THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2016
Today’s Good News And Bad News
From Our Local Political Junkie We’ll Call “Cincy Dave”

NEXT OCTOBER SURPRISE?
There are reports that Trump may release his 2015 Tax Return. However, it would be one crafted specifically for his presidential campaign. It would forgo most of his deductions and consequently show that he paid tens of millions, or maybe hundreds of millions in taxes, thereby putting to rest all the controversy about him paying little or nothing. Then, early next year, he can quietly file an amended return and get it all back. Because of IRS privacy rules, no one will ever know about the amended return. That’s all perfectly legal – millions of Americans file amended tax returns every year to correct an error or to take a deduction that they forgot about. Some file amended returns to claim income that they forgot about, in order to stave off later troubles with the IRS. It has been reported that Trump has not yet filed his 2015 taxes but instead requested an extension of the deadline. We will see if this trick actually comes to pass in the next few weeks. If it does, it will be big news.

TRUMP DONATES TO ATTORNEYS GENERAL
For some reason, The Donald is extremely generous to states’ Attorneys General – especially those who are investigating his business practices or other matters relating to him. Some would say that this represents a conflict of interest, but that might be a little harsh. However, to avoid that appearance, some of the AGs have sent the money back. Who’s to say that he doesn’t just love to support a lot of these law enforcement guys out of the goodness of his heart? The Wall Street Journal seem to be a little skeptical though. 

GOOD NEWS FOR KAINE?
Everyone seems to agree that Tim Kaine lost the VP debate but maybe winning it was not the primary goal. Certainly, the professionals in the Clinton campaign know that who wins or loses the Vice Presidential debate has no effect on the presidential election. Their real goal was to remind voters of the many regrettable things that The Donald has said throughout the campaign and to collect video clips of Mike Pence trying to justify, explain or deny he said them. Pence didn’t try to defend most of them but did deny that Trump said many of them. It’s a little bit like the Yogi Berra quote, “I didn’t say half of the things I said.” Fortunately, or unfortunately though, we now have YouTube and other videos, so we can probably expect to continue to see a lot of the VP debate in Hillary’s campaign ads for the next 4-1/2 weeks, with clips of Trump saying something and Pence denying he said it. This could be one of the rare cases where a loss is a net gain. 

TRUMP TAKES CREDIT
The Donald is taking much of the credit for Mike Pence’s strong debate performance. His argument is that selecting Pence for his running mate is proof of his superior ability to pick talent. There were reports that Trump was not happy that Pence upstaged him, but the campaign discounted that idea. 

HILLARY HUNKERS DOWN
Hillary has a light public schedule for the next few days because she is back to preparing for Sunday’s Second Presidential Debate. Everyone has lots of advice for the candidates and Mike Pence’s advice to Trump was “be yourself.” Hillary, more than anyone, is hoping that he takes it.

TODAY’S MEANINGLESS POLLS
If Trump’s campaign manager sees this Ohio Poll, it could scare the hell out of her. The last few polls had him leading in Ohio. If he loses Ohio or Florida, it’s over for him.

— More Good News And Bad News Tomorrow —