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October 24, 2016 01:10 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Monday (October 24)

  • 16 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

GetMoreSmarter-SnowYou’ve got one week left to find the perfect Halloween costume. 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…

► Got ballot? Your 2016 ballot may be sitting in your mailbox at this very moment; election officials began mailing out ballots on Monday. For voting information or to check your registration, go to JustVoteColorado.org. If you would prefer to vote at a polling place rather than via mail balloting, check here for your nearest polling location. Denver7 also includes a good list of election-related information. And one more thing: Don’t take selfies with your ballot, please.

 

► For the first time in recent memory, Democrats continue to outpace Republicans in early voting returns in Colorado…but it’s not just here where Democrats are turning out to vote early. The Washington Post notes that early voting favors Democrats in Nevada, and as Public Policy Polling explains, the same is true in North Carolina:

PPP’s newest North Carolina poll finds that Democrats are running up large leads already during early voting. Among those who say they’ve already voted, 63% say they cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton to only 37% for Donald Trump. Interestingly, less than half of a percent say they voted for Gary Johnson, which could be a sign that he won’t end up getting that much more support than a normal third party candidate.

 

► The 2016 election concludes in just 15 days. As Chris Cillizza notes for “The Fix,” this isn’t nearly enough time for Donald Trump to find a way out of his giant crater:

Clinton now has 323 electoral votes either solidly for her or leaning her way. Trump has just 180. (Reminder: You need 270 to win.) And, virtually all of the vulnerability from here until Nov. 8 is on Trump’s side. Arizona and Utah, two states that haven’t voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since 1996 and 1964, respectively, are toss ups! Texas, the one large-population state that has long been considered solidly Republican is within mid-single digits! States like Colorado and Virginia — swing states in the last two elections — aren’t even real opportunities for Trump anymore!

Cillizza and the Washington Post are moving Nevada to “lean Democratic,” while putting Utah in the “toss up” category and even listing Texas as potentially competitive in the race for President.

Meanwhile, as Politico reports, Donald Trump is starting to grapple with one of his oldest adversaries: Reality.

Fifteen days out from Election Day, a tone of resignation has crept into Donald Trump’s talk about his presidential ambitions, even as he still barks loudly about winning in November.

The Republican presidential nominee expressed both sentiments Monday morning, acknowledging during a radio interview that he’s losing, while also boasting “we are winning” to his millions of supporters on Twitter, an incorrect claim that he accused the media of concealing…

…He also rolled back — slightly — his refusal to say that he’ll accept the outcome of the election, saying “too much is being made” about his declaration on last week’s final debate stage.

 

► Just when you might have thought the “The Most Knowingly False Campaign Advertisement” of 2016 couldn’t get any worse…it done got worse. As we explained over the weekend, voters in SD-19 are getting fortune cookies in the mail.

 

 

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► According to a press release from Hillary Clinton’s campaign, Colorado basketball icon Chauncey Billups is endorsing Clinton for President today.

 

► Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is stumping around Colorado on Clinton’s behalf. Hickenlooper’s name emerged late last week on a list of potential choices to become Agriculture Secretary in a Clinton administration.

 

That one actress from that show was campaigning on Clinton’s behalf in Northern Colorado over the weekend.

 

► The Colorado Springs Independent looks at some voters who are “proudly deplorable.”

 

► The Loveland Reporter-Herald has more on Sen. Ted Cruz’s planned Wednesday visits to Colorado to campaign for no-hope GOP Senate candidate Darryl Glenn.

 

► The race in House District 25 (Evergreen) may turn out to be one of the surprise outcomes of 2016. State Rep. Tim Leonard is facing contempt of court charges for his bullying behavior surrounding a four-year long divorce battle. Leonard felt compelled to respond to this Colorado Independent story over the weekend and, well, let’s just say he didn’t make things look much better.

 

► Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) continues to receive fallout over comments in a televised debate last week when he said he “didn’t know” if Donald Trump’s own words made the GOP Presidential nominee sound like a sexual predator.

 

► Big money continues to find its way into the tight CD-3 battle between Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Cortez) and Democratic challenger Gail Schwartz.

 

► Governor John Hickenlooper makes the case for four state senate candidates in a new TV advertisement that began airing late last week.

 

 

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Democrat Hillary Clinton continues to rise in Arizona, which is a serious problem for the re-election campaign of Sen. John McCain.

 

► Is this the election that turns the tide (nationally) in favor of legalized marjiuana? The New York Times considers that possibility.

 

ICYMI

► The Denver Broncos host the Houston Texans tonight on Monday Night Football. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 pm at Whatever It’s Called Stadium in Denver.

