And it’s one of those outlying thoughts that, combined with some really too-strong pepperoni on a pizza, can lead to nightmarish dreams like the one I had two nights ago.

As the weather warms up and the election approaches, I think we can all agree as a baseline that we’re going to see a more chaos and attempts at formenting and encouraging chaos of many different kinds: economic (boycotts, strikes, Occupations), in terms of political protest, and ultimately perhaps in the election itself. The Occupiers are calling on their crews to descend on Chicago and shut the city down if they don’t get what they want. It looks like it’s going to be a mild winter and if there is an early start to Spring that means their movement is going to have more time to spread its spores.

For the Grand Finale you add the chaos of a last-minute Biden/Hillary switcheroo, throwing the entire country into turmoil for another 5 or 6 months after the election…as an even more destructive reprise of Bush vs. Gore, this time *intentionally*.

And even if you think that scenario is too far out, OK, let’s go back to the base question:

If he was going to decide to do it just out of pure demographic calculus in order to save his Presidency, what would be the latest more-or-less “orderly” date he could announce the change?

I know this conversation must have taken place in some form among high-level Democrats in the past couple of months, and is probably taking place right now. We know the buzz about the switch is real, at least as buzz, when Robert Reich writes an article about it. Even if the whole thing is a giant headfake, Reich strikes me as the kind of “does his homework” guy to have thoroughly investigated the possibility, even if he’s throwing it out there as a deliberate ringer. In other words I can’t believe he just sat down at his computer and wrote a column about it and left it at that. Not his style.