Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) “raised the possibility Tuesday that he may not finish his second term, amid mounting pressure from Democrats and members of his own party to amend for his recent actions,” the Portland Press Herald reports.
Said LePage: “I’m looking at all options. I think some things I’ve been asked to do are beyond my ability. I’m not going to say that I’m not going to finish it. I’m not saying that I am going to finish it.”
Stuart Rothenberg: “Over the past 10 presidential contests, there have been three narrow Electoral College wins (1976, 2000 and 2004) and three true blow-outs (1980, 1984 and 1988). The remaining four contests (1992, 1996, 2008 and 2012) produced something in between — a comfortable victory for the winner but not quite a landslide. The winners in those four elections received between 332 and 379 electoral votes, while the losing candidate drew between 159 and 206 electoral votes. (In four of the 10, there was a faithless elector.)”
“At this point, Clinton is more likely to approach the size of Obama’s wins, whether his 365-to-173 electoral vote win over John McCain in 2008 or his more narrow 332-to-206 victory over Mitt Romney four years later. A 1980-style blow-out does not seem to be in the cards given the country’s current political divide or the two major-party nominees.”
“House Speaker Paul Ryan’s re-election to his leadership post in January is fast turning into a potential showdown between establishment Republicans and conservatives looking to weaken the speaker and win changes to House rules,” the Huffington Post reports.
“Conservatives don’t have enough votes to oust Ryan (R-WI). But they say their coup movement shows his hold on the speakership is far more tenuous than he realizes. Denying Ryan re-election on the first ballot would undermine his political future and cast him as a conservative pariah, they say, and may give conservatives leverage to enact rules changes that would help them push their agenda for years.”
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Matthew Yglesias has a must-read piece on former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s charitable foundation and why it’s treated differently than the Clinton Foundation.
Because Colin Powell did not have the reputation in the mid- to late ’90s of being a corrupt or shady character, his decision to launch a charity in 1997 was considered laudable. Nobody would deny that the purpose of the charity was, in part, to keep his name in the spotlight and keep his options open for future political office. Nor would anybody deny that this wasn’t exactly a case of Powell having super-relevant expertise. What he had to offer was basically celebrity and his good name. By supporting Powell’s charity, your company could participate in Powell’s halo.
But when the press thinks of you as a good guy, leveraging your good reputation in this way is considered a good thing to do. And since the charity was considered a good thing to do, keeping the charity going when Powell was in office as secretary of state was also considered a good thing to do. And since Powell was presumed to be innocent — and since Democrats did not make attacks on Powell part of their partisan strategy — his charity was never the subject of a lengthy investigation.
Which is lucky for him, because as Clinton could tell you, once you are the subject of a lengthy investigation, the press doesn’t like to report, “Well, we looked into it and we didn’t find anything interesting.”
First Read: “We’re now just a little more than two months until Decision Day 2016, and here is the downballot reality: Democrats are on track to take back the Senate. It’s not a slam dunk, of course. But in the battle for control of the Senate, you’d rather be the Democrats than the Republicans. Here’s the math: With the GOP holding a 54-46 majority, Democrats need to pick up four Senate seats if they win the White House (because the vice president gets to break a 50-50 tie), and they need five seats if they don’t.”
“So you if you’re the Democrats, you can realistically get to four pickups and control of the Senate, if Clinton wins the presidential race. But Nevada is key here, because a GOP win means Democrats will have to win another seat to win control.”
Two sources tell Gabriel Sherman that Roger Ailes showed up for Donald Trump’s debate prep last weekend with a black eye.
A new NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll finds Hillary Clinton’s lead over Donald Trump has narrowed to six points nationally, 48% to 42%.
“Hillary Clinton’s advisers are talking to Donald J. Trump’s ghostwriter of The Art of the Deal, seeking insights about Mr. Trump’s deepest insecurities as they devise strategies to needle and undermine him in four weeks at the first presidential debate, the most anticipated in a generation,” the New York Times reports.
