October 12, 2016 12:38 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (October 12)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Have an easy fast today (Yom Kippur). 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…

► Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is in Pueblo today to promote early voting and voter registration efforts. As the Pueblo Chieftain reports:

The former secretary of state and U.S. senator is participating in a public voter registration event today at the Colorado State Fairground’s Palace of Agriculture.

“We opened one of our first offices in early summer in Pueblo and now we’re excited for Hillary to campaign here,” said Ernesto Apreza, a Clinton campaign official.

Clinton’s campaign said doors will open to the public at 11:45 a.m. and the event will begin at 1:45 p.m. Wednesday.

► Tuesday night was the only televised debate in Colorado’s U.S. Senate race, and we’re guessing that Republican candidate Darryl Glenn is plenty thankful that he won’t have to embarrass himself again. We live-blogged the debate between Glenn and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Denver), in which the incumbent absolutely crushed his ill-prepared and uninformed opponent. Seriously — it would be hard to perform worse than Glenn did on Tuesday.

Prior to last night’s debate, Glenn’s campaign sent out an email claiming that polling results showed the Senate race to be a “virtual tie.”

[Pause for laughter]

Also on Tuesday night, Glenn further muddied his stance on Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump. On Saturday, Glenn dropped his support of Trump before reversing course and sorta re-endorsing Trump on Monday. When pressed repeatedly to clarify his position on Trump, Glenn finally said last night that he had “suspended” his endorsement of Trump, whatever the hell that means.

► State Sen. Laura Waters Woods (R-Arvada) is proving in 2016 that she will say anything if it helps her get elected. Woods is now trying to portray herself as a champion for Medicaid…when in truth, she is a fierce proponent of reducing the number of people who can qualify for government-subsidized health care. This is the same Sen. Woods who has falsely claimed that she has “consistently” supported legislation to protect public lands (Woods is actually a proponent of transferring federal public lands to state control).

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Former Gov. Bill Owens and former GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez appear to have a difference of opinion on Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, Congressman Ken Buck pulled a Scott Tipton, condemning Trump for his insensitive remarks toward women while reaffirming that he supports the GOP nominee for President.

► The shackles are still off, as far as we can tell.

► Is Eric Trump still in Colorado?

► Congressman Mike Coffman is desperately trying to get his attorneys to stop Democrats from alleging that he supports Donald Trump. You know what would have made this easier for Coffman? Making it clear months ago that he did not support His Hairness.

► Take the Minimum Wage Challenge yourself and see how that affects your opinion of Amendment 70.

► The Colorado Springs Independent offers its take(s) on the 2016 ballot.

► The Republican Party is struggling to avoid a complete meltdown as its candidate for President threatens to drag the entire ticket down into the gutter. From Politico:

With just weeks to go until Election Day, it’s as close as it gets to a nightmare scenario for battleground state Republicans. Pro-Trump loyalists have declared war on those who have renounced their presidential nominee, candidates can’t get their message out because of the din, and Democrats are milking it for all it’s worth, with some even rethinking shifting resources to down-ballot contests that previously looked out of reach. And it’s all due to Trump’s meltdown.

New Hampshire GOP operative Tom Rath, traveling in Bermuda, said his phone blew up with calls and messages just moments after the news broke Friday night — he spent the weekend fielding frantic messages from allies worried about the fate of Sen. Kelly Ayotte and GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Sununu. Val DiGiorgio, GOP chairman of Pennsylvania’s pivotal Chester County, said he immediately called the 28 local GOP leaders in his area to gauge the depth of the damage from the remarks, which were already beginning to play on a non-stop loop on cable television.

► Denver Mayor Michael Hancock has found a new Chief of Staff, and it’s a home run of a move:

Excited to announce @AlanSalazarCO as my new Chief of Staff. Alan has dedicated his life to our community & will help us move Denver forward

— Michael B. Hancock (@MayorHancock) October 12, 2016

► Donald Trump doesn’t believe that he is losing the support of women as he seeks to win the race for President. Unfortunately for Trump, it makes no difference whether he believes it or not.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Donald Trump wants you to be scared of getting murdered in the United States. Vox.com clarifies the reality:

Donald Trump on Tuesday made an incredibly alarming claim to supporters at a rally in Florida: “Do you know it was just announced that murder is the highest it’s been in our country in 45 years?”

That would be very worrying if it were true. Thankfully, it’s not. At all.

According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, the murder rate was 4.9 per 100,000 people in 2015, the latest year of data available. That is an 11 percent increase from 2014. But it is lower than it was in 1970, 45 years before, when the murder rate was 7.9. It was also lower than it was at any point from 1965 to 2009 — making the 2015 rate, at worst, a six-year high. And it’s half the rate of what it was 25 years ago, in 1991, and less than half of what it was at several periods in the 1970s and 1980s.

► Trump is winning. Trump is winning. Trump is winning. Just keep saying it.

ICYMI

► Tom Brady is the worst.

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