Jim Newell writes about politics for Slate.

And right now, that job, it can feel a little like an endurance test.

Yeah, I just, I'm just like looking, it's what, two months until the election, a little less than two months.

I just need to get to the election.

Somehow, some way.

I need to summon the will.

Yeah, that's a really familiar feeling to me.

I mean, how long have you covered Washington now?

13 years.

Do you remember when talking about politics was fun?

Yeah, vaguely.

I remember my first job, I was, I blogged for Wonkette back in 0708.

And I would actually, like there were actually weeks I would be mad when the weekend came because I was having so much fun.

What's not fun is trying to game out the next few weeks and how they'll play with voters.

We all know what happened last time we tried to predict who would be president.

In October of 2016, seven in ten voters said they thought Hillary Clinton would be moving into the White House.

Among Clinton's supporters, 93% expected her to win.

A lot of listeners are carrying their anxiety from 2016 into this race.

Can you just sort of stack up where we are now versus where we were around this time in 2016?

Sure.

Let me, where are we, what day is it today?

Tuesday, September 8th.

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