| It's beginning to look a lot like Election Day! The airwaves are filled with candidate commercials, we had an almost-debate yesterday and early voting begins in just over two weeks, affording us all the opportunity to choose one of two loathed candidates or one of two extreme longshots. This feels just like that one Christmas where our parents told us we couldn't get a puppy and that Santa Claus wasn't real. Merry Election Season, everyone! |
| Almost but not quite a Clinton-Trump debate |
| We had a moderator, questions from the audience, and a couple of zingers -- but yesterday's "Commander-in-Chief Forum" sponsored by NBC News and hosted by Matt Lauer didn't feature the candidates on the stage at the same time. The focus of the forum was on foreign policy and national security, with Hillary Clinton's extensive experience and Donald Trump's lack of experience both helping and hurting. |
| Clinton was able to tout her experience as secretary of State and her role supporting the 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden's compound, but most of the early questions focused on potential weak points: questions about her private email server as well as criticism of her perceived hawkish foreign policy and her vote as senator to invade Iraq. Now, my opponent was for the war in Iraq. He says he wasn't. You can go back and look at the record. He supported it. He told Howard Stern he supported it. So he supported it before it happened, he supported it as it was happening, and he is on record as supporting it after it happened. I have taken responsibility for my decision." |
| Trump, appearing second, said he was prepared to assume the role of president because "I have great judgment. I have good judgment. I know what's going on. I've called so many of the shots." As for Clinton's assertion that he supported the war, Trump says it wasn't true (perhaps the Howard Stern interview was Photoshopped). Lauer questioned Trump on his temperament and his assertion that he knows more about ISIS than military generals. Trump did have a chance to lay out his plan to improve military readiness, including increasing the size of the Army and looking for vulnerabilities in infrastructure and cybersecurity. Clinton "has taught us really how vulnerable we are to cyber hacking," Trump said, adding that it was "probably the only thing that we've learned from Hillary Clinton." Zing. |
| 'This election is rigged! But hey, on the off-chance that it isn't ...' |
| Donald Trump has a path to victory this November, argues the LA Times, but he's being thwarted at every turn by Donald Trump. For months, the GOP nominee's strategy has been to win the election by bringing potential voters off the sidelines. "My whole campaign has been focused on expanding the number of people who want to, and will, participate in this election cycle," Trump said in a January op-ed in USA TODAY. |
| But those goals are being derailed by rogue agent Donald Trump, who has spent the entire summer attempting to suppress turnout among his own base. Trump has told his audiences for months that the system was rigged against anti-establishment candidates like himself and Bernie Sanders, and he has said since early August that he fears the primary election is rigged as well . Nobody likes to play right into a conspiracy, and the LA Times says there has been a "notable decline" in how likely Trump supporters say they are to vote this fall. Trump needs to sit down with Trump and rein him in, stat. |
| How to rip the Band-Aid off -- like, right now |
| Can't stand the suspense and feeling of dread for the election's outcome? Good news, you're only 15 days and one U-Haul rental away from performing your civic duty and escaping the general election early. Drawback: You'll miss out on all the presidential debates and any potential late-breaking, vote-changing events. Advantage: The total bliss of ignoring everything election-related after that. |
| Four states -- Minnesota, Vermont, Virginia and South Dakota -- begin early voting on Friday, Sept. 23, the earliest in the nation. Of the four, you can wield the most influence in Virginia and Minnesota, both of which have less than 10 percentage points separating Trump from Clinton; Vermont is solidly in Clinton's column while South Dakota is Trump territory. Next up in the early-voting queue: Mississippi on Monday, Sept. 26. (If you're not registered to vote yet, you still have at least a month; find your state's details here.) |
| If you make it to the other side, send us a postcard and let us know you made it out of the election OK. For the rest of us, it will be like living in a damn Hitchcock film for the next eight-plus weeks. |
| More from the campaign trail |
| • | Hillary's email investigation timeline totally checks out; you just have to suspend your belief in the linearity of time (FactCheck.org) | | • | Trump accepts nomination of Conservative Party of New York State (The Journal News) | | • | Both New York candidates probably will ignore New York for the rest of the campaign (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle) | | • | Pence goes off-script, says the current American president was born in America (Indianapolis Star) | | • | Media should put more focus on Trump Foundation scandal, says media (USA TODAY Money) | | • | USA Freedom Kids sue Trump. Are you serious? I can't handle this! (USA TODAY OnPolitics) | |
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| Taco trucks at every base |
| The Fresno Grizzlies baseball club, America's most tacophilic Minor League team, will soon be selling Taco Trucks on Every Corner/Make America Great Again mashup hats for that hard-to-shop-for friend on your list. |
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