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Archives for October 2016

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Trump Pledged Far More to Charity Than He Ever Gave

October 29, 2016 at 4:31 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“For as long as he has been rich and famous, Donald Trump has also wanted people to believe he is generous. He spent years constructing an image as a philanthropist by appearing at charity events and by making very public — even nationally televised — promises to give his own money away.”

“It was, in large part, a facade. A months-long investigation by The Washington Post has not been able to verify many of Trump’s boasts about his philanthropy.”

“Instead, throughout his life in the spotlight, whether as a businessman, television star or presidential candidate, The Post found that Trump had sought credit for charity he had not given — or had claimed other people’s giving as his own.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Donald Trump

Why Does Trump’s Support Remain So Stable?

October 29, 2016 at 4:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sam Wang: “Such high stability in polls is not new. It started several decades ago. One measure of the stasis of modern campaigns is how much each party’s support in polls changes over the course of a campaign. From 1952 to 1992, the average range — the difference between maximum and minimum levels of support — was 17 percentage points. Since 1996, the range has dropped to 8 points. Mr. Trump’s range is 4 points, from 39 to 43 percent.”

“At his lowest point, Mr. Trump still had more support than George McGovern, who got the smallest percentage of the popular vote by a major party candidate in the postwar era in 1972, with 38 percent. Mrs. Clinton’s average margin over Mr. Trump of five points has been enough to make her the first candidate to maintain a durable lead in an open presidential race since Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson in 1952. So the bigger question is not about Mr. Trump, but why the last six presidential campaigns became so stable.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign

Quote of the Day

October 29, 2016 at 2:08 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“This is like an 18-wheeler smacking into us, and it just becomes a huge distraction at the worst possible time.”

— DNC Chair Donna Brazile, quoted by the New York Times, on the news that the FBI is investigating newly-discovered emails from one of Hillary Clinton’s top aides.

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign


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Clinton Banks the Early Vote

October 29, 2016 at 12:19 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by 15 percentage points among early voters surveyed in the past two weeks.

An estimated 19 million Americans have voted so far in the election, accounting for as much as 20 percent of the electorate.

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign

A GOP Lawmaker Off-the-Record

October 29, 2016 at 12:13 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich spoke to a longtime friend who is a Republican member of Congress:

REICH: What do you think of your party’s nominee for president?

CONGRESSMAN: Trump is a maniac. He’s a clear and present danger to America.

REICH: Have you said publicly that you won’t vote for him?

CONGRESSMAN (sheepishly): No.

REICH: Why not?

CONGRESSMAN: I’m a coward.

REICH: What do you mean?

CONGRESSMAN: I live in a state with a lot of Trump voters. Most Republican officials do.

REICH: But you’re a former official. You’re not running for Congress again. What are you afraid of?

CONGRESSMAN: I hate to admit it, but I’m afraid of them. Some of those Trumpistas are out of their fu*king minds.

REICH: You mean you’re afraid for your own physical safety?

CONGRESSMAN: All it takes is one of them, you know.

REICH: Wait a minute. Isn’t this how dictators and fascists have come to power in other nations? Respected leaders don’t dare take a stand.

CONGRESSMAN: At least I’m no Giuliani or Gingrich or Pence. I’m not a Trump enabler.

REICH: I’ll give you that.

CONGRESSMAN: Let me tell you something. Most current and former Republican members of Congress are exactly like me. I talk with them. They think Trump is deplorable. And they think Giuliani and Gingrich are almost as bad. But they’re not gonna speak out. Some don’t want to end their political careers. Most don’t want to risk their lives. The Trump crowd is just too dangerous. Trump has whipped them up into a goddamn frenzy.

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign

Justice Department Officials Warned Comey

October 29, 2016 at 12:03 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Senior Justice Department officials warned the FBI that Director James Comey’s decision to notify Congress about renewing the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server was not consistent with long-standing practices of the department,” the Washington Post reports.

