Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kyrsten Sinema (D) told KTAR that while she’s a Democrat, it’s not a point she’s putting at the forefront of her campaign.
Said Sinema: “I’m not particularly proud of the parties. I’m not sure that people are even proud of parties anymore because I feel like the parties are, ick, not doing a good job.”
She added: “I would say I’m a proud Arizonan, that’s something I’m very proud of.”
President Trump warned that he may take military action to stop immigrants from crossing the southern border into the U.S. if Mexico does not take action to stop the “onslaught,” The Hill reports.
Trump also blamed Democrats for the “assault on our country,” adding that illegal immigration is “far more important” to him than trade or the newly-negotiated trade pact with Mexico and Canada.
A new Vanderbilt University poll finds Phil Bredesen (D) with a slight edge over Marsha Blackburn (R) in Tennessee’s U.S. Senate race, 44% to 43%.
Said pollster John Geer: “The bottom line is that Tennessee’s Senate race will be determined by which candidate is better able to turn out their base, as well as any national waves that occur — blue or otherwise.”
You're reading the free version of Political Wire
Upgrade to a paid membership to unlock full access. The process is quick and easy. You can even use Apple Pay.
“Democrats are poised to chip away at Republican statehouse dominance in next month’s midterm elections, with wins appearing likely in some of the biggest states in the industrial Midwest,” Politico reports.
“Three GOP-controlled governorships — Illinois, Michigan and New Mexico — are expected to flip to Democratic hands.”
“But aside from those contests, the gubernatorial map remains remarkably fluid deep into the fall campaign. Strategists and operatives in both parties say the races in politically consequential states like Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin — all of them currently led by GOP governors — are still neck-and-neck.”
Ron Brownstein: “In its final stages, the tumultuous 2018 midterm election appears to be moving in contradictory directions, with Democrats and Republicans alike finding legitimate reasons for optimism amid the daily flurry of new polls.”
“But these seemingly disparate signals actually represent a mirror image of the same powerful force: a tightening connection between voters’ attitudes about President Trump and their preferences in House and Senate races next month.”
“That dynamic is lifting Republican hopes in the red state Senate contests central to the battle for the upper chamber. It’s also dimming Democratic prospects in the exurban and small town districts mostly on the periphery of their target list in the House. But it is simultaneously solidifying the Democratic advantage in many of the white-collar suburban seats, especially those that preferred Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016, key to their hopes of recapturing a House majority.”
“A Russian billionaire who orchestrated the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting formed a new American shell company a month beforehand with an accountant who has had clients accused of money laundering and embezzlement,” the Guardian reports.
“The billionaire, Aras Agalarov, created the US company anonymously while preparing to move almost $20m into the country during the time of the presidential election campaign… Agalarov’s previously unreported shell company is another example of intriguing financial activity around the time of the Trump Tower meeting.”
Adam Davidson: “It is becoming increasingly clear that, in the language of business schools, the Trump Organization’s core competency is in profiting from misrepresentation and deceit and, potentially, fraud.”
“This month, two incredible investigative stories have given us an opportunity to lift the hood of the Trump Organization, look inside, and begin to understand what the business of this unusual company actually is. It is not a happy picture. The Times published a remarkable report, on October 2nd, that showed that much of the profit the Trump Organization made came not from successful real-estate investment but from defrauding state and federal governments through tax fraud. This week, ProPublica and WNYC co-published a stunning story and a ‘Trump, Inc.’ podcast that can be seen as the international companion to the Times piece. They show that many of the Trump Organization’s international deals also bore the hallmarks of financial fraud, including money laundering, deceptive borrowing, outright lying to investors, and other potential crimes.”
ABC News: “Forget all that ‘the enemy of the people’ talk, Donald Trump has been spending a remarkable amount of time with reporters lately. In fact, ABC News can find no comparable time period when a president of the United States has taken more questions from the news media than Donald Trump has over the past 11 days.”
“Since Oct. 6, the president has done (at least) five interviews with print publications and eight television interviews. During the same time period, he has held six impromptu press conferences with the White House press on the South Lawn and at 18 separate White House events (alas only one with Kanye West), the president has taken questions from White House reporters.”
“ABC News estimates the president has taken nearly 300 questions from reporters in the past 11-day span alone.”
“A sleepy Utah Senate race was always a small playing field for a former presidential nominee. Now, Mitt Romney is going national again,” Politico reports.
