October 03, 2016 10:21 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Monday (October 3)

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• by: Colorado Pols

L’Shana Tovah. 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…

► Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump had a very tough weekend, and he looks to right his sinking campaign ship with two stops in Colorado today. Fresh off of a campaign event in Virginia, Trump will be in Pueblo at 3:00 before another scheduled event in Loveland around 5:00 or 6:00 pm. As John Frank reports for the Denver Post, Trump needs to do well in Pueblo if he is going to have any chance of winning Colorado.

As the Washington Post notes, Trump’s week of self-destruction could be difficult to overcome:

Donald Trump is scrambling to rescue his campaign after a week in which the Republican nominee’s White House hopes were effectively set ablaze by his own erratic behavior and the discovery that he may not have paid federal income taxes for as many as 18 years.

Reeling from a New York Times report that Trump may have canceled out years of income taxes by declaring a $916 million loss on his 1995 return, his allies mounted a vigorous defense Sunday by arguing that the revelation was proof of the businessman’s ­“genius.”

Trump is scrambling to win over voters in Colorado, which is just one of many problems his campaign is facing as we begin the month of October. Trump’s bizarre off-script rant at a Saturday event in Pennsylvania capped a week that could very well decide the Presidency. As Politico explains:

And yet … here the most outrageous and detested presidential nominee in recent memory sits, teetering but never quite falling into the clown chasm of political doom; the aggregators have Clinton back up as a 65-to-70 percent favorite to win, but in no battleground does she currently enjoy the double-digit dominance she had just after the convention. She is doing most everything right while he is inventing brand-new wrong (like enlisting the jowly duo of marital cheaters, Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich, to defend his fat-shaming of Miss Universe and attack the Clintons’ marriage). You can’t make this stuff up. But Donald Trump can, and he still gets his 38 to 43 percent in virtually every national poll…

…The unloved candidate trumps the hated one, the polls say. We are getting into the homestretch of this horserace to the glue factory of American Exceptionalism — and the events of the next week to 10 days will likely be Trump’s final shot at repairing his damaged candidacy.

► Libertarian Presidential candidate Gary Johnson is also in Colorado today. Johnson will speak at 7:00 pm at the South Denver (Parker) campus of the University of Colorado. Johnson’s visit comes at a bit of an awkward time for his campaign; on Friday, his running mate, Bill Weld, said publicly that Democrat Hillary Clinton is the most-qualified candidate for President. From CNN:

Libertarian vice presidential hopeful Bill Weld said Friday that he’s “not sure anybody is more qualified than Hillary Clinton to be president of the United States,” the latest misstep in what’s been a painful week for the third-party ticket.

Weld’s praise of the Democratic presidential nominee was made in an interview with MSNBC’s Chuck Todd. He quickly added: “I mean, that’s not the end of the inquiry, though. We were two-term governors and I think Gary is very, very solid.

Whoops!

► Republican Mike Coffman continues to rack up negative fact-check stories following several wildly-exagerrated attacks on Democratic challenger Morgan Carroll. Either Coffman or the NRCC have now managed to get smacked down by four separate Colorado media outlets.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, is making a ridiculous amount of money for (sorta) directing the efforts of the Republican Presidential nominee.

► Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a top surrogate for Trump, is doing more harm than good for the GOP Presidential nominee. From Politico:

Donald Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani on Sunday suggested that a man such as Donald Trump would be a better president “than a woman.”

“Don’t you think a man who has this kind of economic genius is a lot better for the United States than a woman, and the only thing she’s ever produced is a lot of work for the FBI checking out her emails,” the former New York City mayor said on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos.

Giuliani’s statements come on the heels of a week during which the Republican nominee has been criticized by Hillary Clinton’s campaign for comments he has made about women.

► Democrat Gail Schwartz, who is challenging Rep. Scott Tipton in CD-3, took a three-day campaign swing through Southern Colorado last weekend.

► Interested in getting your name on the ballot for President in Colorado? As the Durango Herald reports, you only need about $1,000 and 9 friends to sign their names on something.

► Fox 31 Denver runs a fact-check of the various messages being circulated around a ballot measure that seeks to increase the tax on tobacco in Colorado.

► 9News hosted a debate over the “Colorado Care” ballot measure (also known as Amendment 69).

► Donald Trump’s tax troubles could be costing him big-time among voters in the rust-belt — an area of the country that Trump cannot afford to lose if he hopes to be elected President in November. The Washington Post also breaks down five of the biggest questions related to Trump’s tax-dodging ways.

► Congressman Mike Coffman and his pals at the Denver Post should probably stop pretending that the “Iran ransom payment” thing is a factual story.

► Republican state Rep. Clarice Navarro is having some trouble explaining her support for Donald Trump as the GOP Presidential nominee endeavors to do whatever possible to lose the support of both women and Hispanic voters.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► The two major-party candidates for Vice President are preparing for a Tuesday debate at Longwood University in Virginia.

► CNN explains why you are terrified of clowns. You know, if you need an explanation.

ICYMI

► The Denver Broncos finally finished their game in Tampa Bay on Sunday.

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