“The brief, unlikely political career of Kathleen G. Kane, Pennsylvania’s brightest rising star when she was elected attorney general less than four years ago, came to a humiliating close on Monday when a judge sentenced her to 10 to 23 months in prison for her conviction on charges of perjury and abuse of her office,” the New York Times reports.
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Kasich Votes for McCain Instead
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), who had vowed not to vote for Donald Trump, voted by absentee ballot for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) instead, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
FBI Now Investigating Ex-Trump Campaign Manager
The FBI has been conducting a preliminary inquiry into Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort’s foreign business connections, law enforcement and intelligence sources told NBC News Monday.
“Word of the inquiry, which has not blossomed into a full-blown criminal investigation, comes just days after FBI Director James Comey’s disclosure that his agency is examining a new batch of emails connected to an aide to Hillary Clinton. And it comes a day after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid criticized Comey’s revelation and asserted that Comey possesses ‘explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisors, and the Russian government.'”
GOP Senator Jokes About Shooting Clinton
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) privately mused over the weekend that gun owners may want to put a “bullseye” on Hillary Clinton, CNN reports.
The North Carolina Republican, locked in a tight race for reelection, quipped that as he walked into a gun shop “nothing made me feel better” than seeing a magazine about rifles “with a picture of Hillary Clinton on the front of it.”
Clinton’s National Lead Remains Steady
A new NBC News-Survey Monkey poll finds Hillary Clinton holds a 6-point lead over Donald Trump, 47% to 41%, “virtually unchanged since last week, even after FBI Director James Comey announced the discovery of emails that could be ‘pertinent’ to the investigation of Clinton’s use of a private email server.”
“When asked about the FBI’s announcement, 55% of likely voters think it is an important issue, while 44% say it is more of a distraction to the campaign.”
Comey Cited Election Timing for Not Naming Russians
“FBI Director James Comey argued privately that it was too close to Election Day for the United States government to name Russia as meddling in the U.S. election and ultimately ensured that the FBI’s name was not on the document that the U.S. government put out,” a former FBI official tells CNBC.
“The official said some government insiders are perplexed as to why Comey would have election timing concerns with the Russian disclosure but not with the Huma Abedin email discovery disclosure he made Friday.”
Political Journalism Needs New Rules After Trump
Marc Ambinder: “Here’s a tried-and-true creed, straight from Journalism 101: Journalists should never take sides. But how do you not take sides when one of those sides is so clearly wrong?”
“Another: Journalists should not characterize political candidates as liars. But what happens when political candidates base their entire campaigns on very persuasive lies?”
“Science journalists no longer cover anthropogenic climate change as an issue that’s subject to dispute. (What to do about it surely is; the fact of it is not.) Reporters on the criminal justice beat recognize, as a fact, that the system is institutionally biased against black people. Women in sports journalism take sexism as a fact.”
“But political journalists will be tempted to cover the coming fight about Obamacare as if the Republicans have put forth a serious solution to its problems. That’s not true. Republicans want to get rid of the entire program and replace it with something else they haven’t fully explained. In the context of the real world, that solution is a nothingburger. It is not real. It should be treated as not-real.”
Latest Unpaid Trump Vendor Is His Own Pollster
“Over the years, Donald Trump or his businesses have been accused of stiffing carpenters, dishwashers and lawyers, leaving a trail of lawsuits and grudges in his wake. Now he is in a billing dispute with one of his own campaign aides,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump’s most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission indicates that his campaign has disputed a bill for $766,756 from a vendor, the well-regarded Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio.”
The Comey Effect
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “As of this writing (Monday afternoon), Clinton leads in every national poll now except for the controversial University of Southern California/Los Angeles Times panel, a survey that has had a pronounced Republican lean the entire cycle. Some of the national polls, though, are very close. Her leads in Rust Belt states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin appear durable, although Trump’s team is arguing that it can put these states into play. We agree that a potential path to victory for Trump might include one or more of these states, but at this point there’s precious little indication from polling that he can win them: Clinton has led every post-convention poll in each state included in the RealClearPolitics average.”
“However, the potential outcomes in some of the most competitive states on the Electoral College map are now more uncertain. These developments, along with recent polling data, precipitate ratings shifts in Arizona, Florida, and Ohio. We are moving all three from Leans Democratic to Toss-up.”
