Tim Kaine already reaching out to GOP
Tim Kaine is sounding a hopeful note that a Democratic White House could work with Republicans to bridge deep divides laid bare by this bitter presidential campaign. The vice presidential candidate told The Associated Press on Saturday that he and Hillary Clinton have already spoken about how to heal the nation if they should win. He said tackling economic anxieties, finding common policy ground with the GOP and perhaps bringing Republicans into the administration would be elements of unity, though he added that he and Clinton did not discuss Cabinet positions. “We have not run this campaign as a campaign against the GOP with the big broad brush — we’ve run it against Donald Trump,” Kaine said. He predicted: “We’re going to get a lot of Republican votes and that will also be part of, right out of the gate, the way to bring folks back together.” Clinton’s campaign has been preparing for the possibility that Trump won’t concede the election if he loses, based on his assertions that the contest is rigged. Kaine said he hasn’t talked with Clinton about that scenario. A self-described underdog, Kaine said he only recently began acknowledging the real possibility of victory. He’s hired Wayne Turnage, a former chief of staff, as his transition director and is considering issues he’d pursue as vice president. “It’s probably only been in the last couple of weeks that I’ve started to think about, OK, the prospect of winning is such that we better start doing some thinking about practicalities,” Kaine said. As vice president, Kaine said he would hope to be central in forging relationships between the administration and mayors and governors. Kaine served as the mayor of Richmond and governor of Virginia before winning his Senate seat in 2012. He also wants to help shape U.S. policy in Latin and South America, due to his fluency in Spanish and experience as a missionary in Honduras. Kaine still remains somewhat of an outsider in Clinton’s world. She has developed trusted relationships with several aides over decades and Kaine is a new addition to the mix. He’s at times been out of the loop on major developments, such as not knowing about Clinton’s pneumonia diagnosis in September until days later. The two campaign together infrequently, but communicate by text message, email and phone. Sometimes they talk every few days, but it could be as infrequent as once a week, Kaine said. Their scheduled joint appearance in Pennsylvania on Saturday was their first event together since Labor Day. But Kaine said he’s not worried about lacking a voice in a Clinton administration and expects to be a principal adviser to her on the most difficult issues if she wins. He said he thinks Clinton picked him over longtime confidants specifically because he was not a member of the inner circle from way back. “I’m not worried about, you know, getting my two cents in,” he said. Kaine said his experience as Virginia’s lieutenant governor and as Democratic National Committee chairman during President Barack Obama‘s first term has showed him how to be a strong adviser and asset for Clinton. Kaine might be well-positioned to work with Republicans, having won three statewide races — lieutenant governor, governor and senator — in historically Republican Virginia, although the state has started going Democratic in presidential contests. Now in his fourth year as a senator, he said he’s already talking with Republicans about working together after the election. Clinton is stepping up efforts to help Democrats recapture Senate control but Kaine didn’t make a specific pitch for a Democratic Senate. He said he’s more focused on finding policies Republicans and Democrats can agree on. “I have very good relations with Republicans in the Senate,” Kaine said. “There’s some people who really want to get some good work done.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Face to face one last time: Debate night for Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump‘s long and acrimonious battle for the White House is speeding toward the end, with the candidates taking the debate stage Wednesday night for one final prime-time showdown. For Trump, the debate is perhaps his last opportunity to turn around a race that appears to be slipping away. His predatory comments about women and a flood of sexual assault accusations have deepened his unpopularity with women and limited his pathways to victory. Trump has denied the accusations and his supporters remain intensely loyal, but there are few signs he’s attracting the new backers he desperately needs. Clinton takes the stage with challenges of her own. While the electoral map currently leans in her favor, the Democrat is facing a new round of questions about her trustworthiness, concerns that have trailed her throughout the campaign. The hacking of her top campaign adviser’s emails revealed a candidate who is averse to apologizing, can strike a different tone in private than in public, and makes some decisions only after political deliberations. The last in a trio of presidential debates, Wednesday’s contest in Las Vegas comes just under three weeks from Election Day and with early voting underway in more than 30 states. At least 2.1 million voters have cast ballots already. Trump has leaned on an increasingly brazen strategy in the campaign’s closing weeks, including peddling charges that the election will be rigged, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud in U.S. presidential contests. H(s running mate, Mike Pence, has insisted they’ll accept the election results. On Wednesday, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, seemed to undercut Trump’s argument by saying she didn’t believe there was widespread voter fraud. “Absent overwhelming evidence that there is, it would not be for me to say that there is,” Conway told MSNBC. Trump has also charged that Clinton attacked and intimidated women involved with her husband’s affairs, bringing three women who accused former President Bill Clinton of unwanted sexual contact and even rape to sit in the audience for the second debate. The former president has never been charged with crimes related to the encounters, though he did settle a sexual harassment lawsuit. Trump is bringing President Barack Obama‘s half-brother, Trump supporter Malik Obama, as his debate guest Wednesday night. Clinton is bringing billionaire and frequent Trump critic Mark