Here at First To Last, we have a basic conceit. We examine the 2016 race, apply what we know about the past to the present moment, and try to offer you a tiny bit of our best insights. We hope it’s working out for you so far.
But let’s pull back the curtain a little bit here and just admit it: There are so many questions we can’t even begin to answer about this election. So many things about which we’d have no idea what we were even talking about if we tried to discuss it. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld took a lot of stick for his discussion about “known unknowns” -- and rightly so because sending people off to die in a war demand that those be minimized -- but if we’re being honest, it’s a real concept.
Speculation has its place -- we all like to make bets on the future. And political science can help us locate the contours of a political contest, and help us chart its trajectory. But at this point in the race, the one constant is that there’s many things about which we have no clue and many outcomes we can’t even come close to predicting. This week, we’ll share with you some of the most vexing questions we’re grappling with right now.
(If you know the answers, please tell us!)