August 05, 2016 11:35 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Friday (August 5)

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Summer Olympics in Rio are already underway, with the Opening Ceremonies scheduled to take place tonight. 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…

► Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) imploded in spectacular fashion on Thursday, making a ham-handed attempt to explain that he isn’t a huge fan of Donald Trump before inexplicably backpedaling and making it (un)clear that he might still vote for Trump or might also support Libertarian Gary Johnson for President.

Marshall Zelinger caught up with Coffman and found him to be…confused on how to respond to his own TV ad. From Denver7:

The ad doesn’t reveal who he currently plans to vote for on Nov. 8.

“Do people ask you, ‘Are you going to vote for Trump?'” asked Denver7 political reporter Marshall Zelinger.

“I’m running my own campaign, and the purpose of the ad is not whether I’m voting for Trump or not, the purpose of this ad is to send a message to the people of my Congressional District that I will represent them whoever is in the White House,” said Coffman.

“They’re going to want to know, who are you going to vote for based on not liking either?” said Zelinger.

“Donald Trump has not earned my support. I’m not going to vote for Hillary Clinton. (I’ve) talked to Governor (Bill) Weld on the Libertarian side, and I wouldn’t rule that out,” said Coffman.

This is an absolute disaster for Coffman, who hoped to distance himself from Trump but ended up instead looking like a spineless fool who can’t even stick to one simple answer. Negative TV ads about this episode will be devastating for Coffman as we enter the final months of the fall campaign.

► Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump is hoping for an end to what has been the worst week of his campaign thus far. A new McClatchy-Marist poll released late Thursday shows Democrat Hillary Clinton surging to a 15-point lead in the race for President:

Clinton not only went up, but Trump went down. Clinton now has a 48-33 lead, a huge turnaround from her narrow 42-39 advantage last momth.

The findings are particularly significant because the poll was taken after both political conventions ended, and as Trump engaged in a war of words with the parents of Army Capt. Humayun Khan, killed in the Iraq War 12 years ago.

Trump’s terrible week, coupled with Clinton’s surge, has opened up new opportunities for the Democratic nominee to court disillusioned Republican voters.

► Pundits may disagree on whether or not Colorado is still a swing state this Presidential election, but that isn’t stopping the campaigns from making regular visits to our state. Donald Trump will be back in Colorado on Tuesday, less than a week after his running mate, Mike Pence, visited Denver and Colorado Springs (Democrats Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine were in Colorado on Wednesday as well). Trump will reportedly make stops in Grand Junction and Pueblo (Trump will not visit Pueblo after all).

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Senator Michael Bennet (D-Denver) was once considered the most vulnerable incumbent Democrat running for re-election this fall.

Now?

Republican Darryl Glenn is universally considered to be such a weak opponent that national pundits are calling Colorado’s Senate seat “Safe Democratic.”

► Fundraising numbers for state legislative races are overwhelmingly positive for Democrats. Of the Top 20 campaigns with the most cash-on-hand in State House races, 18 are Democrats. Things aren’t much better for Republicans in State Senate battles.

► As if things weren’t bad enough for Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora)…Conservative radio hosts are now blasting Coffman for helping Hillary Clinton because of his wavering criticisms of Donald Trump.

► Trump is admitting that he did not, in fact, witness a video (which doesn’t exist anyway) of a $400 million cash delivery that the United States made to Iran.

► John Frank of the Denver Post tries to unpack the abortion stances of Republican Senate candidate Darryl Glenn:

The state’s largest anti-abortion organization, Colorado Right to Life, accused him of “trying to play a little bit of political maneuvering” for his answer to a recent question on personhood, reports The Durango Herald.

But days later, National Right to Life, the affiliate of Colorado Citizens for Life, came to his defense. The group endorsed Glenn on Tuesday, a day after the Herald story. “Darryl Glenn has been thoroughly vetted on this,” a spokeswoman, Tatiana Bergum, told the newspaper in a subsequent article. “He may not eloquently talk about it, but he is pro-life.”

The reason for the kerfuffle: a statement Glenn made July 15 on Colorado Public Television when asked about personhood, an effort to ban abortion and assign rights to fetuses.

► Proponents of a ballot measure to legalize new end-of-life options for the terminally ill in Colorado appear to have gathered enough signatures for the November ballot.

► If you are trying to gather signatures for a ballot measure this month, you would be wise to avoid standing outside a Wal-Mart in Colorado Springs.

► The Gold King Mine spill that made headlines last August does not appear to have done any lasting economic damage to Southwestern Colorado.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Republican insiders continue their calls for Donald Trump to drop out of the race for President; despite Trump’s bad week, there has been no indication that His Hairness would even consider ending his campaign.

► Natural gas wells continue to decline in Western Colorado…but not because of any so-called burdensome regulations.

ICYMI

► The Get More Smarter Show took a brief summer break, but we’re back with a new episode that features an exclusive interview with state Sen. Morgan Carroll, the Democratic candidate for Congress in CO-6.

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