JOE BIDEN is continuing his steady march toward the White House. We don't quite know when the race will be called -- or even how -- but he's now ahead by 917 votes in Georgia. He's also up in Arizona and Nevada. In Pennsylvania, President DONALD TRUMP is up by fewer than 20,000 votes, and as CNN's PHIL MATTINGLY said in the 5 a.m. hour, it's not a matter of if, but when, the Keystone State will be called for BIDEN. BIDEN sources told us they became aware that there is a large batch of votes in Philadelphia that will put the former VP over the top in the state. The campaign didn't have anything to say about that. BIDEN WORLD has started to mobilize in D.C. They have called around to business groups in town suggesting a call on the election is imminent, and requested that statements include a reference to "legitimate democratic processes." BUT, THAT DOESN'T MEAN there won't be turbulence between now and Inauguration Day -- should BIDEN pull it out. Of course, there are the court cases that TRUMP and his team have launched. But let's assume those fall flat. ON JAN. 6, THE HOUSE AND SENATE will come into joint session to count the electoral votes. VP MIKE PENCE will preside, as vice presidents always do. BUT MISCHIEF CAN BREAK OUT. Here's what the Congressional Research Service says: "While the tellers announce the results, Members may object to the returns from any individual state as they are announced. Objections to individual state returns must be made in writing by at least one Member each of the Senate and House of Representatives. If an objection meets these requirements, the joint session recesses and the two houses separate and debate the question in their respective chambers for a maximum of two hours. "The two houses then vote separately to accept or reject the objection. They then reassemble in joint session, and announce the results of their respective votes. An objection to a state's electoral vote must be approved by both houses in order for any contested votes to be excluded." -- SO IT COULD GET INTERESTING, and the process can get dragged out, but it would just be a nuisance, because both houses will never agree to an objection. BTW: READ THIS -- the Electoral College timeline. WHERE WE ARE THIS MORNING … AT ABOUT 4:25 A.M., BIDEN took the lead in Georgia by 917 votes, powered by outstanding ballots in Clayton County -- the home of the late Rep. JOHN LEWIS. Democrats haven't won Georgia since 1992 -- the last election an incumbent president lost. ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION at 4:21 a.m.: "Biden won 87% of ballots tabulated between late Thursday night and Friday morning in Clayton, located south of Atlanta. … Thousands more absentee ballots will continue to be counted Friday, including 4,800 in Gwinnett County. In all, about 10,000 absentee ballots remained to be tallied, in addition to a few thousand military, overseas and provisional ballots. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has emphasized that every legal ballot must be counted. County election offices have until a Nov. 13 deadline to certify their results." PENNSYLVANIA, via CNN this morning: TRUMP was ahead 18,229 votes as of just before 6 a.m. TALKER … DAVID SIDERS and CHARLIE MAHTESIAN: "The 3 storylines driving the election Friday" Good Friday morning. JOSH GERSTEIN: "Trump's legal team makes no significant progress in election fight": "President Donald Trump's barrage of lawsuits related to the 2020 presidential election kicked up considerable dust on Thursday, but delivered his campaign no tangible progress in halting or slowing the slide of vote tallies away from him in key battleground states. "The flurry of litigation yielded a couple of minor victories for the president, as a state judge granted his campaign's poll watchers closer access to ballot counting in Philadelphia and a federal court judge there brokered a deal that's likely to let more volunteers from Trump's campaign observe the process. "Despite mixed results, the court fights seemed to serve their intended purpose of creating an air of legal uncertainty around the election while the president and his advisers scramble to preserve a sense of viability for a reelection bid that is by objective measures growing more remote. The performative nature of the litigation was evidenced by the campaign's dispatching some of its most combative surrogates to sites where court fights were underway or threatened." POLITICO -- "Postal Service Is Ordered by Judge to Search for Remaining Ballots," by WSJ's Rebecca Smith, Byron Tau and Rob Barry: "A federal judge ordered the U.S. Postal Service to conduct rigorous sweeps of postal facilities serving states with looming election deadlines like Pennsylvania and North Carolina, so any ballots still in the mail system reach election officials in time to be included in election tallies. "The order came in the midst of a close presidential race and as the Postal Service submitted data to a federal court in Washington, D.C., showing that at least 150,000 ballots likely reached election officials on Wednesday—too late to meet deadlines for inclusion in election