 Hello folks and welcome to The Dairy Runlet Show, post-election edition. And I am pleased once again to have on my show today Bill Nemitz who was with me in July. We decided to have an early prediction round. Bill, welcome aboard. Thanks for coming back on. You look great. Folks, I'm wearing the mask and Bill decided to do a zoom. And so the studio has a new rule that whether you have a guest or not you wear a mask in the studio and that's what I'm doing. I'm going to be opening the show ladies and gentlemen with hopefully a photo that I sent to Josh of Wink, Montendale and Alex Trebek. Alex Trebek just passed away as we all know. He and Wink were in a movie called Game Kings in which Alex Trebek was the emcee, the master of ceremonies. It's a very good movie. And I opened with this because Wink, Montendale is also a huge Trump fan and a huge Trump supporter as his wife. She was interviewed on my last Elvis show and was so kind that I'm not going to be too faced today and say mean things about Trump. Bill, the door is open wide for you if you want to. In any event, I do want to pay tribute to Alex Trebek and one of the greatest game show hosts of all time and known by all. But Bill, let's start off right out of the blocks. When we made the predictions in July, a lot of us, both of us had sound bites and I counted up the number of good sound bites that you had and the number of good sound bites that I had. And trust me, you clocked me. So Bill, let's start right off. It's terrible at this game. I actually thought if I got a couple of right, that's a good name because I'm usually terrible at this. No. I went back and watched the show again and what I was most impressed by was you made some summary comments that proved to be very, very true. So let's start right off with, actually we started off with the page, Bill, and we both predicted that he may run. I said he possibly could win. We won't find that out for another couple of years. But let's start right off with the second district, Jared Golden. Can we agree he ran a great campaign? Yeah, I think he ran a poster perfect campaign and it showed in the returns. I mean, you're a freshman in Congress and you've got to get over that first hump, which is getting reelected after your first term, particularly in a place like the main second district. And once you do that, the comfort factor kicks in. You know, you become those folks' congressmen. And I think he made that transition with this election. I think he's going to be around in one capacity or another for quite a while. And I think he also demonstrated what I think down the road could be some real statewide appeal in terms of a higher office. I'm thinking, for example, when Angus King leaves the Senate in four years, it would not at all surprise me to see Jared toss his hat into that room. Bill, you just took the words right out of my mouth. I see him as a future statesman in this state. I agree with the Angus King remark. I also agree, possibly governor, but I think the Angus King would be the right choice for him. You also made a comment about him that he said himself when I went to one of his Zoom meetings, and the comment you made was he has a good handle, a good understanding of his own constituents, which is why Trump took that part of the state, but did not help the other guy, Crafts, get in the office. And you said that. Well, there's a lot of ticket splitting that went on in this election here in Maine. And we'll talk about more of it, I'm sure, later with the Collins race. But yeah, I mean, Jared was walking a tightrope up there because you looked at Trump's numbers from 2016, and there was no reason to think up there that was going to change. I mean, my own experience when I've been up there in recent months, it's Trump country. There's no question about it. So that he was able to still attract the strong majority of votes that he did indicates to me that, as I said, that people up there are comfortable with him, but also that people up there are willing to split their ticket. It's not just down the line, hardline Republican votes in this election. And I think, as I said, I think that characterized a lot of what were on this election. And I was impressed by that, Bill. The other thing you said, which I did not know at the time, because I didn't know much about him, but you said, and I'm quoting, Crafts is a nice guy. And he said, he's not a nasty guy. And I remember I wrote it down because I thought that that's exactly how he came across as a nice man, well-liked by people. He didn't go on the outright attack for Golden. Some of the ads, of course, did, the PAC ads. But I was very impressed by his campaign. I think we both called it, it was going to be somewhat close. It wasn't going to be any landslide. But I have to say, can we agree, Jared also, actually did pretty well. Yeah, he did. I think in that regard, he over-performed. But as personable as Crafts might have been, it felt like his campaign just never got off the ground. I'm not sure if there was confusion in Republican ranks as to whether we should be focused on Trump or on Crafts or how do we blend the two. But I just got the feeling the later we got into the fall that he never really got out of the blocks. Whereas Golden was, he hit his stride early and he kept it up. So I think that's why he really did win going away. It wasn't a particularly nasty race. It was just a question of who people thought was in a better position to get the job done. And Jared has proven over and over again to people that he's young, that he's serious. He's got a good background. He's got a good life story. He's a combat veteran, which plays very well up there. So all the things that go into the secret sauce of the Second Congressional District, he seemed to have most of those ingredients. And it was going to take a much more energetic performance by his opponent, no matter who it was, to knock him out of that seat. Which takes me to the Pingree election. You and I actually didn't