“The Kansas Democratic Party will field candidates in every State Senate district this year, for the first time in 30 years,” KAKE-TV reports.
“The Democrats announced Wednesday they also will have candidates in about three out of four state House districts. But the filing deadline apparently passed with no Democrat running for Tim Huelskamp’s seat in Congress.”
“They wish they would have done or could do what I’ve said, but they don’t know how it would play at home.”
— Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), quoted by National Journal, on what other Republican lawmakers think of his opposition to Donald Trump.
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds Hillary Clinton has opened up a double-digit lead over Donald Trump, 46% to 35%, with another 19% saying they would not support either candidate.
Trump briefly tied Clinton last month in a similar poll.
Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Katie McGinty (D) “found herself explaining an often-repeated line from the campaign trail after questions were raised about whether she was in fact the first in her family to go to a four-year college,” the Allentown Morning Call reports.
“She has described herself during the campaign both as the first in her family to go to college, and as the first in her family to go to a four-year college.”
But BuzzFeed discovered her older brother, John P. McGinty, earned a bachelor’s degree, and later a master’s degree.
A former campaign aide for Connecticut U.S. Senate candidate August Wolf (R) claims the candidate “made unwanted sexual advances toward her and violated election laws in a new sexual harassment lawsuit,” the Connecticut Post reports.
The 12-page complaint by Samantha Menh is seeking $2.6 million in punitive and compensatory damages for Menh, who alleges that Wolf asked her if she had “ever been sexually satisfied by a real man.”
Rick Klein: “Donald Trump has said enough offensive things in enough offensive ways that it’s easy to lose the capacity for outrage. Even for Trump, though, his latest utterances about the federal judge assigned to a case brought against him deserve thought and scrutiny. Saying that a judge has an ‘inherent conflict of interest’ because of his Mexican heritage – not because of any business or personal interest in the stakes of the case – is making a judgment on qualifications simply based on race. It’s a fanciful notion that would upend centuries of jurisprudence and American tradition.”
“The fact that such a concept is being floated – and not in a coded or hypothetical way – is precisely why so many Republicans are offended and even terrified about the fact that Trump will be the Republican nominee for president. Coming just hours after House Speaker Paul Ryan put his intellectual heft on the line in supporting Trump is awkward for Ryan, and just about any other conservative who has grudgingly come to terms with Trump. It’s one thing to recognize the ways in which Trump is giving voters what they want. It’s another to pause and recognize how he’s sometimes been doing it.”
“With Hillary Clinton poised to become the presumptive Democratic nominee next Tuesday, her campaign is preparing to begin actively soliciting general election funds for the first time on Wednesday,” Politico reports.
“The move will amount to a potentially massive and immediate infusion of cash into Clinton’s campaign, which announced this week that it had more than $42 million cash-on-hand as of the end of May.”
Eugene Robinson: “There remains the technical impediment that the president is constitutionally barred from a third term. But the longer the campaign goes on, the higher Obama’s approval rating rises. This should be bad for Donald Trump and good for the eventual Democratic nominee, almost certainly Hillary Clinton. But it is even better for Obama’s legacy.”
“According to Gallup, which has been charting the nation’s assessment of its presidents longer than anyone else, Obama’s approval stands at 52 percent, compared with 44 percent disapproval. That may not look impressive but it is actually quite good for a president nearing the end of his second term; Ronald Reagan, by comparison, had 49 percent approval at this point in his tenure.”
“We tend to appreciate presidents more after they leave office. The inevitable reassessment of the Obama years seems to be starting early — perhaps in apprehension of the years to come. Even Obama’s harshest critics have to admit he was a steady hand in the White House. Reflection upon this fact can only increase Clinton’s chances against a man who prides himself on being combative, capricious and cocksure.”
First Read: “On March 3, Mitt Romney delivered his own blistering speech on Donald Trump, which used some of the same lines of attack that Hillary Clinton included in her anti-Trump address yesterday… But today — exactly three months ago since that speech — Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party is now complete, especially after House Speaker Paul Ryan (Romney’s 2012 running mate) endorsed the real-estate mogul. Ryan tried to give himself distance by withholding his endorsement for 29 days after Trump became the GOP’s presumptive nominee, particularly given their differences over immigration, entitlements, trade, and Trump’s Muslim ban.”
“But it’s hard to disagree with this take from the Cook Political Report‘s David Wasserman: ‘Speaker Paul Ryan endorses nominee who wants to ban Muslims from the country. The hostile takeover of the GOP is now complete.'”
Wall Street Journal: “U.S. companies slowed their hiring drastically in May and unemployment fell as people dropped out of the labor force, a bleak picture for Federal Reserve officials as they prepare to debate increasing short-term interest rates at a policy meeting this month.”
“Nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 38,000 in May, the weakest performance since September 2010… Revisions showed employers added a combined 59,000 fewer jobs in April and March than previously estimated.”
A new Mason-Dixon poll in Florida shows Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump by three points in the critical battleground state, 45% to 42%.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) “will travel to New York to meet with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday as Trump begins plotting his general election campaign in Florida,” the Washington Post reports.
“While the meeting is about strategy, according to a Scott aide, it could also stoke speculation about Trump’s vice presidential selection process. Scott, who endorsed Trump in March, has said he is not interested in being the mogul’s running mate. Nevertheless, their warm relationship makes him a name to watch.”
A USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll in California shows Bernie Sanders just ahead of Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, 44% to 43%.
However, among just likely voters, Clinton leads 49% to 39%.
“In a stunning reversal of rhetoric and tone, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he respects New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R) and wants her endorsement. Trump’s comments in a phone interview with the New Mexican came just days after he castigated Martinez in front of 8,000 people in Albuquerque, saying her job performance was so poor that he might have to run for governor of New Mexico.”
Said Trump: “I’d like to have it. I respect her. I have always liked her.”
“With escalating vitriol, Donald Trump unleashed an attack on Hillary Clinton on Thursday in response to her speech earlier in the day criticizing his foreign policy positions,” the New York Times reports.
“Outside the event, protesters, some brandishing Mexican flags, clashed violently with Mr. Trump’s supporters. Videos taken at the scene showed a number of physical confrontations. In one, a supporter wearing a football jersey emblazoned with Mr. Trump’s name was pelted with eggs. Another showed an unsuspecting man being surrounded by protesters and punched in the face.”
RealClearPolitics: “Republican outside groups have spent tens of millions of dollars in competitive Senate races this year, eager to protect GOP incumbents in a difficult cycle with the chamber’s majority up for grabs. But as that spending has ramped up in recent weeks, next to none has gone to bolster Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk, widely viewed as the most vulnerable of them all.”
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.