Trump continues his complaints about the count, insisting that the count should end, and this concern is aimed specifically at the decisive Black vote in the large metropolitan areas.

Early Wednesday morning, Nov. 4, Trump claimed victory in an election still up in the air. “Millions and millions of people voted for us,” he said from the White House. “A very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group of people.” He said that he and his team were preparing for a celebration. “We were winning everything. And all of sudden it was just called off. This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country.” Trump is equally upset that the Supreme Court allowed votes to be counted in Pennsylvania long after the polls closed. He has threatened to take the matter to the Supreme Court.

In response to Trump’s rants, Biden said, “It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to declare who has won this election.”

At noon on Wednesday, Biden still held a slight lead in Election College votes, 224-213 with 270 needed for victory. Like Hillary Clinton’s 3 million more popular votes than Trump in 2016, Biden holds a similar lead with more than 68 million votes to Trump’s 66 million, and some.

The U.S. map is crimson with Trump conquests, and his sweep of the South has all the features of a carpetbagger’s harvest. But Biden’s blue wall seems to be holding up as Trump continues his charge that the election is fraudulent.

The Senate race is a narrow one too, with the GOP two up on the Dems at 47 to 45. In most cases, senators won in states that Biden or Trump won. However, gains were made in the House with the Dems maintaining control