By Henry C. Jackson
10/21/16 03:32 PM EDT
LOCK-HER-UP TALK: Donald Trump says he will have “lots of options” to go after HILLARY CLINTON if he’s elected president, he told supporters today.
Campaigning in North Carolina, Trump called Clinton “the most corrupt politician ever to seek the office of the presidency,” a charged comment that sparked raucous “lock her up” chants from his supporters. The Republican presidential nominee then responded to the chants with an uncharacteristic suggestion, similar to President Barack Obama’s counsel to “don’t boo, vote.”
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“Well, let’s do this. Let’s do this,” he advised. “Nov. 8, let’s win. Let’s win. Let’s win,” before adding: “We win, we have lots of options. But we gotta win.”
Happy Friday, it’s been a long week but it wouldn’t be complete without your 2016 Blast. Henry C. Jackson (@henrycjjackson) is here to guide you through today’s campaign news, so please send your tips, allegations, suggestions and fast-paced action thriller spec scripts (hey, why not): hjackson@politico.com.
2) MEASURING DRAPES: HILLARY CLINTON’s transition team is beefing up its efforts as Election Day nears, a sign of confidence and preparation, POLITICO’s Andrew Restuccia, Sarah Wheaton and Nancy Cook report. “With polls pointing to the likelihood of a Clinton win, her transition team is hiring staff, culling through the resumés of possible Cabinet nominees and reaching out to key Democrats for input, according to people familiar with the process. The heightened activity signals a strategic shift for the Clinton team, which had until recently kept a low profile amid fears that the campaign might be accused of overconfidence.”
3) A KHAN PREMIER: HILLARY CLINTON’s campaign is deploying Khizr Khan in a campaign ad for the closing stretch of the campaign. “The father of Humayun Khan, a Muslim-American soldier killed in Iraq in 2004, thrust himself into the election spotlight this summer at the Democratic National Convention, when he asked if the Republican nominee had even read the U.S. Constitution and told Trump he had “sacrificed nothing and no one On Friday Hillary Clinton’s campaign released an ad starring the gold-star father. Khan comforts his wife Ghazala while he softly recites his question as footage of his son being laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery plays on a nearby screen. ‘I want to ask Mr. Trump, would my son have a place in your America?,’ Khizr Khan says in the ad titled “Captain Khan” after an image of Trump plays.”
4) [WIKI]LEAKS SINK [RELATION]SHIPS: HILLARY CLINTON may well win in a few weeks, but WikiLeaks’ impact will be felt in the months ahead because it may poison her relationship with the so-called professional left, POLITICO’s Kenneth P. Vogel reports. “If polls hold and Clinton wins the presidency, she will need the support of the professional left to offset what’s expected to be vociferous Republican opposition to her legislative proposals and appointments. But among progressive operatives, goodwill for Clinton — and confidence in key advisers featured in the emails including John Podesta, Neera Tanden and Jake Sullivan — is eroding as WikiLeaks continues to release a daily stream of thousands of emails hacked from Podesta’s Gmail account that is expected to continue until Election Day.”
5) PASSWORD IS TACO: Along the same lines, an unexpected twist in this campaign: John Podesta as a poster child for cyber security best practices thanks to WikiLeaks’ disclosures. POLITICO’s Martin Matishak explains: “The cascade of woes, which (HILLARY CLINTON’s) campaign has not confirmed, appears to make Podesta just the latest Washington power player to join an inglorious club — the roster of senior government officials and political operatives who, like tens of millions of other Americans, have failed to take basic protections for their sensitive data. Others in the elite group include Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan and 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, whose personal emails have all suffered assault from digital intruders.”
BONUS BRANSON: Billionaire businessman Richard Branson injected himself into the the presidential campaign on Friday, recalling that, during his first encounter with DONALD TRUMP, the businessman told Branson he would spend the remainder of his life trying to destroy five people he had asked to no avail to aid him after his latest bankruptcy. The English business mogul wrote about the experience on Friday.
TRAIL MIX: In today’s campaign news, Oprah Winfrey gives an endorsement, of sorts. Al Smith V is not impressed. Politics used to be different. The map is shrinking for DONALD TRUMP, the jockeying is heating up for the DNC chairmanship and Trump’s first forays into Washington.
THANKS, I GUESS: Oprah Winfrey says of HILLARY CLINTON: “You don’t have to like her.”
BOOM, ROASTED: Al Smith V says that DONALD TRUMP took it a little too far during last night’s Al Smith dinner. More on Trump drawing boos there here.
A DIFFERENT ERA: CNN remembers the transition from George H.W. Bush to Bill Clinton.
STATES OF PLAY: The electoral map is looking pretty grim for DONALD TRUMP.
WHO’S NEXT: Jockeying is heating up for who will be the next chairman or chairwoman of the DNC.
PRIVATE UNIVERSITY: DONALD TRUMP’s trying to keep groping claims out of the Trump University class action lawsuit.
WASHINGTON ARRIVAL: Remembering DONALD TRUMP’s first foray into Washington D.C. (Washington Post)
DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?: Check out the latest POLITICO Nerdcast for a debate recap and a deep dive into the final weeks of the presidential campaign. Listen here, or download on iTunes or SoundCloud.
THEY SAID IT: “”I have not resigned but for personal reasons have had to take a step back from the campaign.” — Jim Murphy, Donald Trump’s national political director on his role with the Trump campaign.
MAGIC NUMBER: 12. That’s HILLARY CLINTON’s percentage point lead in a new poll of Virginia.
FOLLOW @POLITICO’S politics team: @PoliticoCharlie, @POLITICO_Steve, @PoliticoAlex, @anniekarni, @GlennThrush, @EliStokols, @katieglueck, @schreckreports, @gdebenedetti, @Hadas_Gold, @ec_schneider, @kyledcheney , @theodoricmeyer, @MarcACaputo, @PoliticoKevin,@mikeallen, @dlippman, @Danielstrauss4, @henrycjjackson, @shanegoldmacher, @KristinPolitico, @PoliticoScott, @Patrick_C_Reis, @dsamuelsohn
There you go — now you’re caught up on the 2016 race. TBNR. We’ll see you next week.
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