“After spending most of the past year quietly tending to his own race, Romney is using his formidable national profile and expansive political network to elect embattled Republicans across the country. Weeks before his virtually assured election to the Senate, the 2012 Republican standard bearer is issuing endorsements, appearing in TV ads, and fundraising for hopefuls up and down the ballot.”
New York Times: “Reports filed this week show that President Trump sits atop a sophisticated data-driven fund-raising machine that has already brought in more than $106 million — a majority of which came from small donors, with none coming from Mr. Trump’s own pocket — and has spent more on his ‘Make America Great Again’ hats, $2 million, than his 2016 effort had spent on the entire campaign in its first report.”
“Even after the costly investments in digital advertising, data analytics and other tools of modern campaigning, the three committees that make up Mr. Trump’s campaign apparatus entered this month with a remarkable $47 million in the bank.”
“But the stockpiling has prompted grumbling among some Republican strategists, who contend — mostly in private — that the cash would be better allocated to the party’s at-risk congressional candidates, many of whom are being drastically outraised by their Democratic opponents.”
“A handful of Republican senators did something unusual on Wednesday: With the Senate not even in session, and no Democrats in sight, they convened the Judiciary Committee to advance a half-dozen of Donald Trump’s judicial nominees,” Politico reports.
“For Republicans, there’s nothing that matters more. They aren’t pitching a big visionary agenda to persuade voters to return them to power next year — there’s only passing mention in the midterms of repealing Obamacare, and little talk of making Trump’s border wall a reality. It’s all about the judiciary. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has given every indication that his primary focus — through Election Day and, assuming Republicans still control the Senate, in the two years to follow, will be the ongoing reshaping of the courts.”
Politico: “There’s a simple rule in running for Congress in Miami: don’t campaign with someone who praised Fidel Castro and fought sanctions against Venezuela’s dictatorial regime. But Donna Shalala didn’t figure it out until it was too late.”
“In a district filled with Castro-hating Cuban-Americans and Venezuelan exiles, Shalala’s campaign committed an egregious gaffe — and set off a round of Democratic finger-pointing — by posting an announcement that she would hold a campaign event Wednesday with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Californian, Rep. Barbara Lee.”
“Nevada Republicans are planning a campaign to persuade voters to cast ballots for former Assembly candidate and brothel owner Dennis Hof, who died suddenly on Tuesday,” the Nevada Independent reports.
“Although details are sparse, the effort is a clear indication of Republican efforts to ensure they hold a reliably Republican-leaning Assembly District despite the untimely death of the candidate.”
“White House counsel Don McGahn’s final day at the White House was Wednesday,” CNN reports.
“McGahn has been planning to leave the White House, but a source told CNN his departure was expedited after President Trump said Tuesday he had selected Patrick Cipolloneas his successor.”
“American intelligence officials are increasingly convinced that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia is culpable in the killing of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an appraisal that poses challenges to a White House intent on maintaining a close relationship with the kingdom,” the New York Times reports.
“Intelligence agencies have not yet been able to collect direct evidence of the prince’s involvement, American and European officials said.”
“But intelligence agencies have growing circumstantial evidence of the prince’s involvement — including the presence of members of his security detail and intercepts of Saudi officials discussing a possible plan to detain Mr. Khashoggi.”
Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) received a total of $80 in contributions from donors within his district after he was indicted on insider trading charges, WGRZ reports.
The residents of a Manhattan condominium called “Trump Place” have voted to remove the president’s name from the tower’s facade, the latest in a string of properties that have distanced themselves from the Trump brand since Election Day 2016, the Washington Post reports.
CNN: “September and October at first glance appear to be quiet periods for the investigation, under the Justice Department’s guidelines to avoid public political acts before the midterm elections. But the quiet period has seen a persistent murmur of activity, based on near-daily sightings of Mueller’s prosecutors and sources involved in the investigation.”
“In addition to Manafort, Mueller’s team has kept interviewing witnesses, gathered a grand jury weekly to meet in Washington on most Fridays, and kicked up other still-secret court action. Plus, the discussions between the President’s legal team and the special counsel’s office have intensified in recent weeks, including after the special counsel sent questions about possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government. The President’s attorneys are expected to reply to the questions in writing.”
“People around Trump and other witnesses believe more criminal indictments will come from Mueller.”
ABC News reports Mueller’s team has been asking cooperating witness Paul Manafort many questions about former Trump adviser Roger Stone.
Taegan 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.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.