discuss it. I think we might have just said a couple of words about it. I've got to say, talk about rather lackluster campaign. I thought it was very strange that a doctor, not casting personal aspersions to him, but that a doctor would actually take such a strong stance on the COVID issue. So I'm not sure what it was he said, that he wasn't sure about the masks, whatever, which brings me to the discussion we did have, which was COVID being the thing. And you said that, you said, Derry, it's going to all be about COVID. And I'm going to ask you this question, Bill, point blank. Do you think that if COVID had never happened, just not even crept into the business, do you agree with me that Trump would have won the election and possibly a landslide? I don't know about a landslide, but I think that there's a very good chance he would have won the election. I had felt, as I remember thinking a year ago, or early this year in January, when people were talking about the presidential election, and I just get this feeling, because of Trump being Trump, something's going to happen. I mean, it's hard to talk about the election in November, December of 2019, because it's so far off and so much can happen, and then, boom, we got hit by the pandemic. And it, as I said earlier when we met, it just took all the oxygen out of the room for anything else. And had it not come, I think you're right. I think it was a close race. Might not have been that close, but here we are. Maine has the highest reproduction rate, as of today, in the country. And the state that has done so, so well up until now is now seeing what looks like a pretty nasty surge. And I, for one, am really alarmed as to what the future holds, not only for Maine, but for the whole country. And if we can just get through this election stuff and focus our attention on the pandemic, the sooner, the better, because it's going to be a rough winter. We're going to get to the issue of the president claiming victory, claiming it was rigged. One of the things that I'm going to wonder about is, is it just an amazing coincidence that today, Pfizer comes out and says, we got the vaccine, I tell you folks, it's going to be in your house. And it is amazing to me, because I used to tell people that I think they're going to find that vaccine a week before the election. Trump's going to say that he personally knew the guy that invented it. And it's amazing to me that it comes out within a week of the election. Do you think- Can you imagine Trump's reaction to that? Yes. Well, I did see it. He tweeted about it. What do you think? What are you guys doing? I mean, he really thinks that this was part of the conspiracy, that they, you know, his position is they could have done that. I disagree. I mean, I think all these things follow a timeline, but he is convinced that they had that information. They hung back. Before the election and they withheld it just so they could stick it to him. You just answered my question, Bill. I hadn't heard that tweet yet, but I knew that you would have some idea about it. And I just thought it was amazing. And I don't know what my pro-Trump friends will say, whether they'll say it's just way too coincidental that the week after the election, they find it. The only thing I want to talk to you about is McConnell. You were not willing to call that election in July. You said, I'm just not going to do it in July. And I did. I called it that he would win, but I said he was going to win by a very slim margin. And he won by a lot. I was always impressed with Amy McGrath, his opponent. But, you know, this is like, I don't know if McConnell in his home state is the equivalent of a Kennedy in Massachusetts, but, you know, he's been there. He's, people understand the power that he has. This is a kind of another version of the Susan Collins argument here in Maine that, you know, if you keep me, you're going to keep someone in a position of power, seniority, I can get things done for you. And that's really, I think, how people have a very pragmatic view of Mitch McConnell. And as a result, he won walking away about 20 points. You know, it was, it wasn't even close. So I was way off on that one, Bill. The thing I also want to ask you, Lindsey Graham coming out and saying, listen, 500,000 of my campaign money goes to the Trump legal fund, which by the way, I got my doubts about the legality of that one. But anyway, McConnell, do you have any idea, and McConnell has already said, I applaud the president taking it to the courts. Let him do it. He has the right to do it. Do you have any idea when McConnell will finally back off and start going the Susan Collins route, which was, let's congratulate the president, that lacked whatever. When do you think McConnell will do that? Well, you know, just to back up a second on Collins, there was one word in her statement that stood out like a sore thumb, and she congratulated President-elect Biden on his apparent victory. Oh, I didn't know. I didn't know that. She said that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, I mean, yes, there's gonna be a recount in Wisconsin. There's gonna be a recount in Georgia. There is pending litigation. The likelihood of it succeeding seems to grow dimmer by the day. And if you just step back and look at the states that were in play at the end of the election, I mean, it's still, for example, now, they could take Pennsylvania away from Biden, which I really don't think is gonna happen, but, and if he won Arizona and Nevada, he's still at 270. So there are so many ways for, no matter what kind of monkey wrench gets thrown into it, there's so many ways for Biden to get there, and there are so few ways for Trump to get there that at some point, you know, you would think that McConnell and the rest of the Republicans at least in the Senate would start to smarten up and realize this train has left the station. But, you know, we've been saying that. I've been saying that about them for four years. So, logic would dictate