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Today’s Hillary News & Views begins with coverage of Clinton’s campaign rally with First Lady Michelle Obama.
Yahoo! News reports:
"She is ready to be commander-in-chief on Day 1, and yes, she happens to be a woman," Obama said of Clinton, whom she called "my girl."
The 52-year-old wife of President Barack Obama has energized Democrats by criticizing Trump for his strident rhetoric and for what she brands his "frightening" attitude towards women.
Trump's strategy was "to make this election so dirty and ugly that we don't want any part of it," she said.
"When you hear folks talking about a global conspiracy and saying that this election is 'rigged,' understand that they are trying to get you to stay home."
Clinton, whose campaign announced a large fundraising haul on Thursday, struck a tone of unity and optimism.
"As Michelle reminds us, this election is about our kids and, in my case, our grandkids," Clinton said. "Starting right now, let's come together. Let's work together and be hopeful and optimistic and unified."
Melissa McEwan writes for Shareblue:
Watching Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama campaign together for the first time is the invigorating balm we needed.
Not just because their shared vision for the future is inspiring. Not just because the policies they advocate are to build bridges rather than walls. Not just because they are two women who deeply care about people, and it shows in their every word.
But also because their very presence onstage together, their unreserved admiration for one another, their friendship, is inherently a rejection of everything for which Trump stands.
They are the leaders we need. They are women of strength and achievement. They are the very embodiment of a future rooted in dignity and respect for women and girls. They are stronger together.
Shareblue reports:
Hillary Clinton has announced a major new initiative to help confront bullying in schools across the country. The plan, Better Than Bullying, provides $500 million in funding for states that work to develop comprehensive anti-bullying plans and procedures.
This initiative is complemented by Clinton’s other plans to improve the lives of all Americans, including ending the school-to-prison pipeline, fighting for LGBTQ equality, and supporting people with mental health disorders.
States will be encouraged to craft their own anti-bullying policies which best fit their communities and honor the national priorities in this fight, including:
- developing fully comprehensive laws and policies that delineate prohibited behaviors, grievance procedures, and all prohibited bullying targets
- investing in behavioral and mental health programs to help children on both sides of the issue
- placing specific focus on cyberbullying through social media sites
- training educators and school administrators to effectively and appropriately respond to and support both perpetrators and victims
This is a vital issue on which to focus — the problem of bullying in our schools has, in recent years, grown not only larger but also more complex and thorny with the rise of social media. The nation is becoming more and more diverse in many ways, and young people need to feel safe and accepted in school and society, no matter who they are. Children of color, young girls, LGBTQ kids, Muslim and Jewish children, children with disabilities — and those who inhabit more than one of these and other identities — experience bullying far too often in class and on the playground.
Iowa Starting Line reports:
Clinton leads Trump by a substantial 61% to 27% among those who have already voted. That’s a significant improvement in the early vote margin of 2012. That election ended with Barack Obama taking 59% of Iowa’s early vote, while Mitt Romney claimed 39%, a 20-point spread. Clinton is ahead right now by 34 points, if this poll of the early vote is correct.
Republicans may yet turn out more early voters in the final stretch than Democrats do, though Democrats have a few thousand more outstanding ballots than Republicans. 62,749 Democratic ballots remain in the field, while 59,292 Republican ones have yet to return.
What’s most noteworthy is how that 34-point advantage for Clinton compares to the current returns by party registration. Registered Democrats have accounted for 46% of the current Iowa vote, with registered Republicans at 34% and registered No Party voters at 20%. If Trump is really only winning 27% of the early vote, that would mean that not only did the vast majority of No Party voters go with Clinton, it would mean that a decent amount of the Republicans didn’t even voted for Trump.
ABC News reports:
As Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama campaigned together Thursday for the first time in North Carolina, early voting in the presidential battleground state appeared likely to surge beyond 2012 levels with the rollout of more polling sites after a protracted battle on voting access.
Jasmine Jackson, a 27-year-old black registered Democrat in Raleigh, said the overturned efforts to shorten early voting and require photo ID from voters increased her desire to vote.
"I'm going to vote anyway ... whether they expand the days or narrowed it down," she said after voting Thursday. "Because, especially with this election, it's very important that you vote."
Clinton told a crowd in Winston-Salem: "I hope, after all North Carolina has gone through with the efforts to suppress people's votes, you will turn out in the biggest numbers ever to say: 'No, we demand the right to vote.'"
Fortune reports:
The millions of votes that have been cast already in the U.S. presidential election point to an advantage for Hillary Clinton in critical battleground states, as well as signs of strength in traditionally Republican territory.
The strong early-voting turnout by those likely to support Clinton—registered Democrats, minorities, and young people among others—could leave Donald Trump with virtually no path to the 270 electoral votes needed for victory.
Clinton is showing strength in Florida and North Carolina, both must-win states for Trump, as well as the battleground states of Nevada, Colorado and Arizona. There are even favorable signs for Clinton in Republican-leaning Utah and Texas.
Fred Haitt writes for Washington Post:
At some point, though, you have to look at actual performance. Rubio wilted under interrogation by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Kasich failed to connect, and not a single candidate in that supposedly awesome lineup managed to do what Clinton did, which is stand up to Trump in debate. They performed miserably in their primary campaigns; why would we assume that Jeb Bush or any of the others would have done better in the general?
Clinton, meanwhile, has shown a political adeptness that few give her credit for because, well, because we just know she is an inept politician.
In fact: She managed to carve out her own identity without repudiating President Obama. She tacked left to beat back a primary challenge without (with one glaring exception, trade) compromising on basic positions. She embraced the possibility of becoming America’s first female president without claiming that as a defining argument. In the debates, she projected competence without coming across as a know-it-all.
None of these was easy, and when the campaign began many people doubted she could pull them off. She has achieved them despite the mood for change — and in the face of venomous opposition not only from Republicans but from the agency-formerly-known-as-the-KGB, too. Even as Russian espionage, in a first in American history, has disclosed the embarrassing inner squabbling of her campaign, Clinton and her team have remained focused and disciplined.
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Crossposted at HillaryHQ, an independent, progressive blog committed to the electing Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States.