“Her team is also getting advice from psychology experts to help create a personality profile of Mr. Trump to gauge how he may respond to attacks and deal with a woman as his sole adversary on the debate stage.”
“They are undertaking a forensic-style analysis of Mr. Trump’s performances in the Republican primary debates, cataloging strengths and weaknesses as well as trigger points that caused him to lash out in less-than-presidential ways.”
“The Democratic Party’s national Senate campaign arm has canceled more than a week of television ads that were set to run next month in the key battleground of Ohio, where former governor Ted Strickland (D) has struggled to gain traction against incumbent Sen. Rob Portman (R),” the Washington Post reports.
“The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had reserved advertising time on Ohio TV stations starting Sept. 13. Now, according to political ad trackers in both parties, the national Democrats won’t launch that campaign until Sept. 22.”
Hillary Clinton’s campaign is calling Donald Trump “unfit and unprepared” in a mailer sent to some Utah voters, a rare dip of the toe into Utah’s electoral waters by a Democratic presidential candidate, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
“The campaign wouldn’t say how many mailers were sent out or what segment of voters they were targeting, but it is obviously not Democrats.”
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry will join the cast of “Dancing with the Stars”, according to Entertainment Tonight.
The cast will also include rapper Vanilla Ice, football star Calvin “Megatron” Johnson and Olympian Ryan Lochte.
Olivia Nuzzi: “If you were a presidential candidate who polled low among women, who was on your third wife, who had a reputation for womanizing and a professional relationship with a man who’d recently been axed from his job for sexual harassment, would you respond to the latest Anthony Weiner scandal by A. Staying out of it; B. Changing the subject; or C. Attacking your opponent by making a dubious connection between Weiner’s behavior and her own?”
“If you chose C, congratulations: This election has officially warped your sense of good judgment.”
“Republican leaders in Maine are trying to figure out a fitting punishment for racially charged comments and a threatening voicemail made by Gov. Paul LePage, who has repeatedly avoided punishment for impolitic remarks,” the AP reports.
“Republican Senate and House leaders are arranging a closed-door meeting with LePage before deciding the next step as November state legislative elections loom.”
Corey Lewandowski “was fired in late-June after serving as Trump’s first campaign manager… Now, a few weeks and a lucrative cable network contract later, Lewandowski is back in the fold,” ABC News reports.
Campaign sources “describe Lewandowski’s relationship with the candidate as ‘stronger than ever.’ Each day, Trump wakes up, usually in his Fifth Avenue penthouse, and has a routine round of calls, sources say, that includes his campaign leadership (which has changed in recent weeks), his children, some close allies and someone else quite frequently: Lewandowski.”
“The White House said it could still win congressional approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact before President Obama leaves office, and warned that failing to do so would undermine U.S. leadership in the region,” Reuters reports.
“Obama has made the 12-nation free trade deal the centerpiece of a diplomatic ‘pivot’ to Asia, but the prospects for congressional approval have looked increasingly dim, with both major presidential candidates – Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump – standing opposed.”
Donald Trump was not happy about San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during a performance of the national anthem, BuzzFeed reports.
Said Trump: “I have followed it and I think it’s personally not a good thing. I think it’s a terrible thing, and you know, maybe he should find a country that works better for him, let him try, it’s not gonna happen.”
Here are the latest state polls from the presidential race:
Ohio: Clinton 43%, Trump 43% (Emerson)
Michigan: Clinton 45%, Trump 40% (Emerson)
Pennsylvania: Clinton 46%, Trump 43% (Emerson)
Arizona: Clinton 40%, Trump 39% (OH Predictive Insights)
South Carolina: Clinton 39%, Trump 39% (Feldman)
A new robocall from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke:
“We’re losing our country. Look at the Super Bowl salute to the Black Panther cop killers. It’s time to stand up and vote for Donald Trump for president and vote for me, David Duke for the U.S. Senate.”
Meanwhile, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports the Republican Party of Louisiana “deferred voting on new rules Saturday that would make it more difficult for David Duke and other convicted felons to run as Republicans in elections held after November.”
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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