THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2016
Today’s Good News And Bad News
From Our Local Political Junkie We’ll Call “Cincy Dave”

TODAY IS THE LAST FULL DAY OF SPECULATION BEFORE TRUMP MAKES HIS CHOICE FOR VICE PRESIDENT KNOWN. Reports are that Trump’s close advisors badly want one of three possible attack dogs already pretty well-known to anyone who pays attention to politics. These are Mike Pence, Newt Gingrich and Chris Christie. They all want the job very badly because, otherwise, they are at the political end of the road. Of these, Mike Pence is rumored to be the top choice, with Chris (Krispy Kreme) Christie in second place. All would bring a lot of baggage to the ticket but The Newtster probably brings the most. However, no one likes to throw curveballs more than The Donald, so it is still certainly possible he will choose someone in the mode of a Danny Quayle, Sarah Palin or Admiral (who am I?) Stockdale. Perhaps General Stanley McChrystal? Sure – with The Donald, expect the unexpected. There won’t be this much excitement until the Debates, which don’t begin until late September.

BAD NEWS FOR TRUMP: The Huffing and Puffington Post reports that The Donald doesn’t even have campaign headquarters in many states. They tried to call the Trump campaign in all 50 states and got no answers in many and some said they would open soon. Of course, it is a waste of everyone’s time for him to have any offices in states like California, New York and Illinois, the same way it is for Hillary to have offices in Alabama, Texas and S. Carolina.

GOOD NEWS FOR HILLARY/BAD NEWS FOR TRUMP: A Fox News poll in Colorado has Hillary up by 10 points in Colorado and 7 points in Virginia. Both of these are supposed to be battleground (swing) states. If you are a Republican and even Fox News has you losing that badly, then you are in deep doo-doo. Maybe the lovely Megyn should start preparing for the next Karl Rove meltdown. On the other hand, it is still very early, so there is time for lots and lots of dueling polls between now and Nov. 8th. There is usually a convention bump in the polls for each candidate too.

MORE DEMOCRAT POLLS, MORE BAD NEWS FOR TRUMP: Last month a poll had Trump getting only 1% of the black vote. Now, new Marist polls in Ohio and Pennsylvania have him at 0%. Zero, zilch, nada. We now understand why he turned down an invitation to speak to the NAACP. It would be another waste of everyone’s time. The good news here is that he can’t lose any more ground with blacks.

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM: Everyone is excited to find out what will happen at the Republican Convention, which opens next week. There may be more interest in what happens outside than what happens inside, especially now that the mystery of who will be the VP candidate will be over by then. Cleveland is massing a virtual army of local, state, and federal police and other law enforcement personnel, in expectation for riots and all manner of protests and conflicts between convention goers and protestors. It may be the biggest outside-the-convention news story since the 1968 Democratic Convention’s so-called “police riot”, and, of course, the news media will be all over it. This could help or hurt The Donald, depending on how the public views it. Will the “Law and Order” candidate, as he bills himself, gain politically by any disturbances, or will people think he has caused the trouble himself with his offensive remarks?

More Good News And Bad News Tomorrow