Cuban and Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman, one of the former secretary of state’s highest-profile Republican backers. Republicans want Trump to close the campaign by focusing on Clinton’s weaknesses, a strategy some privately concede may not be enough at this point for him to win but could help GOP Senate candidates salvage their races. The businessman has shown flashes of renewed focus in recent days, including highlighting recently released FBI documents detailing a senior State Department official’s request that the FBI help reduce the classification of an email from Clinton’s private server. One of the FBI documents, the notes from an investigator’s interview with an unnamed bureau official, suggested the FBI and the State Department official had discussed a quid pro quo to let the FBI to deploy more agents in foreign countries. But the FBI and State Department said this week that the two issues, while discussed, had never been linked. Campaigning Tuesday in Colorado, Trump called the matter “felony corruption” and worse than the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon. The Republican National Committee said Wednesday it had written the State Department’s inspector general requesting a “full investigation,” though the inspector general already looked into the broader issue of Clinton’s emails classification last year. Clinton, who has meticulously prepared for the three debates at the expense of time in battleground states, visibly rattled Trump in their first showdown by using his own controversial comments about women and minorities against him. The businessman was on the defense at the start of the second debate — which came days after the release of a video in which he brags about kissing and grabbing women — but ended on stronger footing, hammering Clinton for being a creature of Washington who won’t be able to bring about change. The Republican has acquiesced to some advisers who pressed for him to do more serious debate preparations. Still, he’s continued to eschew the mock debates and multi-day prep sessions for which he’s mocked Clinton. “She’s been doing this for 30 years and now she has to do debate prep for five days,” Trump said. “You know what the debate prep is? It’s resting. It’s lying down and going to sleep.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Donald Trump belittles accusers as more turn up with sordid stories
Donald Trump acted out onstage an accuser’s allegations and suggested another wasn’t worthy of his attention the same day two more women came forward with years-old stories of unwanted sexual encounters with the Republican presidential nominee. With eight women accusing Trump of unwanted kissing, groping or more, the New York businessman maintained his innocence and his denunciation of opponent Hillary Clinton and an international media conspiracy aimed at denying him the White House. “100 percent fabricated and made-up charges, pushed strongly by the media and the Clinton Campaign, may poison the minds of the American Voter. FIX!” Trump tweeted on Saturday morning. Clinton maintained a relatively low profile as Trump stormed, but more hacked emails from WikiLeaks raised anew questions about her private versus public pronouncements. Those released Friday showed her campaign had asked former President Bill Clinton to cancel a speech to an investment firm last year because of concerns that the Clintons might appear to be too cozy with Wall Street just as she was about to announce her candidacy. Such revelations were no match for the sordid new accusations against Trump. Summer Zervos, a former contestant from Trump’s NBC show “The Apprentice,” said the series’ star became sexually aggressive at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2007. He kissed her open-mouthed and touched her breasts in a private room, she said during a news conference. Late Friday night, the Trump campaign released a statement in which a cousin of Zervos said he was “shocked and bewildered” by her account. John Barry of Mission Viejo, California, said Zervos “wishes she could still be on reality TV, and in an effort to get that back she’s saying all of these negative things about Mr. Trump.” In response, Summer’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, said in a statement that Barry worked at Zervos’ family restaurant until several months ago, “when his employment ended. Since then he has expressed hostility and ill will toward Summer.” In a story published online Friday, Kristin Anderson told The Washington Post that she was sitting on a couch with friends at a New York nightclub in the early 1990s when a hand reached up her skirt and touched her through her underwear. She said she pushed the hand away, turned around and recognized Trump as the man who had groped her. Trump called his accusers liars and “sick” women seeking fame or money. During a rally in North Carolina, Trump dismissed one of them by saying, “She would not be my first choice, that I can tell you.” In alleging a widespread conspiracy, Trump assailed The New York Times in particular, noting its connection to Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, a major shareholder in the media company. Spokesman Arturo Elias Ayub later said Slim doesn’t know Trump at all “and is not the least bit interested in his personal life.” The WikiLeaks release of emails stolen from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta‘s personal account showed aides having to convince the former first lady to persuade her husband to cancel the Wall Street speech ahead of her campaign rollout. The Clintons’ paid speeches have been an issue throughout the campaign, particularly lucrative speeches to financial interests. In remarks at a fundraiser Friday, Hillary Clinton spoke of a need for national healing. “I take no satisfaction in seeing what Trump does and says because it hurts — it hurts me and it hurts our country,” she said. Polls suggest Trump has fallen further behind Clinton nationally and in most battleground states. Early in-person voting is underway in 20 states, including Ohio, where President Barack Obama railed against Trump a day after first lady Michelle Obama declared in a passionate speech, “Enough is enough.” The Obamas both seized on Trump’s words, captured in a video released last week, bragging about kissing and groping women without their permission. The 70-year-old billionaire has apologized, but also repeatedly dismissed his comments as “locker room talk.” “You don’t have to be a husband or a father to know that that kind of language, those kinds of thoughts, those kinds of actions are unacceptable. They’re not right. You just have to be a decent human being,” President Obama charged in Columbus, Ohio. Even before the mounting allegations, there was evidence that Trump’s troubles were hurting the Republican Party’s ability to raise money. The Republican National Committee has raised about 25 percent less over the past three months than it did over the same period four years ago, when Mitt Romney was atop the ticket. The RNC said Friday that it raised $39.4 million last month, compared to $48.4 million in September 2012. It says it has raised $262.3 million since January 2015, about $20 million more than it had by this time in 2012. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