that they, who was it? He used to say, wake up and smell the coffee, but they just don't seem to be capable of doing that as long as Trump is in the White House. Maybe when he leaves the White House, they'll finally, I don't know. Which brings us to also, Bill, you were almost like Chuck Todd on TV. In your visit with me in July, you talked about the states that were gonna swing this election. And it's amazing. I said, my God, he sounds like Chuck Todd. You go, well, listen, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, those are gonna be the key states. And you said they're gonna be so either way, they're gonna be the ones to watch. And that's exactly what Chuck Todd said. That's exactly what happened. So, brilliant comment on yours. Thank you. I should have bought a lottery ticket back then. That day. And now I'm gonna get to Collins and Gideon. I, we both bet that Gideon was gonna win. We, you bet there was gonna be the most expensive campaign in history, which it was, I think Sarah paid $147 per vote, something that near area. You said it was gonna be the nastiest ads. And the one thing I wanna talk to you about, Bill, the first question I was gonna ask you was, Bill Green, did Bill Green make a difference? And then I pick up the paper, Bill, and there it is, Bill Nemitz, Bill Green's main. And you wrote a whole article about that. So you and I do agree that Bill Green did have some weight in this election. Without a doubt. Without a doubt. If you looked at the reactions, I don't know, if you looked at Twitter and other places, once the ads started coming out. And this, I think the experience we all had was similar. And that is, by October, when the Green ads started running, we had all long ago reached the saturation point. To the point where you either tune it out mentally or many people would literally hit the mute button on these ads, whether it was Sarah or Susan Collins or whether it was their packs, everybody was tuning this out. And that's where you get to that phase, where you think, I mean, they're just throwing money away. But when I looked at the TV and saw Bill Green, walking down the walk at the beginning of the first one, I was, you know, the dog. The dog. He, this guy retired a year ago. And he was probably, you know, one of, if not the most popular person on local television in Maine. And so at the mere sight of him on camera, people thought, oh, Bill, he's back. Pavlovian. And then you listen to what he has to say. And then half, half of the people in Maine saw that ad and said, all right, how to go, Bill, great, great. And half of people said, I'll never speak to that guy again. Well, or, you know, he knew going in that he was going to lose, as he put it, a lot of my good will, you know. Well, I have to say, and I guess he just has to live with that. Well, I've got to say I'm aware of those folks that thought that maybe shouldn't have done it. My comment is folks, it's a free country. Susan was a friend of his. If Sarah Gideon, who's a friend of mine, her husband's a dear friend and her father-in-law taught me in law school, one of my favorite professors. If I had called the Gideon campaign and said, Sarah, Derry Runlet here, the Derry Runlet show, would like to do an ad for you. They would have hung up the phone and laughed. Who's Derry Runlet? But when Bill Green made that comment, it was Pavlovian because every time Bill comes on that TV, whether it was for maple syrup or snowmobiles, he's always got something nice to say about the people he's talking about. That's right. That's right. And so, yeah. And he was always so non-political. I mean, in his career, 40 plus years on main TV and the majority of those years in which he was doing, you know, Bill Green's main, you know, the outdoors, human interest kind of stories. And it was quite noticeable throughout his whole career that he was steadfastly non-political. That's correct. And he did not like that stuff. So I think that's what made it all the more jarring for some people that all of a sudden, not only was he getting political, but he was jumping head first into the most hotly contested, one of the most hotly contested races in the country. Well, it would be... And I'm not sure he knew what he was getting himself into there, but... By the way, just like I didn't have any trouble putting myself down, but he probably didn't have any idea how big it was gonna be. And it would be hypocritical for me, folks, for me to criticize Bill Green when I had brought on this show, people like Sarah Gideon, I've had Janet Mills on there, I would have had their opponents if they wanted to come on. And when Tom Allen ran against Susan Collins, Tom went to Bowdoin with me, one of my favorite friends, and I absolutely would have endorsed Tom Allen. And when I had him on my Law on the Line show, I went out of my way to throw softballs in his direction. So I don't blame Bill a bit for doing that. And I'm gonna say congratulations, Bill. Bill Nimitz, and I think you may have turned this election around a little bit for Susan Collins. Well, I think the other thing you've gotta remember is Bill is, a lot of these ads you have, everyday people sort of, who are being plucked out of... Right, right, right. Bill Green is a master communicator. And he, I can't think of anybody who the camera loves more than Bill Green. I mean, he's just so at ease, so comfortable. Yes. You know, he just makes you relax. And so I think that was another thing that added to the power of those ads is he's just so darn good at it. True, and I've gotta say, I really, the only, I remember those people coming on. I wasn't that impressed with the people who said, I used them all for college, I don't like them anymore or whatever. I thought they were rather contrived on both sides. But the one ad that I wanna say to the audience, I did not like. And I don't think Susan came up with the idea, but I was extremely upset with the sex, quote, sex offender ad that Sarah failed to kick out of the house or