LONGWOOD, Fla. — Republican Bob Cortes was the first Puerto Rican mayor of this Orlando suburb. He became the first Puerto Rican from Seminole County to be elected to the state House.

He doesn’t want to be the first Puerto Rican from the county to lose his seat. But the demographics are changing rapidly here in Central Florida, a mecca of undecided voters stretching from Orlando to Tampa that helps swing state elections and that is rapidly becoming home to more Puerto Ricans, Venezuelans, Colombians and Dominicans.

Cortes said he campaigns as “an elected official who happens to be Hispanic, not a Hispanic elected official,” adding that that means “understanding the diversity of the people who live in the district.”

Unlike a generation ago, when the state’s large Cuban American population was devoted to the GOP, these new Latino voters are less likely to support Republican candidates such as Cortes — and they are increasingly unlikely to register with either political party. “No Party Affiliation” voters — known as “NPAs” in local political vernacular — now account for 26 percent of Florida’s electorate, the fastest-growing bloc in the state, according to the latest state voter statistics.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/latino-influx-is-upending-gop-politics-in-the-battleground-of-florida/2016/08/30/7db9fd8a-6ae3-11e6-8225-fbb8a6fc65bc_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani wrote Tuesday that he is doing a "public service" to reporters and voters by stoking conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton's health.

Giuliani wrote an op-ed for USA Today, literally titled "I’m performing a public service," in which he explained why he thought it is good and honorable to question Clinton's health.

"The reason I raised the issue of inadequate health disclosures is because Secretary Clinton has been hiding from press scrutiny, and Americans are wondering why," he wrote.

Giuliani pointed out, as conservatives and liberals alike have in recent months, that Clinton has not held a press conference in 270 days other than her appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists conference, where she took questions. He also referenced Clinton's coughing and sitting down at campaign rallies, which he took to mean she is in ill health.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/giuliani-clinton-health-public-service

Source: The Washington Post



Donald Trump is considering jetting to Mexico City on Wednesday for a meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, just hours before he delivers a high-stakes speech in Arizona to clarify his views on immigration policy, according to people in the United States and Mexico familiar with the discussions.

The possibility, which was hatched in recent days by Trump and his campaign advisers, comes after Trump has wavered for weeks over whether he would continue to hold his hard-line positions on the central and incendiary issue of his campaign, in particular his call to deport an estimated 11 million immigrants who are living in the United States illegally.

The people informed of Trump’s plans requested anonymity due to the sensitivity surrounding its planning. They said late Tuesday that talks between the Trump campaign and Mexican officials were ongoing, with Trump interested in going but logistics and security concerns still being sorted out.

Peña Nieto has extended an invitation for the businessman to come visit with him in Mexico to talk about various political and economic issues, the people said. Trump, sensing an opportunity, decided over the weekend to accept the invitation and push for a visit this week.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-considers-last-minute-meeting-in-mexico-with-the-countrys-president/2016/08/30/5a694790-6f12-11e6-9705-23e51a2f424d_story.html?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%252Bnation

Source: The Hill

The powerful network helmed by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch is canceling advertising in the Ohio Senate race, a sign that Republican Sen. Rob Portman is viewed as increasingly likely to win.

The Koch network, which has already spent more than $10 million on TV, radio and digital advertising in Ohio, is cancelling about $2.1 million of ad reservations for late September because network officials believe Portman is in a strong position to defeat Democratic challenger Ted Strickland.

“Rob Portman has run one of the strongest campaigns of the cycle, he maintains a significant lead in virtually every poll, and the dynamics of the race have changed,” Koch network spokesman James Davis told The Hill on Tuesday.

“We will remain on air through Sept. 14 with our current ads, but given Portman's strong position in the race, we are going to drop the remaining reservation and reserve flexibility over future spending.”

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Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/293854-exclusive-kochs-pull-out-of-ohio-senate-race

A North Carolina pastor who has endorsed Donald Trump explained his job plan on Tuesday, which calls for the “return” of black Americans to Africa to build roads and bridges.

Apostle Thomas Rodgers, Sr. of Antioch Road to Glory International Ministries in North Carolina told CNN host Carol Costello that black Americans should receive “dual citizenship” so that they could find jobs in Africa.

“African-Americans are the only people in the world who do not seek dual citizenship,” Rodgers said. “That’s why Chicago gangs, California gangs, the Crips and the Bloods and Detroit in Michigan — we have gangs in the streets because blacks have no vision, they have no leadership.”

“You’ve also talked about building a road back to Africa,” Costello noted. “Can you explain that?” Rodgers replied: “Matter of fact, where our ancestors came from, from the Indian Ocean all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, that’s 4,000 miles and we want to go back and help with the highways all the way across, to create jobs, train rails, pipelines, oil, petroleum. They create jobs for young people that can’t find jobs here, that the Democrats have not did.”