More women accuse Donald Trump of unwanted sexual touching
Two more women came forward on Friday to accuse Donald Trump of unwanted sexual touching, including a former contestant from a reality show that starred the Republican presidential nominee. The latest accounts come after several women reported in recent days that Trump groped or kissed them without their consent. At a campaign rally in North Carolina on Friday, Trump sought to discredit his accusers. He said because there were no witnesses to the interactions, the allegations were not credible. “Right now I am being viciously attacked with lies and smears,” Trump said at an outdoor amphitheater. “It’s a phony deal. I have no idea who these women are.” Trump also suggested the women who have come forward to accuse him were not physically attractive enough to merit his attention. “Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you,” he said when speaking of one of the women. Summer Zervos, a former contestant on “The Apprentice,” said Trump made unwanted sexual advances toward her at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2007, while photographer Kristin Anderson alleged Trump sexually assaulted her in a New York nightclub in the early 1990s. Zervos, 41, appeared at a news conference Friday with Gloria Allred, a well-known Los Angeles attorney who has previously represented women who have accused celebrities of sexual misconduct. Zervos was a contestant on “The Apprentice” in 2006 and said she later contacted Trump to inquire about a job with one of his businesses. Zervos said she had an initial meeting with Trump, where he discussed a potential job with her. When they parted, he kissed her on the lips and asked for her phone number, she said. She said weeks later Trump called to invite her to meet him at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where she said she was expecting to have dinner with the New York billionaire. Instead, she described a series of unwanted kisses and touching by Trump, which she said she repeatedly rejected. “He tried to kiss me again … and I said, ‘Dude, you’re tripping right now,’ attempting to make it clear I was not interested,” she said. Zervos said Trump eventually stopped and began talking as if they were in a job interview. She said she was later offered a low-paying job at a Trump-owned golf course. At the time, Trump had recently married his third and current wife, Melania Trump, and the couple had an infant son. Zervos said she is a Republican and has no political agenda in coming forward. Allred said her client told her parents and others about the incident shortly after it occurred. In a story published online Friday, Anderson told The Washington Post that she was sitting on a couch with friends at a New York nightclub in the early 1990s when someone’s hand reached up her skirt and touched her through her underwear. Anderson, then in her early 20s, said she pushed the hand away, turned around and recognized Trump as the man who had groped her. Then recently divorced, Trump was then a frequent presence in the New York tabloids, and he was regular presence on the Manhattan club scene. “He was so distinctive looking — with the hair and the eyebrows. I mean, nobody else has those eyebrows,” Anderson, 46, told the newspaper. She said the assault was random and occurred with “zero conversation.” Anderson did not immediately respond to a phone message from The Associated Press. She told the newspaper said she does not back Trump or Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee. At the time of the incident, Anderson was trying to start a career as a model while working as a makeup artist and restaurant hostess. She said the episode lasted no more than 30 seconds. Anderson told the Post that she and her companions were “very grossed out and weirded out” and thought, “OK, Donald is gross. We all know he’s gross. Let’s just move on.” The Post said it contacted Anderson after a friend she had told about the incident recounted it to a reporter. Other friends also told the Post that Anderson recounted the same story to them years ago. At the North Carolina rally, Trump physically acted out two of alleged incidents. “Somebody that you’ve never seen that said, ‘Oh, in 1992, he went like this,’” he said at one point, appearing to mimic pawing at a woman’s chest in a downward motion. Anderson’s decision to speak publicly about her experience follows last week’s disclosure by the Post of a 2005 video in which Trump boasted that his celebrity gave him the ability to grab women “by the p—-. You can do anything.” Trump apologized for those remarks, but also dismissed them as “locker-room talk.” Anderson disagreed that Trump’s behavior is harmless. “It’s a sexual assault issue, and it’s something that I’ve kept quiet on my own,” she told the Post. “And I’ve always kept quiet. And why should I keep quiet? Actually, all of the women should speak up, and if you’re touched inappropriately, tell somebody and speak up about it. Actually, go to the authorities and press some charges. It’s not OK.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Athletes take issue with Donald Trump over “locker room talk”