Perry Seeks Primary Challenger to Cruz
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry has strongly encouraged Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) to challenge Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) re-election bid in 2018, the Texas Tribune reports.
Who Thinks the System Is Rigged Now?
Rick Klein: “The Clinton campaign responded to the unusual letter from FBI Director James Comey by unloading on the messenger with an argument that carries troubling implications. The Clinton campaign is suggesting that political motivations were behind Comey’s move… Eric Holder and nearly 100 former Justice Department officials wrote a letter calling Comey out from their perspective.”
“Then there’s Harry Reid, unleashing the sort of campaign tactic he brought in 2012 when he said (falsely) on the Senate floor that Mitt Romney didn’t pay any taxes. The Senate minority leader wrote a letter to Comey saying he may have violated federal law with a ‘clear intent to aid one political party over another.’ Reid also did his best Roger Stone in writing that Comey is withholding ‘explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisors and the Russian government.'”
“The Clinton camp may have had no choice this late than to go to war with Comey. But what shouldn’t be lost is this means the campaign of the Democratic nominee for president – the candidate who wasn’t complaining about a rigged election– is now asking voters to question whether the director of the FBI is trying to influence the election’s outcome.”
State Poll Roundup: Monday
Here are the latest state polls from the presidential race:
Georgia: Trump 49%, Clinton 42%, Johnson 3% (SurveyUSA)
New Hampshire: Trump 45%, Clinton 43%, Johnson 4% (Praecones Analytica)
Nevada: Trump 48%, Clinton 44%, Johnson 4% (Remington)
Colorado: Clinton 44%, Trump 45%, Johnson 4% (Remington)
Florida: Trump 48%, Clinton 44%, Johnson 2% (Remington)
Virginia: Clinton 48%, Trump 43%, Johnson 3% (Remington)
Ohio: Trump 48%, Clinton 43%, Johnson 3% (Remington)
Pennsylvania: Clinton 45%, Trump 43%, Johnson 3% (Remington)
North Carolina: Trump 47%, Clinton 45%, Johnson 2% (Remington)
Indiana: Trump 50%, Clinton 39%, Johnson 4% (Monmouth)
Quote of the Day
“Please God, let this end soon.”
— DNC chair Donna Brazile, on Twitter.
Comey’s Bombshell Changes Little In Race
A new Politico/Morning Consult poll finds Hillary Clinton has a slim three-point lead over Donald Trump one week before Election Day, 42% to 39%, with Gary Johnson at 7% and Jill Stein at 5%.
“In a separate poll conducted before Comey’s disclosure, Clinton was leading by three points in the four-way race… Put simply, there is not yet evidence that the revelations have drastically altered the contours of the election.”
For members: A Reality Check
Clinton and Trump Viewed Equally Unfavorable
The latest ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll finds Hillary Clinton is seen unfavorably by 60% of likely voters in the latest results, a new high. Trump is seen unfavorably by essentially as many — 58%.
Marking the depth of these views, 49% see Clinton “strongly” unfavorably, and 48% say the same about Trump –- unusual levels of strong sentiment.
In the horse race, Clinton edges Trump by one point, 46% to 45%, with Gary Johnson at 4% and Jill Stein at 2%.
Abedin Surprised Emails Were on Husband’s Laptop
Huma Abedin “has told colleagues she was taken aback when she learned that the FBI found her emails on a laptop belonging to her estranged husband Anthony Weiner and doesn’t know how the messages got there,” Politico reports.
“The newly found emails number in the tens of thousands or more, with at least some pertaining to the period when Abedin worked for the State Department from 2009 to 2013, first as a deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Clinton’s and later as a consultant.”
Trump Offered Christie VP Slot – Then Took It Back
“Donald Trump initially offered the vice-presidential running-mate slot to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie but then withdrew it, sources said,” the New York Post reports.
After lobbying by his family, Trump agreed to name Gov. Mike Pence and broke the news to Christie, saying it would “tear my family apart if I gave you VP.”
Undecided Voters Tilt Republican
Wall Street Journal: “Some 30% of undecided voters call themselves Republicans, compared with 21% who call themselves Democrats, an analysis of Wall Street Journal/NBC News national polling shows.”
“In another sign of the Republican tilt of undecided voters, some 42% of those voters say they want the next Congress to be controlled by the GOP, suggesting that they are Republicans at heart. Some 35% say they prefer Democratic control.”
