The Lord Almighty.

Is not coming down.

---

1. The New York Times:

In an election upset in Iran, the reformist candidate, Masoud Pezeshkian, who advocated for moderate policies at home and improved relations with the West, won the presidential runoff election, beating his hard-line rival, the Ministry of Interior said on Saturday morning.

Mr. Pezeshkian, 69, a cardiac surgeon, got 16.3 million votes to defeat the hard-line candidate, Saeed Jalili, delivering a blow to the conservative faction and a major victory for the reformist faction that had been sidelined from politics for the past few years. Mr. Jalili received 13.5 million votes.

After polls closed at midnight, turnout stood at 50 percent, about 10 percentage points higher than in the first round of the election with about 30.5 million ballots cast in total, according to Iran’s interior ministry. The first round saw a record-low turnout because many Iranians had boycotted the vote as an act of protest.

However, the prospect of a hard-line administration that would double down on strict social rules, including enforcing mandatory hijab on women, and remain defiant in negotiations to lift sanctions, apparently spurred Iranians to turn up at the polls in slightly larger numbers.

Mr. Pezeshkian’s supporters took to the streets in the predawn hours of Saturday, according to video footage on social media and his campaign, honking horns, dancing and cheering outside his campaign offices in many cities, including his hometown, Tabriz, when initial results showed he was leading. They also took to social media to congratulate Iranians for turning up at polls to “save Iran,” a campaign slogan of Mr. Pezeshkian’s. (Source: nytimes.com)

---

2. President Biden, in a defiant television interview Friday, emphatically rejected calls to withdraw from the presidential race — saying only “the Lord Almighty” could make him change his mind — as he repeatedly downplayed his recent shaky debate performance as a “bad night” and dismissed the notion that polls showed him losing to Republican Donald Trump. “If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race,” he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “But the Lord Almighty is not coming down.” (Source: washingtonpost.com)

---

3. Politico:

President Joe Biden’s first televised interview since last week’s debate meltdown did little to stop the bleeding.

Members of Congress and top Democratic operatives told POLITICO shortly after Biden’s sit down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos aired that the president was more energetic and forceful than he was on stage during last week’s showdown with Donald Trump — but it likely won’t be enough to tame the panic.

And many were shocked by the president’s blatant denial about his standing in the race, and his repeated dismissal of his party’s widespread concerns. It’s an approach some Democrats described as “dangerous.”

“He was more animated and made a strong case for what he has done. But the question the debate raised is about his fitness for the next four years, not his performance in the past four years,” said David Axelrod, the longtime Democratic operative who helped lead Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. “And he simply doesn’t acknowledge that concern. He also is in denial about where he is in this race.” (Source: politico.com)

---