CJ McCollum, Jamal Crawford and Jacob Tamme are among current and former professional athletes on social media to criticize Donald Trump‘s characterization of his predatory, sexual comments about women from a 2005 video as “locker room talk.” Trump’s campaign described his remarks as “locker room banter” in a statement Saturday, and the Republican presidential nominee repeated the line multiple times Sunday during the presidential debate with Hillary Clinton. In the tape, obtained by The Washington Post and NBC News, Trump describes trying to have sex with a married woman and brags about women letting him kiss and grab them because he is famous. “When you’re a star they let you do it,” Trump says. “You can do anything.” He adds seconds later, “Grab them by the p—-. You can do anything.” “I haven’t heard that one in any locker rooms,” McCollum wrote on Twitter in a response to a tweet from Crawford. McCollum plays for the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and Crawford plays for the Los Angeles Clippers. I haven’t heard that one in any locker rooms https://t.co/Ci8NXOgFcI — CJ McCollum (@CJMcCollum) October 10, 2016 Please stop saying “locker room talk” — Jacob Tamme (@JacobTamme) October 10, 2016 It’s not normal. And even if it were normal, it’s not right. https://t.co/RQUWJJBSTn — Jacob Tamme (@JacobTamme) October 10, 2016 Dodgers pitcher Brett Anderson , Chiefs wide receiver Chris Conley and retired NFL players Donte Stallworth and Chris Kluweoffered similar condemnations. Have I been in every locker room? No. But the guys I know and respect don’t talk like that. They talk about girls but not like that. Period. — Chris Conley (@_flight17_) October 10, 2016 “Locker room talk” ? — Donté Stallworth (@DonteStallworth) October 10, 2016 Yes. That’s not locker room talk. https://t.co/egzC03ooQA — Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) October 10, 2016 As an athlete, I’ve been in locker rooms my entire adult life and uh, that’s not locker room talk. — Sean Doolittle (@whatwouldDOOdo) October 10, 2016 Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
For Hillary Clinton, election likely to be won or lost in October
Each night, Hillary Clinton‘s data experts head to a conference room on the 11th floor of her Brooklyn headquarters, to start counting votes. The sessions in the “early voter boiler room,” as it’s been dubbed by campaign aides, stretch into the early hours of the morning. The team pores over turnout patterns in states where advance voting is already underway, projects how many votes Clinton and Republican Donald Trump have already received, and updates crucial targeting lists of the voters she still needs. For Clinton, October is when she’s likely to win or lose the election, not Nov. 8. By the third week of this month, Clinton’s campaign hopes to have a solid enough sample of the early vote to know whether the Democrat is on track to win the White House. “Many battleground states are already voting so every day is Election Day,” said Matt Dover, Clinton’s voter analytics director. In several competitive states, including North Carolina, Iowa, Colorado, Florida and Nevada, at least 45 percent of the total vote is expected to come in early. Initial metrics show good news for Clinton in North Carolina, a must-win state for Trump. There are modestly positive signs for the Republican in Iowa, but that’s a state the Democrat can likely afford to lose. The Republican National Committee, which oversees early voting and turnout operations for Trump, is also encouraging supporters to take advantage of opportunities to cast ballots before Nov. 8. The party has significantly stepped up its analytics and voter-targeting operations since being outmatched by Democrats in the past two presidential elections, but the 2016 race is the first test of its strength in a national election. Despite improvements, the RNC system was always intended to be a complement to whatever operations the eventual GOP nominee brought to the table. Trump arrived in the general election with intense enthusiasm among his core supporters but few ways to harness it into trackable voter data. Unlike Clinton, whose travel schedule is being built around voter registration deadlines and the start of early voting in key states, Trump’s battleground stops haven’t been pegged to those benchmarks. However, there is a noticeably more robust registration effort at Trump rallies and the candidate himself is making explicit early voting appeals to supporters. “Get those ballots in because the only way this is going to be taken away (is) if we’re foolish or if we let people take it away from us,” Trump said Monday during a rally in Colorado. “I hate to interrupt my speech with these minor details but they’re very important, right?” Republicans traditionally do well initially with mail-in absentee balloting before Democrats surpass them during in-person early voting. That makes the start of in-person voting a key indicator as to whether core Democratic constituencies, such as young people and non-whites, show up. “For me, voting early is a matter of convenience, and if I don’t do it I’m unlikely to vote at all,” said Joseph Wozniak, 23, of Macon, Georgia. A recent college graduate who declined to say who he is supporting in the election, Wozniak is working on early vote efforts for the non-partisan organization Democracy Works. Thirty-seven states allow voting with little restriction before Election Day, either in person or via mail. By the third week in October, 34 of those states will be voting. Iowa was the first of the battlegrounds to start in-person voting last Thursday. Of the 39,435 people who have cast ballots, 58 percent were Democrats and 25 percent were Republicans — but that was much closer than in 2012. In North Carolina, buoyed by strong voter interest, Clinton appears to hold an edge with Democratic ballots submitted so far currently leading Republican ones, 40 to 35 percent. At this point in 2012, Republicans had opened a wide lead over Democrats in ballots, due in part to strong support among older whites. For 2016, Clinton officials pointed in particular to a 13 percent increase in African-American and a 40 percent jump in Latino mail-in ballot requests. To them, it’s a hopeful sign that non-whites and young people will be engaged this election, part of a shift in campaign strategy to more strongly mobilize less reliable, sporadic voters first. Still, the campaign said it will have a much clearer picture once in-person voting begins in the state on Oct. 20. Similarly in Florida, absentee balloting began only Tuesday, but already more than 2.5 million people — nearly one-third of the total number of votes cast in 2012 — have requested ballots. In-person voting doesn’t begin until Oct. 24, so state Democrats are now strongly urging voters to vote by mail — including in a letter from President Barack Obama paid for by the party. “In Florida, voting is easier than ever because now you can vote by mail,” he writes. “It’s the fastest and most convenient way to make your voice heard.” In Obama’s historic 2008 race, he ran up such big early voting advantages in four battlegrounds — Colorado, Florida, Iowa and North Carolina — that his rival, John McCain, couldn’t catch up, despite winning the Election Day vote in those states, according to AP data. If all goes according to the Clinton campaign’s plan, early ballots soon enough will start to unequivocally point in the same direction. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Updates from the 1st presidential debate