 

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

Comments

16 thoughts on “Get More Smarter on Monday (October 24)

  1. I might actually have cared about this race at one time, but don't trust Bayh, or Bennet to let Sleeping Blue Dogs lie:

    On the one hand, Bayh is the best viable Senate candidate from Indiana (he did less damage to the ACA than Lieberman or Nelson, for example.) On the other hand, Republican depictions of him as a money-drubbing hack Washington insider are…perfectly accurate.

    Not only is he a greasy lobbyist but he was really pompous about it. As is so often the case Bayh is the best that can be done in Indiana right now but it would be desirable for conditions to change such as that the best is better than Bayh.

    Let the Blue Dogs die, I say. And Damn the Senate.

    1. Blue Dogs are good primarily for organizational voting – the Senate Majority leader, committee chairs, and staff appointments matter. On policy? not so much.

      But Indiana isn't going to become Illinois – or even Ohio – soon. In a number of places, it will take more than one election cycle to build the infrastructure and educate a majority of voters before a mainline or liberal Democrat would be electable. The South Dakota that used to elect McGovern, Daschle and Johnson to the Senate won't re-emerge without a sustained 50-state strategy.

      1. On the other hand, Indiana is well rid of Pence. After what he did to the state's economy with his "Turn Away the Gays" law there was no way he was going to be reelected as governor. Now, when Pence goes down in defeat, it will be Drumpf's fault. Let's hope that's the end of both of their political careers.

    2. Zappatero logic:

      It is better to have 30 or so true dyed in the red, redistribute the wealth, class-struggle ranting socialists comprising the Democratic caucus standing proud against 70 Tea-bagging Republicans than to have to endure a center-left majority of 55. 

      Thank God we got rid of Mary Landrieu, Mark Pryor, Blanche Lincoln and some of these other faux Democrats.

      1. To be fair, Landrieu and other extreme Blue Dogs never did Dems a lick of good, voting much more often with Rs. But I take your point as it applies to centrists. 

        1. Not really true, if you look at the DW-NOMINATE scores they had when they were in office. Party overlap was all but gone long before those famous Blue Dogs lost their final elections.

          Sure they were frustrating, and often on the votes more progressive types thought were the most important, but they were still more reliably Democratic party line votes than even the most moderate Republican. I think the switch of Specter from Republican to Democrat marked the very final end of any party mismatch in the Senate.

          1. Their leaving the scene cost Dems a price in head count but if today Dems can achieve a majority without them, that majority will be a far better one than any that included them. It's not just how people vote once a piece of legislation comes to a vote.  It's what has any hope of getting that far taking those people into consideration. Votes are counted long before there is a finished piece of legislation to vote on. The power of the Blue dogs, the question of what was required for their votes, the question of whether or not any might even join a filibuster, affected what could and could not be accomplished long before the voting stage. 

    1. Nice 4:3 ratio of Dem ballot to Repub ballots coming in. Why isn't our little friend, Andrew Carnegie, posting this year like he did every day back in 2014?

      1. What interests me is that there was actually a little attrition in the GOP ranks (down 40 votes vs. 2014 — probably due to natural causes given the demographic).  

        But even more startling is the Unaffliated early count is up 60%.  Given polling data that they are leaning Democratic, this too is very good news!

    2. Only 4-5% of the expected votes in so far, but, a 96% increase compared to 2014 for Dems, a 60% increase for Indies, and stagnant for Repubs. There is no way to spin that as positive for Republicans. There have to be a lot of Republican voters who just don't know what to do. If these numbers hold, it will likely break 50% Hillary, 40% Trump, and 10% third party/other. If you are a down-ballot Republican, that has got to make you queasy.  The returns are not broken down by state senate or house districts, but JeffCo's numbers are very similar to the statewide – 40% dem, 32% rep, 27% ind.  Maybe we can get a Dem controlled Board of County Commissioners for the first time in 20 years.

  2. Tim Leonard:  just another far right wing, family values, kind of guy, that gives the Republican party a bad name. Also sounds like one of those bad dude patriarch types.

  3. I wonder if perennial good hair day and noted Randian Owen Hill reads ColoradoPols?

    Colorado’s ban on ballot selfies draws lawsuits, demands to declare it unconstitutional

    Republican Sen. Owen Hill files lawsuit against Secretary of State Wayne Williams, Attorney General Cynthia Coffman

    On Monday, State Sen. Owen Hill, R-Colorado Springs, filed a federal lawsuit against fellow Republicans Secretary of State Wayne Williams and Attorney General Cynthia Coffman to argue that the state law is outdated.

    Hill was joined in the lawsuit by 18-year-old University of Denver student Scott Romano, a Democrat who is voting in his first election.

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