Should Joe Biden blow the lead he has held virtually all year and President Trump be reelected, we will of course be treated to ringing choruses insisting the outcome was illegitimate because of (take your pick) Russian interference, Facebook, nefarious voter-suppression schemes, and so forth.

But anyone who has ever watched a football game can tell you that the prevent defense is an excellent way to prevent your side from winning. I think that if Biden loses, Americans will properly reject all stolen-election theories and place the blame squarely on Biden himself and his bizarrely somnolent campaign strategy. Night after night, while Team Trump goes out knocking on doors and Trump himself frequently ventures out to plead his case with the voters, Joe is bidin’ his time. His campaign isn’t knocking on any doors to plead his case for fear of coronavirus and this month Biden has already “called a lid” on eight different mornings, meaning he is . . . taking lots of days entirely off. Yesterday he called a lid at 9:22 a.m. Who calls it a day at 9:22 a.m. besides Homer Simpson? Is Biden trying to win or just expecting victory to be delivered by the UPS man?

With less than six weeks to go, Biden’s behavior is either baffling or justified by some factor we don’t yet know about. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris has not done a single interview or formal press conference in the six weeks since she was tapped as Biden’s running mate. Remember when Sarah Palin was similarly tapped and the press relentlessly hounded John McCain’s campaign to make her take questions from somebody? (And when she did agree to speak to Katie Couric, things didn’t go well for her.) Harris might as well be cloistered in an abbey.

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At the end of a football game, the pundits sometimes say things like, “It was clear who wanted it more.” If Biden loses on November 3, the answer to the question “Who wanted it more” will be obvious to everyone.