SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2016
Today’s Good News And Bad News
From Our Local Political Junkie We’ll Call “Cincy Dave”

GOOD NEWS FOR HILLARY
The only good news for Hillary today is that there is no more bad news. Or maybe that Friday’s bad news may not be as bad as it seemed at first. According to Newsweek, it is much ado about nothing, and has nothing to do with any actions Hillary may have taken. It all depends on who you want to believe. 

FBI Director Comey’s letter to certain members of congress saying that they found another “device” with emails on it contained no actual information other than that they had found a new place to look at more emails, which may or may not be significant. They haven’t even reviewed the emails yet, which may well be the same emails that they have already reviewed but apparently a court order is needed to access the “device.” All of this will take time.

Meanwhile there is nothing but speculation, which will probably go on for a good while. The Hillary campaign expresses confidence that nothing will eventually come of it, while the Trump campaign is certain that the emails will prove some kind of criminal conspiracy.

Director Comey is coming under intense fire from everyone except Trump supporters for injecting such an ambiguous issue into the election at this late date. The Justice Department, prosecutors and law enforcement professionals everywhere say that Comey’s actions were injudicious and against all normal policies and procedures. Even Judge Jeanine Pirro, a Fox News personality who is about as partisan as anyone on Fox, says that Comey’s announcement “disgraces and politicizes the FBI.”

Consequently, he is under intense pressure to come up with something more. People on both sides of the aisle want answers and they want them fast. Meanwhile, no one knows if or how it will affect the election results. Both sides are using the news to galvanize voters so the net change may be nothing. Some undecided voters may be swayed but also some disgruntled Bernie voters, fearful of a Trump presidency, may be scared into voting for Hillary instead of casting a protest vote for a third party candidate. New polls later this week may help to see if anything is changing.

BAD NEWS FOR TRUMP
The Washington Post published a long story about the Trump Foundation and how Trump uses other people’s money to make it look like he is generous, even though he really gives very little. Some of this is a rehash of previous stories but there are also some new interesting ones. Two are particularly noteworthy. He once showed up at a big celebrity charity function that he had not been invited to and took someone else’s seat on the stage, pretending to be a benefactor, even though he had given no money. Also, there was story about a fundraiser to benefit children that he came to and handed them a fake one-million dollar bill, then gave them 200 real dollars before leaving everyone disgusted. There are several stories about using Trump foundation funds to benefit himself or his properties. More here:

TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT VOTER FRAUD
Fraud, however small, is occurring in some places but the fraud is in Trump’s favor. Some Trump supporter, who was convinced by Trump’s rhetoric that the election was rigged, decided to do something about it – vote more than once. She got caught by the efficient Iowa voter registration system and now faces charges. Two other like-minded voters in Iowa were also caught. Voter fraud is a serious offense and punishable by huge fines and hefty jail sentences in most states. Considering the risk vs. reward, a significant amount of voter fraud is very unlikely. More here: 

TODAY’S STATE POLLS
These are all swing state polls and they are all good news for Hillary. A tie in Ohio is good news because she has been behind in earlier polls. However, they were all taken before the FBI letter became public.

— More Good News And Bad News Tomorrow —