A new McClatchy-Marist poll finds Hillary Clinton’s lead over Donald Trump has withered to three points, 42% to 39%.
“Her numbers plunged as the controversy over her private email server while secretary of state dominated political news.”
A new Economist/YouGov poll also shows Clinton with a three points lead, 40% to 38%.
First Read: “The state of our politics — and especially discourse in this 2016 presidential race — has hit rock bottom when a Supreme Court justice is trading insults with the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee.”
“This 2016 campaign has eroded many of the norms of our politics, whether it was Trump earlier attacking a federal judge overseeing a lawsuit against him; Trump and Clinton not congratulating each other for winning their respective nominating races; or Bernie Sanders still not technically conceding to Hillary Clinton. But let’s be blunt: It isn’t healthy for our democracy when a current Supreme Court justice is battling with someone who might become president.”
“Nearly half of voters in a recent survey said they had seen TV ads supporting Donald Trump in the last week. There’s just one problem: His campaign hasn’t aired any, and his friendly super PACs have run very few,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Meanwhile, 52% of respondents said they had seen an ad promoting Democrat Hillary Clinton—just six percentage points more than the proportion who said they had spotted Trump ads.”
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A must-read: The Bellwether: Why Ohio Picks the President by Kyle Kondik.
“Since 1896, Ohio voters have failed to favor the next president only twice (in 1944 and 1960). Time after time, Ohio has found itself in the thick of the presidential race, and 2016 is shaping up to be no different. What about the Buckeye State makes it so special?”
Donald Trump is looking for a running mate who can be a “fighter skilled in hand-to-hand combat” to help him parry criticism on the campaign trail, and he has narrowed his list to a handful of seasoned politicians, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Mr. Trump, in a telephone interview Tuesday, said his top picks include Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and a couple politicians who haven’t gotten as much attention, including Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.”
“The New York businessman has said he wanted a seasoned government leader as a running mate. But in the interview, on the way to events with Mr. Pence in Indiana, Mr. Trump added a new criterion: He wants an attack dog.”
Donald Trump described Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a “disgrace” to the Supreme Court after she expanded on the criticism of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee that she first voiced last week, the New York Times reports.
Said Trump: “I think it’s highly inappropriate that a United States Supreme Court judge gets involved in a political campaign, frankly. I think it’s a disgrace to the court, and I think she should apologize to the court. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it.”
The Washington Post editorial page agreed with Trump: “However valid her comments may have been, though, and however in keeping with her known political bent, they were still much, much better left unsaid by a member of the Supreme Court.”
Three new Quinnipiac polls show Donald Trump very competitive in three key battleground states:
Said pollster Peter Brown: “Donald Trump enters the Republican Convention on a small roll in the three most important swing states in the country. He has wiped out Hillary Clinton’s lead in Florida; is on the upside of too-close to call races in Florida and Pennsylvania and is locked in a dead heat in Ohio.”
Historian David McCullough, “raised in a Republican home and now aligned with no party,” told the New York Times that “the prospect of a Trump presidency so distressed him that he felt he could not remain publicly detached.”
Said McCullough: “When you think of how far we have come, and at what cost, and with what faith, to just turn it all over to this monstrous clown with a monstrous ego, with no experience, never served his country in any way — it’s just crazy. We can’t stand by and let it happen. The Republican Party shouldn’t stand by and let it happen.”
For more, see Historians on Donald Trump.
New York Times: “Republicans moved on Tuesday toward adopting a staunchly conservative platform that takes a strict, traditionalist view of the family and child rearing, bars military women from combat, describes coal as a ‘clean’ energy source and declares pornography a ‘public health crisis.'”
“It is a platform that at times seems to channel the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump — calling to ‘destroy ISIS,’ belittling President Obama as weak and accusing his administration of inviting attacks from adversaries. But the document positions itself far to the right of Mr. Trump’s beliefs in other places — and amounts to a rightward lurch even from the party’s hard-line platform in 2012 — especially as it addresses gay men, lesbians and transgender people.”
“Donald Trump will showcase his vice presidential pick at a public event on Friday,” NBC News reports.
“While the joint appearance is expected on Friday, it’s not clear whether or not the identity of the pick could be released or could leak earlier in the week.”
CNN says the front runners are Gov. Mike Pence and Newt Gingrich.
Fox News is suspending its contributor agreement with Newt Gingrich, Politico reports.
The statement: “Fox News Channel has mutually agreed to suspend its contributor agreement with Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich effective immediately. Due to the intense media speculation about Gingrich’s potential selection as Donald Trump’s vice presidential candidate, we felt it best to halt his contributor role on the network to avoid all conflicts of interest that may arise.”
“In an apparent sign that Senator Elizabeth Warren will not be named Hillary Clinton’s running mate, Ms. Warren was invited by Mrs. Clinton’s campaign on Tuesday to deliver a prime-time address on the first night of the Democratic convention this month — a marquee speaking slot but one that is earlier than vice-presidential picks typically appear,” the New York Times reports.
“Such nominees usually speak later in the convention week to build anticipation for the top of the ticket.”
“Two Democrats briefed on the invitation to Mrs. Warren, however, cautioned that Mrs. Clinton had not yet made a decision about a running mate and that asking Ms. Warren to take the stage on the first night did not preclude her from being tapped as the vice-presidential nominee.”
“Labour is still fumbling with its flies while the Tories are enjoying their post-coital cigarette — after withdrawing our massive Johnson. Sorry, that’s not even my speech, that’s just a text from Stephen Crabb.”
— Scottish Tory Leader Ruth Davidson, quoted by the Times, referring to the Tory politician now engaged in a sexting scandal.
Hillary Clinton and her allies continue to outspend Donald Trump and his backers over the airwaves by a 15-to-1 margin, NBC News reports.
“Team Clinton has spent $57 million on ads so far in the general election — $25 million coming from the campaign and another $32 million from pro-Clinton Super PACs. By comparison, Team Trump has aired $3.6 million in ads, with all of the spending from two outside groups.”
“Conservatism is temporarily dead. I mean, if you look at it, we have two candidates. Donald Trump is barely a Republican. He’s certainly not a conservative.”
— Jeb Bush, in an interview with the Washington Post.
“Hillary Clinton’s campaign is vetting James G. Stavridis, a retired four-star Navy admiral who served as the 16th supreme allied commander at NATO, as a possible running mate,” the New York Times reports.
“Some close to Mrs. Clinton, the former secretary of state, say she was always likely to have someone with military experience on her vice-presidential shortlist, and Mr. Stavridis, currently the dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University, fits the description.”
“The Clinton campaign declined requests for comment, and Mr. Stavridis declined to comment other than referring calls to the campaign.”
A new Monmouth poll in Iowa shows Donald Trump with a 2-point lead over Hillary Clinton, 44% to 42%.
In the race for U.S. Senate, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) has a 10 point lead over challenger Patty Judge (D), 52% to 42%.
“I have five candidates, plus two, two that are unknown to anybody.”
— Donald Trump, in an interview with the New York Times, on who he might choose as his running mate.
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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