counts in as many as 28 states." THE STEP BACK -- NYT'S PETER BAKER and MAGGIE HABERMAN: "In Torrent of Falsehoods, Trump Claims Election Is Being Stolen": "Even for President Trump, it was an imagined version of reality, one in which he was not losing but the victim of a wide-ranging conspiracy stretching across the country in multiple cities, counties and states, involving untold numbers of people all somehow collaborating to steal the election in ways he could not actually explain. "Never mind that Mr. Trump presented not a shred of evidence during his first public appearance since late on election night or that few senior Republican officeholders endorsed his false claims of far-reaching fraud. A presidency born in a lie about Barack Obama's birthplace appeared on the edge of ending in a lie about his own faltering bid for re-election. … "He convinced few people who were not already in his corner. Most of the television networks cut away from the statement on the grounds that what Mr. Trump was saying was not true. On CNN, former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a Republican often put in the position of defending Mr. Trump over the years, appeared exasperated as he denounced the president's loose talk of election thievery as 'dangerous' and 'shocking' and declared that 'counting absentee ballots and counting mail-in ballots is not fraud.'" -- REPUBLICANS were divided over the president's comments. Several, including Maryland Gov. LARRY HOGAN, Sens. BEN SASSE (Neb.) and MITT ROMNEY (Utah), retiring Rep. WILL HURD (Texas) and former Pennsylvania Gov. TOM RIDGE, publicly castigated Trump on Twitter. However, some Trump loyalists, including House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY and Sens. TED CRUZ (Texas) and LINDSEY GRAHAM (S.C.), stuck by the president. MCCARTHY WENT AS FAR as to baselessly claim TRUMP won the election. The clip THE GOVERNMENT PREPARES FOR PRESIDENT BIDEN … "Secret Service plans to ramp up protection of Biden in anticipation of his possible win," by WaPo's Carol Leonnig BURGESS EVERETT, ALEX THOMPSON and MARIANNE LEVINE: "America's new power couple: Joe and Mitch" THE REAL JAMES BAKER SPEAKS, by NYT'S PETER BAKER: "The White House hoped to find a 'James Baker-like' figure to lead its postelection battle to somehow find a way to win a second term. But the original James Baker says the White House should stop trying to stop the votes from being counted. "Mr. Baker, the former secretary of state who led the legal and political team during the epic Florida recount battle in 2000 that secured the presidency for George W. Bush, said in an interview on Thursday that President Trump may have legitimate issues to pursue, but they should not be used to justify halting the initial tabulation of ballots. 'We never said don't count the votes,' said Mr. Baker, a Republican who voted for Mr. Trump. 'That's a very hard decision to defend in a democracy.'" NYT AND THIS … AL GORE to NBC'S LESTER HOLT on Thursday night: "This is a completely different election from the one 20 years ago. Joe Biden has multiple pathways to secure his victory. And of course, I'm for him and I'm hoping that will be the case very soon. But the most important principle that I defended 20 years ago, that Joe Biden and many others are defending tonight is, let's count every legally cast vote and obey the will of the American people." HEATHER CAYGLE and SARAH FERRIS: "Dem leaders warn liberal rhetoric could blow Georgia races" CNN'S MANU RAJU and LAUREN FOX: "Hill Democrats vent over struggles in congressional races as calls grow for shift in tactics" THE NEXT FRONTIER -- "Georgia preps for cash war with Senate majority on the line," by James Arkin, Andrew Desiderio and Elena Schneider: "Democrats and Republicans are gearing up for an unprecedented two-month battle for control of the Senate that centers on just one state: Georgia. Democrats failed to deliver in Senate battlegrounds this week, but both parties are still short of a majority in the chamber. So now Georgia holds the keys to control of the Senate, with both of the state's races appearing likely to head to runoffs in early January. And with Joe Biden favored to win the presidency, Democrats could win control of a 50-50 Senate if they flip both seats. "With the stakes so high, the state is likely to see tens of millions of dollars pour in from small donors and super PACs from both parties ahead of the Jan. 5 runoffs. Already, high-dollar donors have begun lining up behind an effort to pour resources into the Georgia races, according to several Democratic donors and donor advisers, who described a flurry of phone calls on the matter to refocus funds. The anti-abortion group Women Speak Out PAC announced a $4 million expenditure on Thursday for the two races, for example, and the traditional GOP apparatus is already soliciting contributions." POLITICO TRUMP'S FRIDAY -- The president has nothing on his public schedule. TV TONIGHT -- PBS' "Washington Week" with Bob Costa: Yamiche Alcindor, Peter Baker, Sue Davis and Jake Sherman. SUNDAY SO FAR … | 
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