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: James Comey

A Theory for Why Comey Sent Congress Letter

October 29, 2016 at 11:41 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Playbook: “The FBI stumbles across some of Huma Abedin’s emails on Anthony Weiner’s laptop. They need to get permission from Huma and her attorneys to look at the emails — or get a warrant from a judge. This would be handled by the Justice Department. Comey would have no idea what was in those emails, since they haven’t had the permission to look at them yet. So they could be explosive — or they could be nothing.”

“Huma was known to forward emails to other accounts, sometimes to have documents printed. So, in this scenario, Huma uses Weiner’s laptop. The FBI searches it after they seize it in the sexting case. They discover that Huma has emails on there. The FBI New York folks notify HQ in D.C. to ask for guidance. FBI officials kick it up the chain to Comey, who feels like he has no choice but to notify Congress, because he doesn’t want it leaking that he’s covering something up days before the election.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign

Clinton Will Try to Put Focus Back on Trump

October 29, 2016 at 9:38 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Glenn Thrush: “Clinton, who hates everything about campaigning except reading briefing books and debating her opponents, has been happy to coast in Trump’s turbulent wake – tsk-tsk-tsk-ing him and deploying a Hall of Fame roster of surrogates from the Obamas to Bernie Sanders to Elizabeth Warren to Katy Perry. But gradually, inevitably, the focus has turned back on the second-most detested candidate running for president – in part because of the drip-drip of WikiLeaks, in part because voters are now forced to grapple with the reality that she’s likely to be the country’s next leader.”

“She doesn’t fare especially well alone in the spotlight – while she’s held her own in most polls, and retains a commanding advantage in many battleground states (and the Electoral College) – Trump has begun to finally consolidate support among core Republicans, which has brought him as high as 44 percent in one national poll and to par with her in Florida and Nevada.”

“So look for a new oppo dump on Trump — and a new line of attack — or anything, really, that will turn the race back into a referendum on his fitness to serve, not hers.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign

Trump Advisers Plan Their Next Steps

October 29, 2016 at 9:36 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Gabriel Sherman: “Even given the October surprise of the FBI’s reviewing a new batch of emails that may be related to Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server, Trump still faces difficult odds. But he is ending the race much as he got into it: not worrying too much about the future and not listening to any of the advisers around him.”

“In recent weeks, I spoke with more than two dozen current and former Trump advisers, friends, and senior Republicans officials, many of whom would speak only off the record given that the campaign is not yet over. What they described was an unmanageable candidate who still does not fully understand the power of the movement he has tapped into, who can’t see that it is larger than himself.”

“Trump may not be all that focused on what happens to the masses of white, nativist, working-class voters who have coalesced around him, but there are people in the campaign who recognize how valuable those Trump believers could be long after the election is over.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Donald Trump

Trump Has Spent $10 Million on His Own Businesses

October 29, 2016 at 9:07 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Donald Trump’s list of highest-paid campaign vendors is brimming with his own name,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“An airline he owns has drawn the fifth-largest paycheck of any company the campaign paid through Oct. 19. Mr. Trump has also paid at least eight of his golf clubs, seven of his hotels and five of his restaurants.”

“In all, the New York businessman has spent close to $10 million over the course of the election cycle reimbursing his children for travel expenses and family-owned companies for campaign services, the most recent Federal Election Commission reports show.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Donald Trump

Iowa Woman Charged with Voting Twice

October 29, 2016 at 9:02 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

An Iowa woman has been charged with a felony after allegedly voting twice for Donald Trump, Iowa Public Radio reports.

Terri Rote says she was afraid her first ballot would be changed to a vote for Hillary Clinton: “I wasn’t planning on doing it twice, it was spur of the moment. The polls are rigged.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign, Election Administration

A Clinton-Trump Rematch In 2020?

October 29, 2016 at 8:50 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Newt Gingrich, one of Donald Trump’s closest confidants and most visible boosters, on Friday raised the novel possibility of a Trump-Clinton rematch in 2020,” Politico reports.

Said Gingrich: “The challenge for everybody’s going to be, ‘What if he gets 48 or 49 percent?’ And what if he says: ‘You know, I like this campaign and stuff. I ain’t leaving’? There will then be a Trump Party.”

