Because it’s Halloween, it’s Hall-o-we-en, Hall-o-ween, nuh nuh nuh nah nah. It’s time to Get More Smarter. 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.
► Still haven’t voted? Still waiting for a ballot? Head on over to GoVoteColorado.com for more information on voting centers, ballot drop-off locations, or for resources to check on the status of your mail ballot.
Meanwhile, the latest ballot return numbers are available from the Colorado Secretary of State’s office. As Republican-leaning polling firm Magellan Strategies explains, Democratic voters are surging in Colorado.
► Trump mad! Trump smash! As the Washington Post reports:
President Trump lashed out Wednesday at House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) over Ryan’s comments on birthright citizenship, saying he “should be focusing on holding the Majority.”
The extraordinary rebuke from Trump came one day after Ryan pushed back on the president’s remarks on the issue, saying “you cannot end birthright citizenship with an executive order.”
“Paul Ryan should be focusing on holding the Majority rather than giving his opinions on Birthright Citizenship, something he knows nothing about!” Trump tweeted Wednesday afternoon. “Our new Republican Majority will work on this, Closing the Immigration Loopholes and Securing our Border!”
Earlier Wednesday, Trump vowed to push forward with his call to end birthright citizenship, despite a backlash from legal scholars and some prominent members of his own party against his pledge a day earlier to take executive action on the matter.
Paul Ryan is not the boss of me!
Elsewhere, 9News fact-checks Trump’s claims that he can change birthright citizenship on his own.
► In a separate story from the Washington Post, reporter Jacqueline Alemany writes that President Trump’s birthright citizenship rhetoric is a big problem for Republicans in tight races:
Republican leaders and candidates in tough races to be decided in next Tuesday’s midterm elections were divided, evasive and otherwise just plain off message yesterday after President Trump spontaneously introduced the notion of ending birthright citizenship.
This really isn’t the way Republicans running with — or in some cases, away — from Trump want to be spending the closing days of a campaign on which control of Congress hinges.
This rhetoric is particularly problematic for incumbents like Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora), who has a history of supporting legislation to eliminate birthright citizenship.
► The oil and gas industry is responsible for 1 out of every 5 dollars spent on the 2018 election in Colorado — for a total of more than $40 million.
► Republican Secretary of State Wayne “Boots” Williams can’t stop digging his own hole.
Get even more smarter after the jump…
► The immigration issue in Colorado has not been as important to the election as President Trump thinks it should be.
► “All politics are local.” This well-worn line might not be so accurate anymore, as the Washington Post reports.
► President Trump traveled to Pittsburgh on Tuesday in the wake of last weekend’s mass shooting at a Jewish synagogue. As Chris Cillizza writes for CNN:
He did so despite urgings from the city’s mayor to postpone his trip until the funerals for the 11 victims could be completed. And despite the fact that no members of Congress joined him on the trip.
And then, on Wednesday morning, he tweeted this:
“Melania and I were treated very nicely yesterday in Pittsburgh. The Office of the President was shown great respect on a very sad & solemn day. We were treated so warmly. Small protest was not seen by us, staged far away. The Fake News stories were just the opposite-Disgraceful!”
Clearly the President has a victim mentality here. He was performing his presidential duties of mourning with those who lost loved ones and visiting with the injured but the protesters — and the media that covered them — had treated him very, very unfairly.
It’s a remarkable bit of myopia. And a revealing reminder that Trump not only sees absolutely everything through the lens of himself first, second and last, but also that the way he sees himself is as the unfairly maligned victim. Always.
► Republican gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton penned an idiotic opinion piece for Fox News this week. As you might expect, he walked right into an easy joke at his expense.
► As Politico reports, special prosecutor Robert Mueller has been quietly going about his business lately — business that just might include a subpoena of President Trump:
But now, thanks to Politico’s reporting (backed up by the simple gumshoe move of sitting in the clerk’s office waiting to see who walks in and requests what file), we might know what Mueller has been up to: Since mid-August, he may have been locked in proceedings with Trump and his lawyers over a grand jury subpoena—in secret litigation that could tell us by December whether the president will testify before Mueller’s grand jury…
…If Mueller were going to subpoena the president—and there’s every reason why a careful and thorough prosecutor would want the central figure on the record on critical questions regarding his knowledge and intent—this is just the way we would expect him to do so. Quietly, expeditiously, and refusing to waste the lull in public action demanded by the midterm elections. It all fits.
► Westword does meticulous work in tracking down the origins of Amendment 74 and how the oil and gas industry created the divisive measure as a response to Proposition 112.
► Look into the “Tote Bag of Wisdom” and see the future.
► It warms the heart when disgusting attack ads backfire and end up benefitting their target.
► President Trump throws another former key adviser under the bus. From CNN:
Former White House Counsel Don McGahn ended his tumultuous tenure at the White House with one last encounter in which President Donald Trump blamed him for Robert Mueller’s appointment, sources close to McGahn tell CNN.
In a face-to-face Oval Office meeting, the President groused to McGahn about Mueller’s appointment made on McGahn’s watch as White House counsel, and the cloud the investigation has continued to cast over the presidency, the people familiar with the conversation said…
…”Typically you would have the incumbent stay until the successor was ready to take his place. But in this case, McGahn was tired of the President and the President was tired of McGahn.” The source added while the departure was “positive,” both men recognized it was time for McGahn to go. “He didn’t want to stay on and the President didn’t want him to stay.”
At least Trump isn’t your boss.
► The candidates for Attorney General in Colorado are battling it out over TV ads produced by outside groups.
► Senator Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) will join Republican gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton for GOTV rallies on Thursday. The two Republicans probably don’t have a combined approval rating of more than 70.
► Colorado has crossed the $20 million mark for political donations in 2018.
► Republicans might be setting a new Colorado record with the number of misleading ads they are running against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jared Polis.
Click here for The Get More Smarter Show. You can also Get More Smarter by liking Colorado Pols on Facebook!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
BY: NotHopeful
IN: Monday Open Thread
BY: Stanistan
IN: “Operation Aurora Is Coming,” Says Thrilled Aurora City Councilor
BY: JohnInDenver
IN: Monday Open Thread
BY: unnamed
IN: “Operation Aurora Is Coming,” Says Thrilled Aurora City Councilor
BY: Conserv. Head Banger
IN: “Operation Aurora Is Coming,” Says Thrilled Aurora City Councilor
BY: JohnNorthofDenver
IN: Monday Open Thread
BY: notaskinnycook
IN: Monday Open Thread
BY: spaceman2021
IN: “Operation Aurora Is Coming,” Says Thrilled Aurora City Councilor
BY: ParkHill
IN: Monday Open Thread
BY: ParkHill
IN: Monday Open Thread
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!
There is a poll of the CD-3 race out. Change Research found Tipton ahead of Bush 53% to 38%. This moved the 538 rating of the race from lean to "likely-Republican". To be clear, Bush could still win given the uncertainty of polling, but they now think that Tipton has a 83% chance of winning with the final vote being 51.6% +/-5%(ish) in his favor.