Georgia On My Mind: The early line is that Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock comes into today’s Senate runoff with a lead over Republican Herschel Walker, but it’s tight.

  If Warnock wins, the Democrats will have a majority of 51seats. 

  Warnock warned his supporters not to be overconfident and to get out and vote “like it’s an emergency. ”

The two campaigns have spent a stunning $380 million. By the time the polls open this morning, about 1.9 million Georgians have already voted. Black voters were about a third of the early vote, but remember, both candidates are Black. A quarter of the early voters are under 50.

  In November, Warnock led Walker by 37,000 votes out of 4 million cast, but failed to win a majority. Also, Walker was 200,000 votes behind his own Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.

The War Room: A drone hit an oil facility just inside Russia  today, the second day in a row that Ukraine has taken the war to the Russian homeland.

  Ukraine struck hundreds of miles into Russia yesterday with two drones that hit military bases. At least one of the attacks is reported to have been carried out with the guidance of Ukrainian special forces deep into Russian territory.

  With the exception of hitting the bridge that connects Russia to Crimea, Ukraine had so far refrained from attacking over the border. The Kremlin said their defenses took out the attacking drones yesterday but, “the fall and explosion of the wreckage” had “slightly damaged” two planes, killing three servicemen and wounding four others.

   Russia yesterday and again today responded with a  barrage of missiles over Ukraine, continuing to target energy and water installations. Power was knocked out in several regions.

  Ukraine air defenses failed to knock down all the incoming missiles. One New York Times reporter south of Kyiv yesterday reported seeing a cruise missile flying toward the capital.

  Ukraine is not standing still. The army appears to be preparing for a winter offensive, defying the common wisdom that they would just hunker down in the trenches until spring.

  Russia is losing economic ground as well. As many as 1,000 multinational companies have pulled out or suspended operations in Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine. Russia had been aspiring to have a modern western economy. 

  Vladislav Inozemtsev, the Washington-based director of the Center for Post-Industrial Studies, told The NY Times, “The slogan now is ‘Keep things from getting worse,’ and that’s an important shift.” He said, “Even the government has stopped betting on national development.”

The Supremes: Reporters present at the Supreme Court yesterday say the conservative majority seemed to favor the case a woman who says she will not build a wedding website for a gay couple because of her strict Christian faith. The discussion broke down into a lot of hypotheticals, as it often does, with questions about a white Mall Santa who won’t have his picture taken with a black child or a black Santa who won’t have his photo taken with a kid in a Klan outfit. 

The Long Count: Arizona’s election results were certified yesterday over the objections of Republican candidate for governor, Kari Lake. Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who was elected governor, presided. She said “Democracy prevailed, but it’s not out of the woods.”

  Lake promises that she’s preparing a lawsuit saying, “We’ll take it all the way to the Supreme Court, if we have to. We will not stop fighting. Because the people of Arizona were disenfranchised.”

On the Pitch: Japan and Croatia battled it out for an exhausting 121 minutes yesterday, 41 minutes beyond regular time and tying at 1-1 before  the match was decided for Croatia 3-1 on penalty kicks. It was  a tough way for Japan to go.

  Brazil beat South Korea 4-1 and squares off with Croatia on Friday.

The Obit Page: Actress Kirstie Alley, who brought beauty and comic timing opposite Ted Danson to the 1980’s sitcom “Cheers” about a Boston bar, died after a short bout with cancer at age 71. She also had her own sitcom, “Veronica’s Closet,” from 1997 to 2000.

— Bob McGrath, an original cast member of the public television show Sesame Street who wore a sweater, sang, and dispensed fatherly advice for nearly 50 years, has died at age 90. 

  Fans of the show were outraged in 2016 when HBO took over Sesame Street, letting McGrath go. “I’m really very happy to stay home with my wife and children a little bit more,” he said later at an annual comic book and pop culture convention. “I’d be so greedy if I wanted five minutes more.”

The Spin Rack: ABC News benched GMA3 anchors Amy Robach and TJ Holmes after news broke that the two … both married … are having an affair. ABC President Kim Godwin said Robach and Holmes had not broken company policy, but suggested that they have become an embarrassment. “We can’t operate with gossip, and speculation and rumors,” Godwin said. “We need to stay focused on the work.” — Michael Avenatti, the disgraced lawyer who once represented porn actress Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, was sentenced yesterday to 14 years in federal prison for stealing millions of dollars from clients. He was also ordered to pay more than $7 million to his four victims. 

Below the Fold: Armed members of the right wing Proud Boys danced and demonstrated on a Columbus, Ohio street corner over the weekend singing and dancing to the Village People song “YMCA.” They were there to protest and shut down a drag show, and succeeded.

  Somebody might have to tell the camouflage white nationalists that the Village People was a gay group, the song was written by a gay Jew, and the song has been a gay anthem. The gay group that had members dressed as a cowboy, a construction worker, and a cop already had a character in camo.

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