The Latest on the first of three presidential debates between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump (all times EDT): 10:45 p.m. Both candidates concluded the first presidential debate by saying they will accept the outcome if the other wins. Hillary Clinton spoke directly to viewers and said, “It’s not about us, it’s about you.” Donald Trump initially dodged the same question, saying he would make a “seriously troubled” America “great again.” He added: “I’m going to be able to do it. I don’t believe Hillary Clinton will.” But Trump finished his answer by saying that if Clinton wins, “I will absolutely support her.” ___ 10:43 p.m. Hillary Clinton is punching back at Donald Trump’s assertions that she doesn’t have the “stamina” to be president. Trump has questioned whether Clinton has the physical fitness to be president and he repeated the criticism to her directly during the debate. Clinton’s response? Trump shouldn’t talk about stamina until he’s tried out the busy schedule she kept up as secretary of state. Trump didn’t answer moderator Lester Holt’s original question about his past comments that Clinton doesn’t have the “presidential look.” Clinton suggested the remarks were about gender, and she reminded the crowd of Trump’s past comments calling women “pigs” and other derogatory names. ___ 10:42 p.m. Donald Trump says NATO needs to “go into the Middle East with us” to combat the Islamic State group. And he is taking credit for NATO focusing resources on combating terrorism. In fact, the alliance agreed in July to contribute aircraft and conduct training in Iraq and has increased intelligence coordination there. And NATO set up an anti-terrorism program in 2004 — years before Trump criticized them as a presidential candidate. Earlier this year, Trump criticized NATO for not focusing on terrorism. He said that afterward, he saw an article reporting that NATO was opening a new, major anti-terrorism division. He said Tuesday that NATO’s action was “largely because of what I was saying, and my criticism of NATO.” ___ 10:40 p.m. Donald Trump is avoiding a specific declaration on how he would use nuclear weapons if he’s elected president. The Republican nominee said during the first presidential debate that he “would not do first strike” because “once the nuclear alternative happens, it’s over.” That statement suggests he would not authorize a nuclear attack unless the U.S. was struck first. But in the same answer Trump said he “can’t take anything off the table.” He mentioned adversary nations such as North Korea and Iran. President Barack Obama has considered changing existing policy to state clearly that the United States would not deploy nuclear weapons without first being attacked by nuclear weapons. But he met resistance and has elected not to make such a shift. ___ 10:38 p.m. Hillary Clinton is accusing Donald Trump of being too easily provoked to keep the United States from going to war — perhaps even one involving nuclear weapons. Trump says: “I have much better judgment than she does. I have much better temperament.” That drew laughs from some in the debate crowd, and prompted Clinton to exclaim: “Woo! OK!” Clinton then pivoted to policy, defending the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. Clinton said Iran was “weeks away” from a nuclear bomb when she became secretary of state — and says the Obama administration thwarted that progress. She continued that Trump didn’t have “good judgment or the right temperament” because he could take the country to war over small issues, like being mocked on Twitter. ___ 10:35 p.m. Donald Trump is continuing to insist he opposed the Iraq War before the U.S. invasion despite evidence to the contrary. Trump says during the debate that he “did not support the war in Iraq,” calling that charge “mainstream media nonsense.” But there is no evidence Trump expressed public opposition to the war before the U.S. invaded. Trump was asked in September 2002 whether he supported a potential Iraq invasion in an interview with Howard Stern. Trump briefly hesitated, then responded: “Yeah, I guess so.” Presented with the comment during the debate, Trump responds: “I said very lightly, I don’t know, maybe, who knows.” He’s also telling reporters to call Fox News host Sean Hannity to confirm private conversations he said they had about the war. Hannity is a top Trump supporter. Clinton voted in favor of the invasion in 2002 while she was a New York senator. She has since said it was a mistake. ___ 10:27 p.m. Donald Trump is interrupting the moderator of the first presidential debate to insist he has the best temperament for the office. Trump repeatedly made the assertion after clashing with moderator Lester Holt over his early support for the Iraq War. Then he segued to his temperament. “I think my strongest asset by far is my temperament,” Trump said. “I know how to win.” Clinton and her allies have repeatedly hit Trump over his temper and inability to take criticism. ___ 10:23 p.m. Hillary Clinton says one key to fighting terrorism in the United States is working closely with Muslims living here. Clinton says Donald Trump has “consistently insulted Muslims abroad, Muslims at home.” She says Muslim people can provide information that law enforcement may not be able to obtain anyplace else. Both candidates were asked to explain how they would combat terrorism in the U.S. Clinton says her plan includes an intelligence surge to obtain “every scrap of information” and to “do everything we can to vacuum up intelligence from Europe, from the Middle East.” ___ 10:20 p.m. Hillary Clinton says defeating the Islamic State group and taking out its leaders would be a top priority as president. Clinton says she’s hopeful the Islamic State group would be pushed out of Iraq by the end of the year. She says the U.S. could then help its allies “squeeze” the terrorist group in Syria. Clinton says she would do everything possible to take out the group’s leaders, and make that one of her administration’s organizing principles
