“Groups of wealthy Republicans unhappy with Donald Trump have been privately courting prominent peers to join them in backing Democrat Hillary Clinton’s U.S. presidential bid,” people involved in the effort told Reuters.
“They say they are seeking money and endorsements from other Republicans disillusioned by Trump, their party’s candidate for the Nov. 8 presidential election. Some have received encouragement from Clinton and members of her campaign staff.”
“I don’t know why we’re not leading by a lot. Maybe crowds don’t make the difference.”
— Donald Trump, quoted by Politico at a large campaign rally.
Anderson Cooper talks to GOP strategist Liz Mair:
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A new CNN/ORC poll finds President Obama’s approval rating has risen to 54% to 45% and now stands at its highest level since just before his second inauguration in 2013.
“The Clinton campaign has now all but ruled out the possibility of the Democratic presidential candidate and former secretary of state taking a foreign trip between now and Election Day in November,” ABC News reports.
“In recent months, aides to Clinton have ruminated about the appeal of a foreign trip (they believe she would be well-received and welcomed by countries concerned by a Donald Trump presidency), but ultimately the decision comes down to time and her experience.”
Politico: “The racy photos of the would-be first lady, published in the New York Post on Sunday and Monday, inadvertently highlight inconsistencies in the various accounts she has provided over the years. And, immigration experts say, there’s even a slim chance that any years-old misrepresentations to immigration authorities could pose legal problems for her today.”
“While Trump and her husband, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, have said she came to the United States legally, her own statements suggest she first came to the country on a short-term visa that would not have authorized her to work as a model. Trump has also said she came to New York in 1996, but the nude photo shoot places her in the United States in 1995, as does a biography published in February by Slovenian journalists.”
“Trump is Trump. You can pull somebody out of the insane asylum and staff him with the best people in the business, and he’s still going to be in the parking lot screaming about the book of Revelations and there’s nothing you can do about it. Hillary’s the placekicker on the field. She’s shanking every kick. And Trump’s the guy pleasuring himself in the stands.”
— Former Romney national security adviser John Noonan, quoted by U.S. News.
Missouri gubernatorial nominee Eric Greitens (R) says he’s an “outsider” who will “take aim at politics as usual” so he thought it would be instructive to fire a machine gun in his new ad.
Donald Trump “has increasingly been back in regular contact with his former campaign manager turned CNN commentator, Corey Lewandowski,” U.S. News reports.
“Lewandowski was ousted in June at the behest of Trump’s children, who viewed him as lacking the sophisticated judgment needed to assist their wayward father. A major difference between the reigns of Lewandowski and Manafort is that Lewandowski traveled constantly with Trump, earning his trust and bending his ear. Manafort rarely hits the road and has followed a more typical template by holing up in an office with a phone to his ear and his fingers on a keyboard.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) said that he will not support Donald Trump in November, as he becomes the latest elected Republican official to break from the party, Politico reports.
Said Kinzinger: “Donald Trump is beginning to cross a lot of red lines of the unforgivable in politics. I’m not going to support Hillary, but in America we have the right to skip somebody. That’s what it’s looking like for me today. I don’t see how I get to Donald Trump anymore.”
A new Fox News poll shows Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump by 10 points, 49% to 39%.
Key finding: Clinton leads by 82 points among Democrats while Trump leads by just 66 points among Republicans.
“Donald Trump all but erased his enormous fund-raising deficit against Hillary Clinton in the span of just two months… converting the passion of his core followers into a flood of small donations on a scale rarely seen in national politics,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump and the Republican National Committee raised $64 million through a joint digital and direct mail effort in July, according to his campaign, the bulk of it from small donations. All told, Mr. Trump and his party brought in $82 million last month, only slightly behind Mrs. Clinton, and ended with an enormous pool of $74 million in cash on hand, suggesting he might now have the resources to compete with Mrs. Clinton in the closing stretch of the campaign.”
Here are the latest forecasts showing Hillary Clinton’s chance of winning the presidential election:
A New Latino Voice poll in Florida finds Donald Trump getting just 12.9% support from Hispanic voters, “a historical low for a Republican candidate.”
Mitt Romney and John McCain each won roughly 40% of the Hispanic vote in the state.
Wisconsin’s top three Republicans — Gov. Scott Walker, Speaker Paul Ryan and Sen. Ron Johnson — are skipping Donald Trump’s visit to the state, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
All three have formally backed Trump but distanced themselves from many of his controversial comments.
Amy Walter: “At the end of the day, here’s what we know. Trump is running a disorganized, unconventional and seat-of-the-pants campaign that is driven as much by what he sees/hears on cable TV as anything else. This approach won him the primary but it really limits his pathways to 270 Electoral College votes. Hillary Clinton is running an organized and disciplined campaign that lacks the sort of organic excitement or enthusiasm of a “normal” campaign. It comes across as stilted and poll-driven and focused-group to within an inch of its life. But, she has more options to get to 270 than he does. She is clearly the favorite. But, this race is not over.”
Newt Gingrich, one of Donald Trump’s most loyal defenders, “warned that his friend was in danger of throwing away the election and helping to make Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton president unless he quickly changes course,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Gingrich: “The current race is which of these two is the more unacceptable, because right now neither of them is acceptable. Trump is helping her to win by proving he is more unacceptable than she is.”
He added: “He cannot win the presidency operating the way he is now. She can’t be bad enough to elect him if he’s determined to make this many mistakes.”
As Donald Trump holds off endorsing House Speaker Paul Ryan in Wisconsin’s Republican primary, running mate Mike Pence enthusiastically endorsed Ryan, calling him a “longtime friend” and “strong conservative leader,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Pence: “I strongly support Paul Ryan, strongly endorse his reelection.”
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.
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