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign

GOP Senate Hopes Brighten on Clinton Email News

October 29, 2016 at 8:48 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“For at least a day — thanks to the latest Hillary Clinton email bombshell — Senate Republicans scrambling to defend their majority got to play some offense,” Politico reports.

“GOP candidates from Senate battlegrounds such as Florida, Pennsylvania, Missouri and elsewhere pounced on the news Friday that the FBI was reviewing new evidence potentially related to its probe of Clinton’s email practices. The shocking revelation — which came as a surprise to both presidential campaigns and Capitol Hill — injected new life into the e-mail controversy that has long dogged Clinton and her favorability ratings and gave Republicans fodder to tie Democrats to their own unpopular candidate at the top of the ticket.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign

Comey Broke with Justice Department Tradition

October 29, 2016 at 8:39 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

FBI Director James Comey’s decision “is a striking break with the policies of the Department of Justice, according to current and former federal legal officials. Comey, who is a Republican appointee of President Obama, has a reputation for integrity and independence, but his latest action is stirring an extraordinary level of concern among legal authorities, who see it as potentially affecting the outcome of the Presidential and congressional elections,” the New Yorker reports.

Said one former Justice Department official: “You don’t do this. It’s aberrational. It violates decades of practice.”

New York Times: “The reaction was swift and damning, with Mrs. Clinton’s supporters and even some Republicans blasting Mr. Comey. Indeed, Mr. Comey, who was attacked this summer by Democrats and Republicans for both his decision not to bring charges against Mrs. Clinton and for the way he handled it, found himself in an even stronger crossfire on Friday.”

Greg Sargent: James Comey needs to clean up his mess

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: James Comey

State Poll Roundup: Saturday

October 29, 2016 at 8:32 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Here are the latest state polls from the presidential race:

Pennsylvania: Clinton 45%, Trump 39%, Johnson 8% (Muhlenberg)

Arizona: Trump 42%, Clinton 40%, Johnson 5% (Data Orbital)

Nevada: Clinton 46%, Trump 46%, Johnson 3% (Gravis)

Pennsylvania: Clinton 48%, Trump 43%, Johnson 6% (Emerson)

New Hampshire: Clinton 46%, Trump 43%, Johnson 6% (Emerson)

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign

Tracking Poll Tightens as Electorate’s Makeup Shifts

October 29, 2016 at 8:27 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The ABC News-Washington Post tracking poll finds Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump by just two points, 47% to 45%.

Key findings: “Changes in the poll’s latest four nights compared with the previous four are not mainly about people shifting in their candidate preference, but about changes in who’s intending to vote. As Trump’s controversies last week and the week before move further into the rearview mirror, Republicans are expressing greater likelihood to participate: 81% of registered Republicans now are likely voters, up from 75% a week ago.”

Also important: “Loosely affiliated or reluctant Clinton supporters look less likely to vote, perhaps given their sense she can win without them — a supposition that looks less reliable today.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign

Trump Will Campaign In Michigan

October 29, 2016 at 8:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Donald Trump is headed back to Michigan on Monday for two rallies in suburban Grand Rapids and Warren, signaling that the Trump campaign believes the Great Lakes State could still be in play against Democrat Hillary Clinton,” the Detroit News reports.

The HuffPost Pollster average shows Hillary Clinton leading 48% to 40% in the state.

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Michigan

Clinton No Longer Coasting to the Finish Line

October 28, 2016 at 7:18 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “Dashed are the hopes that the campaign could come to a conclusion on a high note, instilling in Americans a feeling that casting a history-making vote for Clinton is something more than merely a repudiation of Donald Trump.”

“Instead, Clinton is finding herself once again burdened by the twin scandals that have hung over her campaign since before she had a campaign — and devastating her image as an honest and trustworthy leader, even as she tried to make the case that she is the most experienced modern-day candidate for president, and the only option in the race who is responsible enough to handle the nuclear codes.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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