Moderator Lester Holt under scrutiny during debate
Everyone’s aware of the stakes for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during the first presidential debate, but there’s a third person in the equation who faces a different pressure: Lester Holt. The NBC News veteran is moderating his first general election debate, making him solely responsible for the questions asked each candidate and for steering the conversation. His performance will be closely watched, particularly in light of a dispute over the extent to which he should call politicians out for making untrue statements. Holt, 57, has kept quiet about his preparations. The NBC “Nightly News” anchor took over his job last year after predecessor Brian Williams was found to have lied about his role in news stories. Like the moderators for all three presidential debates this fall, it’s Holt’s first time in that role for a general election debate. He hosted a Democratic primary forum in January, and has interviewed Clinton and Trump three times each during the campaign. In a reflection of the attention that will be paid to Holt, his voter registration became an issue last week. “Lester is a Democrat,” Trump said in a Fox News Channel interview. “It’s a phony system. They are all Democrats.” Holt, however, is a registered Republican, according to New York state voting records. Asked about the misstatement on Monday, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on MSNBC that it wasn’t a lie because Trump didn’t know Holt’s voter registration. Voting records show that Anderson Cooper of CNN, who is moderating the Oct. 5 debate, is registered unaffiliated with a party in New York and Chris Wallace of Fox News, the moderator on Oct. 19, is a registered Democrat in Washington, D.C. Martha Raddatz, who will join Cooper, lives in Virginia, which doesn’t register voters by party, and ABC would not discuss her affiliation. That illustrates on a small scale the issue of to what extent moderators, and journalists covering the debate, should point it out when a candidate says something untrue. It became part of the pre-debate discussion when Holt’s NBC colleague, Matt Lauer, was criticized for not confronting Trump earlier this month when the Republican falsely claimed he had not expressed support for the war in Iraq during a forum between the two candidates. The Clinton campaign says moderators should police false statements. Trump’s campaign says it’s not their role. Among journalists, there’s no consensus. Janet Brown, executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates, said on CNN Sunday that in past debates moderators have generally believed the candidates should call their opponents out when something false is said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to get the moderator into essentially serving as the Encyclopedia Britannica,” Brown said. Television networks were skittish Monday in discussing their fact-checking plans in advance. None admitted in advance to plans of flashing graphics onscreen to identify a false statement; that hasn’t been done in the past. NBC News said it is teaming with PolitiFact for digital fact-checking. CBS said it will assign fact-checkers that will provide context during the debate on the CBSNews.com website. In past years, some networks have assigned reporters post-debate to examine the accuracy of particular statements. The television industry will be watching to see if Monday’s debate can smash the previous record for the biggest presidential debate audience, the 80.6 million people who watched the only debate of the 1980 campaign between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. The most-watched debate this century was the first between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in 2012, with 67.2 million voters, the Nielsen company said. During his television journalism career, Holt has been known more for hard work than flashiness. He was a news anchor in Chicago for 14 years before coming to NBC in 2000, and logged long hours on MSNBC during the Iraq War. The bass guitar is his off-screen passion. Last week he set aside debate prep to play during a Manhattan rooftop party for “Dateline NBC,” joining some fellow NBC employees running through songs by Alabama Shakes, Billy Squier and Jefferson Starship. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
How to stream the high-stakes presidential debates
Television viewership for Monday’s presidential debate is expected to be high, but you don’t need a television to watch. There are plenty of ways to stream the showdown for free and get behind-the-scenes content and commentary, ranging from emoji responses to serious fact checks. A bigger question might be: Who isn’t streaming it? If you don’t have cable or satellite TV, or even an antenna, you can catch the streams that major news organizations will offer on their websites and apps. But many social networks and online outlets will offer the debate, too. Here’s your online guide to Monday’s debate, which starts at 9 p.m. EDT. All three presidential debates are expected to have similar streaming opportunities, and many outlets will cover the one for the vice presidential candidates as well. ___ TWITTER The service will stream Bloomberg Television’s live coverage of the presidential and vice presidential debates. To watch, go to http://debates.twitter.com, or visit Bloomberg’s bpolitics Twitter feed. Twitter says the streams will include special political programming and commentary from Bloomberg 30 minutes before and after each debate. You do not need a Twitter account — or be logged in — to watch. ___ FACEBOOK ABC News will show live streams from the debate and offer footage from watch parties, anchors and correspondents. The network says it will “incorporate viewers’ comments, questions and conversations” into its Facebook Live coverage. To find it, go to the ABC News Facebook page. Other organizations are hopping on the Facebook Live bandwagon as well, including Fox News, C-SPAN, The New York Times, CNBC and