September 19, 2016 12:56 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Monday (September 19)

• 0 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Today is the sixth anniversary of September 19th, 2010. 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…

► Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump may be riding a small wave of momentum at the moment, but as Chris Cillizza explains for “The Fix,” the Presidential math is still not in his favor:

There is no doubt — as I have written in this space — that Trump is on the march in swing states. But what gets lost is that a) Trump was way behind so his recent gains have made him competitive rather than dominant and b) the electoral map simply favors any Democrat over any Republican.

The latest Fix analysis of the map represents that dual reality. Yes, Trump is in better shape in our latest map than he was when we last handicapped the 2016 race in mid-August. But, he remains considerably behind Clinton in the race for 270 electoral votes.

► Authorities have arrested a man in connection with two bombings (in New York and New Jersey) over the weekend. Law enforcement officials say they do not believe that the bombings are part of a larger terrorist plot.

► Donald Trump was in Colorado Springs on Saturday making his usual ridiculous political promises, and now here comes the rest of the Trumpians. Donald Trump, Jr. will be campaigning for his father at an event on the Western Slope of Colorado on Thursday. Junior has been making some off-the-wall comments lately, and we’re curious how he’ll address “sportsmen issues” given his personal history of killing defenseless animals around the globe.

Elsewhere, Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, will be the guest of honor at a fundraiser in Denver on Wednesday.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► The infamous Koch Brothers are apparently only interested in targeting one Congressional race in the country in 2016…and it’s right here in Colorado. As John Frank writes for the Denver Post:

This year in Colorado, Americans for Prosperity is targeting Democrat Morgan Carroll, who is challenging Republican incumbent Mike Coffman in the 6th Congressional District. The organization is not making a play in the presidential race to help Donald Trump, nor Colorado’s U.S. Senate race to boost Republican Darryl Glenn, who AFP strategists don’t consider competitive.

The Carroll-Coffman contest is the only U.S. House race in the nation this year to draw attention from the organization backed by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch — which helps explain why the organization’s national president visited this Denver suburb Friday to talk to voters.

► Vice President Joe Biden was a guest on the 9News show “Balance of Power.”

► Here’s a political surprise that we can honestly say we didn’t see coming: Donald Trump is raising a lot of money via small donors. From Politico:

Trump has only been actively soliciting cash for a few months, but when he reveals his campaign’s financials later this week they will show he has crushed the total haul from small-dollar donors of the last two Republican nominees, John McCain and Mitt Romney — during the entirety of their campaigns.

All told, Trump is approaching, and has possibly already passed, $100 million from donors who have given less than $200, according to an analysis of available Federal Election Commission filings, the campaign’s public statements and people familiar with his fundraising operation. It is a threshold no previous Republican has ever achieved in a single campaign. And Trump has done so less than three months after signing his first email solicitation for donors on June 21 — a staggering speed to collect such a vast sum.

► Public lands will be the main topic of discussion at a candidate forum in Carbondale on Thursday. A Colorado conservation group, meanwhile, is making a big investment in communicating about state Sen. Laura Waters Woods and her terrible record on public lands issues.

► Right wing political activist (we’re not calling him a “Libertarian”) Jon Caldara should probably stop trying to make jokes about Colorado’s African-American population.

► Congressman Mike Coffman can’t seem to stop talking about how he doesn’t want to talk about Donald Trump.

► Denver Congresswoman Diana DeGette is pushing for increased federal funding to combat a rising problem of opioid abuse in the United States.

► Governor John Hickenlooper sat down for an in-depth interview with Marshall Zelinger of Denver7.

► Journalists are seemingly getting fed up with Donald Trump’s dog-and-pony show of a Presidential campaign.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► The year 2016 has not been kind to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. A federal prosecutor says that Christie was well-informed about his “Bridge-gate” scandal.

► Sure, clean air is nice, but as one oil and gas lobbyist explains, in Colorado we have “clean enough” air.

ICYMI

► Poverty rates in Colorado are on a marked decline at 3.2 percentage points lower than the national average.

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