"It's a razor thin margin," they say. "It's as close as any we have ever had." "We're basing our predictions on the odds combined with the numbers," is the answer to the question as to where this election will go. And right now, as the pollsters and the pundits see it, it's a toss up.

That might be the best way to characterize it, in terms of keeping voter enthusiasm for Harris on a high note. Post-debate, with polls coming out now showing her leading nationally by as much as 6 points, in the most recent ABC News poll, her volunteers, their enthusiasm and the general upbeat tone she has brought to this campaign seems to be working in her favor.

The primary job of the Vice President is to be prepared and ready to assume office at a moment's notice. We rarely get to see how well prepared a Vice President is, because it is rare for them to have to step into the Presidency. The last time that happened, it was Gerald Ford, who had not been Vice President for very long. Opinions are varied on how well prepared he was.

But it's been clear from the start that Kamala Harris was ready to go. She didn't have to step into the Presidency, but she had to organize and run a political campaign on very short notice. She was obviously well prepared to do that. And I think that's one of the biggest advantages she brings into this campaign. She is familiar with the role of President of the United States, understands that responsibility and demonstrates the ability to provide the kind of leadership necessary to be the President.

Vice President Harris has been part of an administration that has had to deal with a viral pandemic, assume responsibility for the nation's recovery, maintain economic growth while dealing with global inflation, and take the blame for something they didn't cause, put the NATO alliance back together in order to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression, continue to protect Taiwan's independence and get us out of an expensive, pointless war in Afghanistan. They were successful in dealing with all of this.

There are those who want to place blame on the administration, and include Harris, for the problem we've had with inflation. I could go into a discussion of how blaming the President is economic ignorance, but that doesn't really make the point. The point is that this administration has been on the ball as far as this particular economic issue is concerned, and in this period of inflation that has affected the entire global economic market, which is evidence that no policy or practice of the Biden administration caused it, the administration has actually put policies in place which have made the effects of global inflation affect consumers in the United States far less than it has almost anywhere else in the world.

Trump's age and his inability to gather and communicate coherent thoughts, which appears to be the result of dementia, are also realities we need to deal with. Only two years younger than Joe Biden, and in worse shape as far as his health and stamina are concerned, I suspect that his being kept from making anywhere close to the number of public appearances he once did while campaigning is an effort to keep the public from seeing, up close, what bad shape he is in. I thought he might stroke out on the stage in Las Vegas this past week, sweating profusely, stumbling over words, no longer allowing the speaker stand to be placed on a platform where he must climb steps to get to. We can certainly hear it in his voice, and in his confusing, jumbled, stumbling conversation.

I cannot recall, in my lifetime, any candidate of one major party getting so much support from people who once held positions of influence and importance in the other, including Senators and members of the House and former cabinet. They represent a percentage of Republican voters who seem committed to Trump's defeat. Having been among those who have supported him in his last two runs for the Presidency, the percentage of Republicans he is losing along the margins will be decisive in his defeat.