October 07, 2016 10:36 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Friday (October 7)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Some politicos think GOP Vice Presidential candidate Mike Pence could defeat Hillary Clinton if he were at the top of the Republican ticket. That’s silly. It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► Donald Trump’s campaign for President will long be remembered (among other things) for his unprecedented habit of flat-out lying about issues and denials of statements that were uttered by the man himself. Trump may be the Master of Misrepresentation, but as we have seen here in Colorado, spreading blatantly-false information has become something of a habit for Republicans and GOP-friendly organizations.

The most “knowingly-false” campaign ad in Colorado this year — and really, the most egregious example we’ve seen in a long time — is in Senate District 19 in Arvada. There is a law in Colorado prohibiting spreading “knowingly-false” information in order to influence an election; if these fictitious “China Girl” attacks on Democrat Rachel Zenzinger aren’t prosecuted, then we might as well just light Colorado Revised Statutes 1-13-109 on fire.

Congressman Mike Coffman and supporters have now received four consecutive negative fact-check stories from media outlets regarding baseless claims against Democratic challenger Morgan Carroll.

On Thursday, we noticed yet another ridiculous claim in a mail piece attacking SD-25 candidate Jenise May; the mail piece in question criticizes May for casting a vote in 2016 that cannot be true…because May wasn’t a legislator in 2016.

► Donald Trump has been off the rails for sometime now, so it’s difficult to come up with a suitable metaphor to illustrate just how ridiculous His Hairness has become. As the Washington Post explains, Trump was getting pretty squirrelly during an event in New Hampshire on Thursday:

He attacked Hillary Clinton, alleging with no evidence that when the Democratic nominee says she is preparing for debates, she is actually “resting.” He went after Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who does not support him. He knocked journalists John Harwood and John King, as well as the media in general and even the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Trump also denied that he was using the event to prepare for Sunday night’s debate in St. Louis, which will operate under a similar format.

The gathering was hardly a preview of the spontaneous questions Trump and Clinton are expected to face from voters and moderators Sunday night. It was closed to the public; the campaign invited people to attend and submit written questions in advance. Some added words of encouragement for Trump to their questions.

Remember, Trump said all of this in front of a friendly, pro-Trump audience and was not prompted by any difficult questions. Apparently, this is part of Trump’s “debate prep” before Sunday night’s second rhetorical battle with Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Much is at stake in Sunday’s debate in St. Louis, Missouri; Trump has been plummeting in the polls after a poor performance in the first debate, and he may not be able to recover from another bad night.

► Hurricane Matthew is closing in on the Eastern United States as experts warn of potentially catastrophic damage. The storm was approaching Jacksonville, Florida as of this morning.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► How long are we going to continue to hear about this ridiculous farce that thousands of illegal votes have been cast in recent Colorado elections? Former Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler peddled this lie for years, and even found a few cases for local prosecutors to investigate. There is STILL no evidence that even one person illegally voted in a recent Colorado election. Not. One. Person.

► Senator Michael Bennet (D-Denver) has launched another new television ad. The new spot focuses on Bennet’s work with ranchers and on other important rural issues.

► Ernest Luning of the Colorado Statesman reports on a fascinating — and troubling — story about the amount of vitriol that elected officials from all sides must endure in Colorado:

State Rep. Rhonda Fields, for her part, said she hopes people put the anger and tension surrounding the election in perspective.

“I would encourage everyone to take a deep breath — this is a very different kind of election cycle, emotions are pretty high, but we should be able to have civil discourse without threatening one another.”

► President Obama can now boast that more than 15 million new jobs have been created in the United States during his two terms in office — nearly double the number of jobs created under former President George W. Bush. CNN Money has more on the latest round of economic figures:

The economy added 156,000 jobs last month, a tad lower than the revised job gains for August, the Labor Department said Friday. It was the next-to-last checkup on the job market before Election Day.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 5% from 4.9%. Sometimes that’s a sign that people are coming back into the job market, and that was the case in September…

…Paychecks are improving faster for Americans, too. Wages grew 2.6% in September compared with a year ago. That’s not stellar, but it’s better than the growth of 2% or less seen for years during the recovery.

► Republican Senate candidate Darryl Glenn continues to make his case as the worst statewide candidate in Colorado history. As the Durango Herald reports, Glenn supports racial profiling as well as a complete travel ban on Muslims in America.

► Republican Rep. Clarice Navarro was questioned recently about her fervent support for Donald Trump. Check out Navarro’s “oh, shit” face as she fields a question about immigration reform.

► From the Colorado Pols Editorial Department: If We Endorsed Mike Coffman in CD-6.

► Senator Michael Bennet says he does not support the Trans-Pacific Partnership global trade deal in its current form. 

► 9News takes a look at a couple of campaign ads in CD-6 regarding Congressman Mike Coffman and his on-again, off-again relationship with Donald Trump. 

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Colorado is an all-mail ballot state in 2016, which is a new challenge for field campaigns of every size and shape.

ICYMI

► The Denver Broncos host the Atlanta Falcons at 2:00 on Sunday. At 7:00 pm that evening, Hillary v. Trump, Round 2, will be televised live from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. In other words, get those household chores finished on Saturday. 

Don’t forget to check out The Get More Smarter Show. You can also Get More Smarter by liking Colorado Pols on Facebook!