14 days and counting before most Americans vote in the 2016 presidential election. While most polls have Hillary Clinton ahead of Donald Trump, predictability is among the casualties in this election.
In likely their final time in the same room with each other before the election, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton are separated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan during the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner Oct. 20, 2016, in New York. (AP)
And there is still time for events to make an impact. Such as Monday’s word that Obamacare premiums will rise by an average of 25 percent. Republicans jumped on the news with a chorus of “I told you so.” Trump promised to replace Obamacare “with something much less expensive.”
Clinton is spending the campaign’s final two weeks encouraging supporters to get to the polls, and if possible, cast their ballots early as a way to rebut Trump’s assertions that the election is rigged.
Listen for familiar story lines from both candidates as they make their closing arguments for votes. Trump and Clinton will concentrate their efforts on handful of competitive states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, Nevada and Iowa. Traditionally Republican Texas, Georgia and Arizona are now considered toss-up states, opening the electoral map for Clinton and the possibility of a third party candidate picking up momentum.
Don’t Forget: Hillary Clinton Is Blazing a Momentous Trail
Eugene Robinson – The Washington Post
The historic nature of Clinton’s candidacy has been all but lost amid the clamorous sound and fury of the Donald Trump eruption. The campaign has seen many unforgettable moments, but one that I believe will prove truly indelible came during the third and final debate, when Clinton was speaking and Trump interrupted her by snarling, “Such a nasty woman.”
Within minutes, “nasty woman” became an Internet meme — not so much because of what it said about Trump, since we already knew of his sexism and misogyny, but because of what it said about the moment. A “nasty woman” was on the verge of shattering the highest and most shatterproof glass ceiling of them all. That this accomplishment would come at Trump’s expense just made it a bit sweeter.
When Will Liberals Answer for Obamacare’s Failures?
David Harsanyi – The Federalist
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton takes a photo with a member of the audience after speaking at a rally at Broward College in Coconut Creek, Fla., Oct. 25, 2016. (AP)
No doubt, you’ll remember all those romantic charts and stories from the liberal smart-set predicting Obamacare’s affordability and success. Remember the jeering aimed at conservatives who argued state-run markets that inhibit genuine competition and increase regulations would only spur costs to rise? “Lies,” they said….
Obamacare is working so well that Democrats are now pressuring Republicans to fix it and Hillary Clinton is arguing that to save it we need a “public option” — a euphemism for a government-run insurance program that incrementally undermines competition and care by allowing political considerations to dictate price.
How You Can Be a Pro-Life Christian and Still Support Hillary Clinton
Jennifer Sarver – Dallas Morning News
My faith dictates that it is important we care for and respect all people , born and unborn. And that is one of the undercurrents of our political climate that is most concerning, that only some lives have value and worth….
I believe it is the height of hypocrisy when we scream from the top of our lungs about protecting a baby in utero, yet neglect to provide basic resources for those same children once born.
In Texas we have some of the most restrictive laws on abortion. But we also fail to protect the most vulnerable among us, including infants and children born into poverty.
Reconsider ‘Never Trump’
J. Matt Barber – The Washington Times
An employee of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump grabs his tie as they pose for photographs during an event at Trump National Doral, Oct. 25, 2016, in Miami. (AP)
I went from a dogged “Never Trumper” to a “Maybe Trumper,” and, finally, settled as a “Reluctant Trumper.” I, like any God-fearing father of daughters was, and remain, appalled by Donald Trump’s sordid past, and his 11-year-old vulgar video in which he objectified women….
Still, I will be voting against Hillary Clinton on Nov. 8 in what is objectively and irrefutably the most effective way possible: by casting a vote, for better or worse, for the policies and promises of Donald Trump…
Mrs. Clinton’s beloved late-term abortion practice is one so brutal and needless that even the left-leaning American Medical Association has admitted that it is dangerous to the mother and never necessary under any circumstances, not the least of which is for “the life or health of the mother.”
Evan McMullin: the Last Best Hope for the Never Clinton and Never Trump Masses
Jonah Goldberg – Los Angeles Times
Consider independent write-in candidate for president Evan McMullin. He has virtually no chance of winning the election on Nov. 8, but he does have a shot at becoming president by the end of December.
The McMullin scenario works like this: If no candidate manages to win 270 electoral votes, the electors — i.e. the actual people who cast electoral votes on Dec. 19 — hand the whole thing over to the House of Representatives to decide, as they did in the election of 1824.
Under the 12th Amendment, the members of Congress then must choose from the top three finishers in the Electoral College….polls show McMullin surging in his home state of Utah, where his fellow Mormons — God bless ’em — are particularly repulsed by Trump. If he wins there, he’s got a ticket to the Electoral College Ball.