Here are the latest state polls from the presidential race:
Ohio: Clinton 46%, Trump 40% (CBS News/YouGov)
Iowa: Clinton 40%, Trump 40% (CBS News/YouGov)
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Details on Trump’s Deportation Plan Coming
Donald Trump’s new campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told CNN that one of his titular policies — a deportation force for undocumented immigrants — is “to be determined.”
Said Conway: “As the weeks unfold, he will lay out the specifics of that plan that he would implement as president of the United States.”
Bachmann Says She’s Advising Trump
Former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) told Minnesota Public Radio that she is advising Donald Trump on foreign policy.
Said Bachmann: “He also recognizes there is a threat around the world, not just here in Minnesota, of radical Islam. I wish our President Obama also understood the threat of radical Islam and took it seriously.”
Half Will Not Vote for Trump
A new Morning Consult poll finds that Hillary Clinton continues to lead Donald Trump by six points nationally, 44% to 38%
Key finding: 45% would consider or definitely vote for Trump while 50% would not.
For comparison, the HuffPost Pollster average shows Clinton leading by eight points, 48% to 40%.
Note to Readers
Thanks for your patience with the sporadic posting schedule.
I’ve been in Alaska with my family for the last week. We hiked about 15 miles to see spectacular views of Exit Glacier and the Harding Icefield. We biked about 35 miles ending up on the Homer Spit, the farthest point west you can drive in the United States. We kayaked in Kachemak Bay and saw whales, bald eagles and sea otters. We ended the trip with a float down the Kenai River.
Alaska is a truly spectacular state and I can’t wait to visit again.
Now, back to politics!
Clinton Begins Plans for a White House Agenda
“Hillary Clinton’s increasingly confident campaign has begun crafting a detailed agenda for her possible presidency, with plans to focus on measures aimed at creating jobs, boosting infrastructure spending and enacting immigration reform if current polling holds and she is easily elected to the White House in November,” the Washington Post reports.
“In recent weeks, as her leads over GOP nominee Donald Trump have expanded, Clinton has started ramping up for a presidency defined by marquee legislation she has promised to seek immediately. The pace and scale of the planning reflect growing expectations among Democrats that she will win and take office in January alongside a new Democratic majority in the Senate.”
“While careful not to sound as if she is measuring the draperies quite yet, Clinton now describes what she calls improved odds for passage of an overhaul of immigration laws — the first legislative priority she outlined in detail last year — and what could be a bipartisan effort to rebuild the nation’s roads, bridges, airports, rail system and ports.”
Don’t Bet on Ginsburg Retiring Anytime Soon
Washington Post: “For those envisioning a line of moving vans at the Supreme Court and a new president immediately reordering life at the marble palace, this small splash of cold water: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 83, has already hired the four clerks who will assist her through June 2018.”
Clinton Super PAC Outpacing Team Trump
“The super PAC backing Democrat Hillary Clinton vastly outraised the outside groups supporting Republican Donald Trump in July,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The pro-Clinton group, Priorities USA Action, raised $9.9 million last month, less than the $12 million it raised in June, and ended July with more than $38 million in the bank. Meanwhile, a pro-Trump group called Great America PAC raised $2.4 million last month and ended July with less than $990,000 on hand.”
Republicans Divided on Whether to Cut Trump Off
“A sharpening debate has emerged in Republican circles over whether and when to cut ties with Donald Trump, who has shaken up his campaign team as his poll numbers have dropped,” The Hill reports.
“While some in the GOP have called for Republicans to cut Trump loose sooner rather than later to avoid lasting damage, strategists concerned about control of Congress in 2017 say that would be disastrous.”
Clinton Spending at Double Rate of Trump
“Donald Trump doubled his campaign expenses last month yet was still spending at a far slower clip than Hillary Clinton,” the AP reports.
“New finance documents show the Republican presidential nominee’s campaign spent about $18.5 million in July. By comparison, the Democratic presidential nominee spent about $38 million.”
Trump No Longer Tweets About Polls
FiveThirtyEight: “As you can tell from the chart, Trump rarely tweets about polls these days. Indeed, he’s done so only four times in the past 30 days.”
GOP Strategists Prep Plan to Cut Trump Loose
“Republicans, worried about preserving their House and Senate majorities in the face of fierce headwinds, are accelerating their plans to distance themselves from Donald Trump – and may soon concede, if only implicitly, his defeat,” Politico reports.
“Party strategists are mapping out blueprints for down-ballot candidates, in TV ads and on the campaign trail, to present themselves as checks on a Hillary Clinton presidency. It’s an approach that would essentially admit a Trump loss. In interviews, nearly one dozen Republican operatives said they had begun poll-testing the idea – which one labeled a “break glass in case of emergency” strategy – to gauge how the public would react to it.”
Trump’s Business Empire Remains a Mystery
“On the campaign trail, Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has sold himself as a businessman who has made billions of dollars and is beholden to no one,” the New York Times reports.
“But an investigation by The New York Times into the financial maze of Mr. Trump’s real estate holdings in the United States reveals that companies he owns have at least $650 million in debt — twice the amount than can be gleaned from public filings he has made as part of his bid for the White House. The Times’s inquiry also found that Mr. Trump’s fortunes depend deeply on a wide array of financial backers, including one he has cited in attacks during his campaign.”
None of Trump’s Top Aides Have Run a Campaign
“Donald Trump’s team has always been a lean operation fueled by the candidate himself rather than the organization around him, but from the very beginning the Trump campaign included people who had at least some experience running political campaigns,” ABC News reports.
“But now the top ranks of the team include family members, conservative media executive Stephen Bannon and Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway, the new campaign manager. None of them have experience managing a campaign.”
Judge Refers Arpaio for Criminal Contempt
A federal judge said that he “will refer Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to the U.S. Attorney’s Office to be charged with criminal contempt of court,” the Arizona Republic reports.
“The decision comes after U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow found that Arpaio intentionally violated various orders rooted in an 8-year-old racial-profiling case.”
Judge Orders Written Testimony on Clinton Emails
“A federal judge ordered Hillary Clinton to provide written testimony under oath about why she set up a private computer server to send and receive emails while secretary of state, ensuring that the issue will continue to dog her presidential campaign until the eve of the election,” the New York Times reports.
“Only six weeks ago, the director of the F.B.I., James B. Comey Jr., declined to recommend prosecuting Mrs. Clinton, saying that while her actions had been careless, they did not amount to a crime. Yet the controversy refuses to dissipate.”
Quote of the Day
“At the end of four years, I guarantee you that I will get over 95 percent of the African-American vote. I promise you. Because I will produce.”
— Donald Trump, quoted by Politico.
Trump Goes for Broke and Brings the GOP With Him
Washington Post: “Until this week, it had been possible for party elders to convince themselves that Trump might prove to be a passing storm in their ranks rather than a portent of climate change. But to their dismay, the party standard-bearer has now signaled that he intends to go for broke in the final stretch of the campaign.”
“Trump’s decision to ditch his establishment-bred campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, in favor of Breitbart News executive Stephen Bannon, who shares Trump’s scorched-earth approach to politics and his worldview, is perhaps the most overt example of the mogul’s closing strategy.”
“Theirs is an amorphous alternative to traditional conservatism — often associated with the ‘alt right’ movement — that is leery of liberal immigration, multiculturalism, military involvement overseas and free trade. Its critics also accuse the alt right of flirting with white supremacism, anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance.”