Telemundo. ___ YOUTUBE Google’s video streaming site is hosting debate streams from several news outlets, including NBC News, The Washington Post, Telemundo and Fox News. In addition, Google says “your favorite YouTube creators” such as the Young Turks and Complex news will be streaming live reports from the debates, using YouTube Live directly from their phones. ___ VIRTUAL REALITY For those with virtual-reality headsets, NBC News is planning special VR streams and content for each of the debates. It will also help organize virtual watch parties. Some of the events require RSVPs. ___ BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Buzzfeed is promising “running emoji commentary of the action on Facebook Live.” Snapchat, meanwhile, will cover each debate as a “Live Story” within its app. CBSN, CBS News’ digital streaming service, will feature Instagram “Stories” in its live streaming coverage. Instagram Stories lets users share photos and videos from their day; they disappear automatically after 24 hours. ___ LAST, BUT NOT LEAST Bars across the country will be showing the debates. As with past debates, there will be drinking games and debate bingo for those interested. In New York City, the blog Gothamist assembled a list of places for “watching, boozing and laughing your way through the debate.” The gay club Eastern Bloc, for example, will feature a dance party and Hillary Clinton fundraiser following the debate. Whether you’re a fan of Clinton or Donald Trump, or you’re still deciding, check Meetup, Facebook or Google to find debate-viewing events near you. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Donald Trump campaign plans $140 million ad buy
Donald Trump‘s campaign is planning for what it says will amount to $140 million worth of advertising from now until Election Day. The total, if executed, would include $100 million in television airtime and $40 million in digital ads, according to senior communications adviser Jason Miller. The plan represents a new approach for the billionaire businessman, who has repeatedly bragged in recent weeks about how much less he’s spent than Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and seemed to rely heavily on free media coverage of his large rallies. Through this week, the Trump campaign has put only about $22 million into TV and radio ads for the general election, according to Kantar Media’s political advertising tracker. Clinton has spent more than five times as much on those kinds of ads, $124 million so far. Trump’s new ad buy will include 13 states, from key battlegrounds such as Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania, to new targets of Maine, New Mexico and Wisconsin, Miller said. About $40 million of the ads will play on national TV, he said. That averages to about $16.7 million per week in TV ads; Miller said the first $15 million ad buy was made Friday, although media buyers and services such as Kantar Media didn’t immediately see evidence of that. Clinton’s ad reservations going forward total about $11 million per week, but her campaign can add to those buys at any time. Trump’s advertising plan costs more than his campaign has in the bank, meaning he needs to dip into his own pockets or continue raising major money. As of Sept. 1, the campaign had about $50 million in cash, though in a news release earlier this month, the campaign said it had $97 million in cash when including his joint accounts with Republican Party allies. Trump has continued to experience strong fundraising online this month, campaign aides said. Miller said upcoming national television ads would focus on Trump’s key campaign themes, such as the economy and law and order. The local ads, however, are expected to focus on ways Trump’s policies might benefit local communities and families, Miller said. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump buff foreign policy bona fides on debate eve
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were meeting separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday, giving the each candidate fresh bragging rights about their knowledge of foreign policy and readiness to lead the nation on the eve of their first presidential debate. Trump and Netanyahu discussed “at length” Israel’s use of a fence to help secure its borders, an example Trump frequently cites when he’s talking about the wall he wants to build between the U.S. and Mexico. “Trump recognized that Israel and its citizens have suffered far too long on the front lines of Islamic terrorism,” the campaign said in a statement. “He agreed with Prime Minister Netanyahu that the Israeli people want a just and lasting peace with their neighbors, but that peace will only come when the Palestinians renounce hatred and violence and accept Israel as a Jewish State.” Clinton was expected to meet with the prime minister later in the day, also in New York. The meeting was designed to put Israel on good footing with the next U.S. president. But it also served to showcase the candidates’ expertise in foreign policy in the shadow of their first debate Monday, six weeks before Election Day. Clinton, a former senator and secretary of state, often says that Trump does not know enough about the world and lacks the temperament to be president. Trump has argued that he has extensive experience with foreign policy through his career as a business executive and blames Clinton for many of the nation’s stumbles in foreign policy. Meanwhile, the candidates deployed their top supporters to the Sunday shows to take early jabs at their opponents and lower expectations for a showdown expected to draw 75 million viewers — many of them disenchanted with both candidates, the least-popular presidential hopefuls in history. Facts and who will determine them during the 90-minute debate seemed to be a top concern of the campaigns’ strategists given Trump’s habit of saying things that are untrue and the public’s general distrust of Clinton. Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager, told ABC’s “This Week” that he is concerned Trump will continue his habit of sometimes saying things that aren’t true and still get a passing grade. He called on moderator Lester Holt to correct any inaccuracies made by the candidates. But Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said it’s not the job of debate moderators to fact check. Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, meanwhile, said that Gennifer Flowers will not attend the debate. Trump had tweeted that if frequent Trump critic Mark Cuban attended the showdown, he’d put Flowers, allegedly the former mistress of Clinton’s husband Bill, in the audience too. Conway said that Flowers had a right to be there if “somebody else gives her a ticket.” But Pence drew a harder line. “Gennifer Flowers will not be attending the debate tomorrow night,” Pence said on “Fox News Sunday.” The candidates were focused on other matters Sunday. Trump’s campaign said that during his meeting with Netanyahu, the Republican presidential nominee promised, “extraordinary strategic, technological, military and intelligence cooperation between the two countries” if he’s elected. The press was barred from covering the meeting between Netanyahu and Trump, but Trump’s campaign said in a statement that the men, who have known each other for years, discussed “many topics important to both countries,” including “the special relationship between America and Israel and the unbreakable bond between the two countries.” Among those topics: the nuclear deal with Iran, the battle against Islamic State militants, military assistance provided by the U.S. to Israel and other security issues. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Gold cards and red hats: A Trumpian approach to fundraising
Donald Trump is underwriting his presidential bid by selling the Donald Trump lifestyle — and campaign finance records show it is working. For the low price of $25, you can snag a Trump Gold Card emblazoned with your name or join a campaign “Board of Directors” that comes with a personalized certificate. For $30, grab one of Trump’s signature red hats — billed as “the most popular product in America.” Supporters can elevate themselves to “big league” by ponying up $184 for a signed, “now out of print” copy of Trump’s book, “The Art of the Deal.” There’s a catch to some of these merchandising claims. There is no evidence the board of directors exists. “The Art of the Deal” is still in print, available for $9.34 in paperback. And the new campaign edition of the book is signed by an autopen, not Trump, as noted in the solicitation’s fine print. Regardless, the appeals have paid off. Through the end of July, people giving $200 or less made up about half of his campaign funds, according to fundraising reports through July. For Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, those small gifts accounted for about 19 percent. The two candidates each claim over 2 million donors, but Trump has been fundraising in earnest for only about three months, compared to Clinton’s 17-month operation. Both are expected to report the details of their August fundraising to federal regulators on Tuesday. “His brand appeals to quite a number of people,” said John Thompson, digital fundraising director for Ted Cruz‘s Republican presidential campaign. “It’s smart for him to use it for fundraising. The celebrity factor builds a natural donor community on its own, without him having to do too much.” Hyperbolic campaign marketing is a natural fit for Trump, who has puffed up the value of what he sold throughout his business career. At times, Trump has offered golf memberships or Trump University seminars at a “discount” from an imaginary, inflated price; and he has declared condo projects close to selling out when in reality they were struggling. “You want to say it in the most positive way possible,” Trump once told attorneys who asked him whether he had ever lied about his properties to sell them. “I’m no different from a politician running for office.” Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that his campaign has adopted that same approach, outspending Clinton on campaign merchandise while running a brisk retail operation that helps him raise the money for, among other things, crucial get-out-the-vote efforts and advertising to spread his message. Trump’s appeals for smaller contributions are reminiscent of Bernie Sanders, whose signature line in the Democratic primary this year was that his campaign was paid for by $27 donations. Sanders’ digital fundraiser, Michael Whitney, questioned whether Trump’s small donor haul would continue since it does not appear the campaign has done much to get email addresses that could be turned into fresh batches of new potential donors. “This feels more like a battering ram than a well-thought-out digital program,” Whitney said. One of Trump’s most frequent fundraising offers has been a “gold card” that identifies the holder as an Executive Member for a “one-time induction fee.” “In the past, I have asked supporters for a one-time induction fee of $100. But because of your outstanding generosity to date, I am only asking you to make a $35 contribution,” the email asks. The Associated Press found no evidence of an online solicitation in which the card was sold for the undiscounted price of $100. The gold card offer is reminiscent of a Trump Visa card that became available in 2004. In a press release for it, Trump pitched it as “the best deal” and warned declining it “could get you fired.” Trump also seeks to make would-be donors feel like part of the campaign. Several emails have sought “campaign advice,” asked for help with debate preparation and even offered people the chance to join a campaign “board of directors.” There’s no evidence such a board exists, and the campaign did not respond to questions about it. But the gold card and executive board membership gimmicks are getting results, said Tom Sather, senior director of research at the email data solutions firm Return Path. The firm measures emails much the way Nielsen measures television viewership, by extrapolating from a large panel of study participants. Emails from the Trump campaign and Trump joint committees with the Republican Party have an average open rate of 11 percent, Sather said. The 10 gold card-related emails had a far higher open rate of 18 percent, and executive board emails had an open rate of 19 percent, he said. “These kinds of offers intrigue people and make them feel exclusive and special,” he said. Ever the marketer, Trump has also dominated the campaign swag front. In April, May and June, Trump spent about $3 million on merchandise that’s then sold to donors, an AP review of campaign finance reports found. Clinton’s operation spent about $2 million in the same time period. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
