After Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) explained that she was a “daughter of the American Revolution” and had “bled for this nation” in a debate, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) responded: “I forgot that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington.”
Duckworth’s silence makes it even more devastating.
Daily Beast: “With less than two weeks until the election, Donald Trump has amassed an impressive army of small donors, fueling his bid with individual contributions of $200 or less. But noticeably absent from the list of contributors is basically anyone with the last name Trump, many of the surrogates who represent The Donald on national television, and members of his own campaign staff.”
“Speaker Paul Ryan’s suddenly shaky future as House speaker is already prompting closed-door talk among House Republicans about who’d take over if he steps aside or is spurned by archconservatives,” Politico reports.
“Between his falling out with Donald Trump and his ongoing standoff with the House Freedom Caucus, some Republicans are speculating that Ryan might just step aside if he can’t muster the votes. The question preoccupying everyone: Who would replace him if that happens?”
Wall Street Journal: Paul Ryan faces precarious path to remain Speaker
“Donald Trump’s claim that the 2016 presidential election is ‘rigged’ against him has become a central part of his closing argument to voters in the final days of the campaign, as the GOP nominee insists that a growing range of ‘corrupt’ public institutions are to blame for his sharply narrowing path the White House,” the Washington Post reports.
“As he heads into a potential loss on Nov. 8, Trump has expanded the scale and scope of his accusations to include Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, the media, establishment leaders from both parties and unidentified ‘global financial powers.'”
“Donald Trump hasn’t raised any money for other Republicans this month, despite his campaign’s reliance on the party to supply his ground game,” Politico reports.
“The Republican National Committee’s latest report to the Federal Election Commission didn’t show any transfers from Trump Victory, its joint fundraising arrangement with the Trump campaign.”
Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT), who once compared Donald Trump to a fascist dictator and called on him to step aside, now plans to vote for him, the St. George News reports.
Said Stewart: “It is very clear that Donald Trump is a better choice than Hillary Clinton.”
A new PPIC poll in California shows Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump by a stunning 26 points, 54% to 28%.
The San Jose Mercury News reports Trump “is careening toward a historically poor showing in California, a prospect that has left several GOP congressmen fearful for their seats and Democrats hopeful they can regain a supermajority in the Legislature.”
“And just thinking to myself right now, we should just cancel the election and just give it to Trump, right? What are we even having it for? What are we having it for?”
— Donald Trump, quoted by Politico.
“Senate Republicans are choosing sides ahead of a brutal conflict over how to handle the lingering Supreme Court vacancy, with Jeff Flake firing back at a suggestion by Ted Cruz that the party could indefinitely block any nominee from Hillary Clinton,” Politico reports.
“The internal GOP battle over what to do about Merrick Garland — President Barack Obama’s choice for the court — and any future Clinton nominee will dominate the lame duck session of Congress after the election. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is holding the seat vacant for the next president — but Cruz has suggested that Republicans could continue to block Democrats from appointing a new nominee for much longer.”
Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno (R) staked her independence from Gov. Chris Christie (R) , “in a highly public break with the governor who had plucked her from relative obscurity to serve as his running mate,” Politico reports.
“Christie and Guadagno racked up impressive margins sharing the ticket in 2009, and again in 2013, but have seldom appeared in public together in recent years… In a radio interview on Thursday morning, Guadagno went public with their breach, contradicting the administration’s position on a major ballot measure by suggesting voters can blow up a hard-won $16 billion infrastructure plan by opposing the amendment.”
S.E. Cupp: “As a conservative woman who wanted very much to support the Republican nominee, it’s been a deeply disappointing year and a half. After helping the Republican National Committee address some of the troubling deficiencies the party faced after 2012, as outlined in its so-called autopsy report, and witnessing some real progress in our outreach to women in the ensuing years, I did not expect an egomaniacal arsonist to come along and set all that ablaze.”
“Mr. Trump has sent the party back to the Dark Ages — or at least the 1950s — with his provincial notions of masculinity and misogynist notions of femininity, his cartoonish bombast, his vulgar jocularity and his open hostility to women who question him. In short, he’s reaffirmed the worst stereotypes about Republicans that Democrats have pushed for decades.”
Here are the latest state polls from the presidential race:
Texas: Trump 45%, Clinton 42%, Johnson 7% (UT/Texas Tribune)
Texas: Trump 45%, Clinton 38%, Johnson 7% (Austin American Statesman)
Florida: Clinton 43%, Trump 39%, Johnson 6% (University of North Florida)
Pennsylvania: Clinton 46%, Trump 39% (NYT/Siena)
Michigan: Clinton 41%, Trump 34%, Johnson 9% (EPIC/MRA)
Georgia: Trump 44%, Clinton 43%, Johnson 8% (Quinnipiac)
Iowa: Clinton 44%, Trump 44%, Johnson 4% (Quinnipiac)
North Carolina: Clinton 47%, Trump 43%, Johnson 5% (Quinnipiac)
Virginia: Clinton 50%, Trump 38%, Johnson 4% (Quinnipiac)
New Mexico: Clinton 45%, Trump 40%, Johnson 9% (Zia Poll)
New Hampshire: Clinton 43%, Trump 38%, Johnson 8% (YouGov)
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) “is reaffirming her support for Donald Trump, vowing to vote for the GOP nominee despite his attacks on her earlier this year,” CNN reports.
A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds that 64% of Donald Trump’s supporters say they’re more likely to have serious doubts about the accuracy of the vote count if the Republican nominee is not the victor.
By contrast, 69% of Hillary Clinton’s supporters say they’ll accept the outcome if Trump wins.
A new Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll in Massachusetts finds Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) leading former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling in a U.S. Senate race, 58% to 24%.
Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) told Yahoo News that he merely was “talking metaphorically” when he tweeted “I’m grabbing my musket” if Donald Trump loses the election and not about actual violence.
Matt Bai explains how the Trump campaign’s nightly news show on Facebook isn’t only about reaching Trump’s voter; it’s about consolidating his new consumer base, too, which he describes as the “working-class consumer who watched his show and came to his rallies, who aspires to wealth but can never afford a room at the Trump International.”
“Trump’s feed, streaming live from the ‘war room’ in Trump Tower, is remarkable in that it self-consciously mimics everything about your conventional cable show. There’s lively banter between the hosts, a parade of genial guests who appear to have just dropped in, a platinum blond bomb-throwing commentator with no particular qualifications in anything. There’s breaking coverage of Trump’s evening rally, perfectly timed to make air. It shows you, basically, how easy it is for any moron with a laptop and a dream to perfectly imitate the cheerful vacuousness of most TV news.”
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.