North Carolina GOP Hoping To Set Voting Rules To Favor Republicans

Ken AshfordElection 2016, Local InterestLeave a Comment

On the heels of appeals court ruling that restored a week’s worth of early voting in North Carolina, the executive director of the state’s Republican Party emailed a memo to members of local elections boards urging them to push for “party line changes” that cut back on early voting hours, The News and Observer reported. The memo, sent by NCGOP … Read More

Trump Staff Shakeup — And Trump Pivots….. 360 Degrees

Ken AshfordElection 2016Leave a Comment

There was something about Trump’s rally yesterday in Michigan that was odd.  I tweeted about it.  He was reading from a teleprompter, but this wasn’t a policy speech (which is the only time he uses a teleprompter).  This was a message speech.  It was, for the most part, directed at the African-American community (although there were none in the house). … Read More

Is The “Second Amendment People” Comment Trump’s Worst Gaffe?

Ken AshfordElection 2016, Gun Control, Rightwing Extremism/ViolenceLeave a Comment

As we all know by now, Trump yesterday hinted that gun lovers could (or should? or would?) shoot Hillary Clinton and/or a Supreme Court nominee as a response to Hillary Clinton selecting judges for the Supreme Court.  Here’s the comment and campaign responses in a nutshell: The spin from the Trump campaign is laughable.  Today, his campaign surrogates received the … Read More

Aaaand Trump Steps In It

Ken AshfordElection 2016, Gun ControlLeave a Comment

He was doing so well, until he started riffing.  He went a little too far from the script. Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick, if she gets to pick her judges — nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dunno. [Applause and … Read More

Trump Says He Wants To Three Debates, But….

Ken AshfordElection 2016Leave a Comment

TPM: Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will “absolutely” commit to three presidential debates with Hillary Clinton, but he suggested that he’d try to renegotiate the terms first. “I will absolutely do three debates,” Trump said in a phone interview with Time. “I want to debate very badly. But I have to see the conditions.” He went on to imply … Read More

Words To Think About

Ken AshfordElection 2016Leave a Comment

Yikes: Back in 1979, everybody was worried that Ronald Reagan was nuclear mad.  I was, although I was only a senior in high school. But Reagan was not unshackled.  He was a hawk.  Spoke softly and carried a bug stick.  “Carried” being the operative word. Trump isn’t a hawk.  And he doesn’t speak softly.  He can’t play brinksmanship because he … Read More

PPP Puts Clinton Up In NC…. Barely

Ken AshfordElection 2016, Local Interest, PollsLeave a Comment

While Hillary Clinton is enjoying a 8-10 lead in Georgia, her lead locally has always been in question.  A new PPP poll just released shows it still very close in North Carolina: PPP’s newest North Carolina poll finds Hillary Clinton leading in the state, albeit by a narrow margin, for the first time since March. She’s at 43% to 41% … Read More

Clinton Lead Still Strong Over Weekend

Ken AshfordElection 2016, PollsLeave a Comment

Halfway through law week, Donald Trump seemed to have gotten the message that his attacks on the Khans was costing him in the polls.  He tightened up.  He started reading more from a script at rallies.  He endorsed Ryan and McCain and Ayotte. That stopped the poll plunge.  But it doesn’t look like it turned the boat around. Today, Trump … Read More

New Polls Confirm Trump Downfall

Ken AshfordElection 2016, PollsLeave a Comment

Fox News has Clinton up nationally over Trump 49-39 among registered voters (+10 points). The internals are also bad for Trump: It’s a draw on “terrorism and national security,” as the candidates receive 47 percent apiece. In May, Trump led Clinton by 12 points on doing a better job on “terrorism” (52-40 percent). Equal numbers of voters say the economy and … Read More

Has The Trump Ship Been Righted? Or Is It Too Late?

Ken AshfordElection 2016, PollsLeave a Comment

Yesterday, it seems that Trump (and everybody else) got past the Khan story, and much of what was discussed was the “intervention” story, wherein GOP leaders (or maybe Trump’s staff) sit down with Trump and get him to pivot to the general election instead of going full-blown tinfoil hat. Intervention or not, Trump held to rallies yesterday and a couple … Read More

Was Mrs. Trump An “Illegal”?

Ken AshfordElection 2016, Immigration and XenophobiaLeave a Comment

Nude photos of Mrs. Trump, recently published in the New York Post, raised some questions regarding her immigration status at one time, before she married Donald Trump.  If true, Trump may have literally married an undocumented worker who lied to enter the country under false pretenses and then failed to disclose that lie when later getting a green card and eventually … Read More

Trump and Nukes

Ken AshfordDisasters, Election 2016Leave a Comment

This should sober you up. This morning on Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough relates a story where Trump repeatedly asked a security expert why we couldn’t use nukes.  This is sobering (good part starts at 1 minute mark): Watch: What are some major concerns about Trump’s handling of national security? Hayden and #morningjoe weigh in. https://t.co/FyFoSmJlJI — Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) August … Read More