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http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/nc-pastor-for-trump-wants-to-end-joblessness-by-returning-blacks-to-africa-to-build-roads/

The campaign coordinator for David Duke's Senate campaign on Tuesday morning said that Donald Trump only disavowed robocalls from Duke urging voters to back Trump because the Republican nominee's advisers directed him to do so.

"If he was not forced to, he would have never disavowed David," campaign coordinator Mike Lawrence told TPM, adding that he believes Trump was told to disavow Duke by an adviser.

The Duke campaign sent out robocalls urging Louisiana residents to vote for both Duke and Trump, Buzzfeed News reported Monday. "It’s time to stand up and vote for Donald Trump for President and vote for me, David Duke, for the U.S. Senate," Duke says in the call.

Shortly after Buzzfeed reported on the robocalls, the Trump campaign issued a statement disavowing Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader, and distancing the campaign from the calls.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/duke-campaign-robocalls-trump-disavowal

Stuart Rothenberg: “Over the past 10 presidential contests, there have been three narrow Electoral College wins (1976, 2000 and 2004) and three true blow-outs (1980, 1984 and 1988). The remaining four contests (1992, 1996, 2008 and 2012) produced something in between — a comfortable victory for the winner but not quite a landslide. The winners in those four elections received between 332 and 379 electoral votes, while the losing candidate drew between 159 and 206 electoral votes. (In four of the 10, there was a faithless elector.)”

“At this point, Clinton is more likely to approach the size of Obama’s wins, whether his 365-to-173 electoral vote win over John McCain in 2008 or his more narrow 332-to-206 victory over Mitt Romney four years later. A 1980-style blow-out does not seem to be in the cards given the country’s current political divide or the two major-party nominees.”

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https://politicalwire.com/2016/08/30/electoral-blowout-doesnt-look-likely/

Rick Klein: “Donald Trump’s coattails get a dual test on Tuesday, with Trump-style candidates taking on incumbent Republican senators with national profiles in Arizona and Florida. Both John McCain and Marco Rubio have endorsed Trump’s candidacy, despite personal insults the candidate himself has hurled their way. Trump has returned the favors, at least publicly. But Trump’s broader message has resonated in the primaries in both races, and any closer-than-comfortable margins will be attributed to the down-ballot Trump effect. It’s a dynamic that may carry significant weight in November, even if McCain and Rubio cruise to their nominations as expected. Both men will face off with aggressive Democratic challengers in the fall. They will need the Trump base, whether they like those voters or not.”

“On the other side of the aisle, the Bern gets a test in the primary challenge against Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Bernie Sanders made clear his distaste for the DNC chair, so much so that she was forced out of her job after her emails were hacked on the eve of the convention. Sanders helped raise money for her primary challenger, Tim Canova, in a Florida race that’s drawn liberal interest in the wake of the convention. All three big-name incumbents are expected to move on, though not without some bruises.”

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https://politicalwire.com/2016/08/30/is-there-a-trump-effect-downballot/

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) hedged his bets on what his political future may hold in a Tuesday interview with CNN, saying he just wasn’t sure if he would be able to stay in office for a full six-year Senate term if re-elected.

“No one can make that commitment because you don’t know what the future’s gonna hold in your life personally or politically,” Rubio said.

While this comment suggested that the former 2016 presidential candidate might be open to another run for the White House, Rubio said he was “prepared” for his political career to come to an end in the Senate.

“I can commit to you this, and that is that if I am running to be a U.S. senator, I am fully prepared to allow the U.S. Senate to be the last political office I ever hold,” he said.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rubio-wont-commit-full-term-senate

Source: Talking Points Memo

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) -- the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and thus a major player in the GOP Senate's refusal to confirm President Obama's Supreme Court nominee -- opened the door to confirming Judge Merrick Garland in a lame-duck session, even as he continued to defend Republicans' stance that the successor to the late Justice Antonin Scalia should be chosen by the next president.

At a question and answer session in Sioux City Monday, Grassley told attendees that, "It had nothing to do with Garland," but there was an "understanding" that Supreme Court vacancies that opened in up in a president's final year should not be filled by that president, according to the Sioux City Journal.

But, he added, his blockade on considering Garland might lift if enough of his GOP colleagues express a desire to push the judge through after the election. Per the Sioux City Journal:

Grassley said the only way his stance could change is if a large number of senators strongly urged him to consider the nomination during a so-called "lame-duck session" of Congress, during the time after the Nov. 8 election and before the new Congress takes office in January.

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Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/grassley-lame-duck-confirmation