October 11, 2016 12:26 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (October 11)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Can Donald Trump completely destroy the Republican Party in just one month? He’s gonna try… 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…

► The only televised debate of the 2016 Colorado Senate race takes place tonight at 7:00 pm. Senator Michael Bennet (D-Denver) and Republican challenger Darryl Glenn will take the stage at the History Colorado Center in downtown Denver for an hour-long, commercial-free debate. There is literally nothing that Glenn could do tonight that would vault him into a position to defeat Bennet in November, but for sheer entertainment value alone, we’ll be running a “Debate Diary.”

As of this writing, Glenn is still supporting Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump. Glenn announced on Saturday that he was dropping his support for Trump before inexplicably reversing course on Monday and praising His Hairness. While Glenn’s Saturday repudiation of Trump was fairly straightforward, the El Paso County Commissioner apparently decided that he had made a mistake after being bombarded with negative comments from Trump supporters who felt Glenn was abandoning their candidate.

► Donald Trump says he is removing the “shackles” that have apparently restrained him to this point in the Presidential campaign. Trump is furious that Republicans are abandoning his campaign en masse and is promising to go full scorched tan earth from here on out. For their part, National Republicans are insisting — meekly — that they are totally 100% behind their nominee for President.

Meanwhile, Trump’s son, Eric Trump, spent some time in our state working to convince Coloradans that his father is just a friendly “Alpha Male” whose reputation has been sullied by the invented actions of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

► Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton visits Pueblo on Wednesday to promote GOTV efforts and voter registration drives. As the Colorado Independent reports:

“At a public voter registration event, Clinton will lay out the high stakes of this election for Coloradans as well as her vision for an America that is stronger together, with an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top,” says the statement from her Colorado campaign.

“Clinton will also urge supporters to make sure they’re registered to vote. Colorado has the highest percentage of registered voters of any state in the country and voters can visit iwillvote.com to check their registration status.” This will be the first Colorado campaign stop for Clinton since early August. Her campaign has also cut down on advertising in this purple swing state in the lead-up to the Nov. 8 election. In Colorado, ballots start going out to voters in the mail Oct. 17.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► State Sen. Laura Waters Woods is standing firm behind Donald Trump.

► Donald Trump is launching a brutal new attack ad against Hillary Clinton that will almost certainly backfire. 

► The Denver Post reports on Monday’s Denver visit from Vice Presidential candidate Tim Kaine and recording artist Dave Matthews:

Vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine drew stark comparisons between his Democratic running mate Hillary Clinton and her Republican opponent Donald Trump in a Denver get-out-the-vote appearance Monday with musician Dave Matthews.

During the half rock concert, half political rally before a crowd of roughly 1,700 at the National Western Complex, Kaine, a Virginia senator, criticized Trump’s stance on taxes and lambasted him for making extremely lewd comments about women in a 2005 Access Hollywood video.

Kaine said Trump offends women “virtually every time he opens his mouth.”…

…Before Kaine’s remarks, Matthews played a solo-acoustic set that spanned five songs, including his “Ants Marching,” “One Sweet World,” “Samurai Cop,” “Satellite” and “Loving Wings.” He delved into politics only occasionally during the half-hour he stood in a dimly lit room on a stage before an illuminated American flag.

► The Greeley Tribune takes a look at the race in CD-4 between incumbent Rep. Ken Buck and Democratic challenger Bob Seay.

► The Colorado Springs Gazette rolls out its online voter guide for 2016.

► Jennifer Paquette, the chief investment officer for PERA, announced her retirement.

► Tourism is booming in Colorado thanks to some successful marketing campaigns. 

► President Obama wants to see human beings on Mars by the year 2030. Congressman Ed Perlmutter (D-Jefferson County) talked up the importance of manned missions to Mars during an interview on the Get More Smarter Show in August.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Donald Trump may still have a narrow path to the 270 electoral votes he needs to become President…though nobody seems to have a map that explains that path.

► Too little, too late. New polling suggests that Republican politicians who are ditching Donald Trump aren’t going to get any boost from voters for their last-minute change of heart:

The Trump Trap: New Dem polling shows GOP lawmakers get no credit for cutting Trump loose. Too late: https://t.co/4rEtUpFjUK

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) October 11, 2016

ICYMI

► Remember when conservative columnist George Will went out of his way to praise Rep. Mike Coffman for his Spanish-language outreach efforts? What do you suppose Will is thinking now, after Coffman ended a Spanish-language debate last week with the exact same closing statement he used in a similar debate in 2014?

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