whatever. I just thought that as I understand it, and you and I talked about this earlier, I don't think that this gentleman was charged and even if he was charged and convicted to plaster his face all over that television set, I think was a mean to him and also mean to any potential victim that may have been involved with him, alleged, real or alleged. And I just thought that was a mean thing to do for this man to have to watch himself on TV and be brought back into that. I thought that was a- And not only that, Dary, but they, I mean, they really, it was very mocking in its tone. You might recall, for example, there was one day when I guess he's a singer and representative Bates and he sang the National Anthem at the end of the day in the House Chamber. And I don't know, the way they did that and the way they, you know, you changed the lighting, make it all dark and semester and all that. It just felt like you're right. I mean, I was, it would be one thing if this guy was convicted and doing time or whatever, but he was never charged. We don't know really what happened. And he's got no, it didn't happen. But to drag everybody, as you said, I think it's a good point to drag everybody involved in that back through it by holding it up to statewide ridicule, I think, across that line. Well, thank you for that. The other thing is I didn't like the unflattering pictures of Susan Collins. She is a nice woman. If you catch somebody, you know, touching their nose, maybe it doesn't look good. They're picking their nose or whatever. She's yelling at somebody and got her mouth wide open. I thought it was unfair to do that. Now let's move to the big point because we only got a few minutes. The big one, Bill. All right. Trump, Biden, we're watching it on TV. The thing's going up and down. And one of the things that we did call Bill, you and I both said, he's not gonna go willingly. But what we didn't realize was that he would be, so adamant about it, number one. And number two would have so many followers that agree with him. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, this has been, well, it's been bizarre since 2016, so why stop? But it has been a, well, really since Saturday because that's when everybody called it. It's just been surreal. Surreal. And there's gonna be an end to this. I mean, December 14th, the electoral college meets. January 20th, we inaugurate a new president. So this nonsense can only go on for so long. But what I am just still struck by is this absolute inability on this guy's part to not grasp the fact that he lost because I think he knows, but to lose graciously. One thing they've been doing the past few days, and I think it's been very good by contrast for the people in this country to see, is the Al Gore concession speech, Hillary Clinton, John McCain. They even went back to Richard Nixon in 1960 as examples of how to lose gracefully. And how we are accustomed to this happening in our country. And we are so far away from that with Trump right now. It's just not funny. I don't think they're gonna carry him out of the White House. By the way, you mentioned that. You said Secret Service. I got it up, but you said, we may see it. Bill, one of the things I'm saying to the Trump supporters, and that is this, he has an absolute right to go to the court system, which I tell my friends, I respect the court system, I respect Kavanaugh, I respect Roberts, I respect Amy Coney Barrett, I respect Gorsuch. And I've said to them, I find it hard to believe that three Trump appointees will sit back and watch the election rigged for him against him. If it gets to them, they're gonna protect the laws, what they're gonna protect. And I still believe that the Trump supporters will say 10 years from now, that election was rigged, Hillary bought all the judges, she bought all the votes, whatever they're gonna say. And I say, folks, if you're gonna do that and spend the rest of your lives convinced that this man won the presidency, good for you if that makes you happy. Well, you know, there's some people are bailing. I mean, I think a real milestone was reached the other day when Fox News- Yes. Kylie was her name, McKinney. Yeah, what did he say again? He just said- The press secretary, the White House, and she was going on and on about the fraud again with no evidence, zero evidence. And Neil Kovuto on Fox, they cut her off. And he said, we can't keep doing this, we can't let her keep saying these things. Now, the other networks were doing that throughout the whole weekend, whenever Trump got up there, they were just stopping him. But the fact that Fox has now really taken a turn away from Trump, not only that, but with them calling Arizona, all the things they did that took him off. I think there are gonna be people who say that, as you said, but I think that that number is dwindling. And I think it will be eventually reduced to just this kind of hardcore Trump supporters and people that are just impenetrable. I just, the rug is coming out from under him, whether he likes it or not. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I began this show by telling the audience that I have friends on both sides, friends that love this president and friends that do not like this president at all. And I have enjoyed so much, Bill, talking to you. Because- Because in July when we sat here, we didn't realize actually how, quote, accurate, we're on some things and inaccurate on others. And so Bill, I just have one request for you, if you don't mind. In two years from now when the elections come up, it's you and me. All right. Back on the air. And Bill, I wish you the very best. And I thank you so much for all that you do for the state of Maine with your column. Take care. And we'll see you in two years, Bill. Right, thanks, Terry. It's been a lot of fun. Okay. This is a wind-up, folks. Folks, right after this, I'll be shooting my second show, me on five on channel six. Channel five, excuse me. Channel five, you'll kill me on channel six. Yeah.