Nov 4, 2016 5 min read

Wake Up To Politics - November 4, 2016

Friday, November 4, 2016

4 Days until Election Day 2016 + my 15th birthday (Nov. 8)I'm Gabe Fleisher for Wake Up To Politics, and reporting from WUTP world HQ in my bedroom - Good morning: THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL!!!

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No school today, so welcome to this Sleeping In edition of Wake Up To Politics. With the end of this election drawing near at last, today's edition is more of a Playbook-style roundup of coverage of the final days from the past 24 hours...

Bridgegate "The jury in the Bridgegate trial has reached a verdict. Defense attorneys and federal prosecutors were notified to immediately return to the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark, after jurors sent out a note saying they had concluded their deliberations."
"Charged in the high-profile political case are Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, who served as a deputy chief of staff to Gov. Chris Christie. The two were indicted more than a year ago on nine counts of conspiracy and fraud in connection with a scheme to create massive gridlock in Fort Lee in retribution for the refusal of Mayor Mark Sokolich to endorse the governor for re-election." (NJ.com)
Race for the Senate 2016 "Democrats enter the final days of the campaign season with a clear shot to take the Senate majority, with seven GOP seats at serious risk of flipping and only one of theirs that could slip away. But a new wildcard has entered the mix: Wisconsin -- a seat long thought to be a Democratic lock that has now become a lot more uncertain."
"To win the Senate, Democrats need to pick up four seats if Hillary Clinton takes the White House; five if Donald Trump becomes the next president, since the vice president breaks a 50-50 tie. And no matter which party controls the chamber, the party in power will almost certainly have a very small majority -- a handful of seats, at most -- a recipe for gridlock in the new Congress." (CNN)
Clinton impeachment? "Senior Republican lawmakers are openly discussing the prospect of impeaching Hillary Clinton should she win the presidency, a stark indication that partisan warfare over her tenure as secretary of state will not end on Election Day." (Washington Post)
Divided Government Likely "The personality-driven, mudslinging presidential campaign notwithstanding, Americans aren't just choosing between two people on Election Day. More than 130 million voters are expected to determine whether the next occupant of the Oval Office starts off with a mandate—and the allies in Congress to implement it—or with enemies and further gridlock, with the Supreme Court, the economy, Obamacare, and even the health of the planet possibly hanging in the balance. Assuming we don't go into electoral overtime, what is the government likely to look like on Nov. 9?...Hillary Clinton is still the odds-on favorite to win the presidency, with Democrats having a slightly higher chance of winning back the Senate, while Republicans are likely to retain comfortable control of the House of Representatives." (Bloomberg)
Jobs Report "The U.S. economy added a less-than-expected 161,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate stood at 4.9 percent as investors got to digest the final payrolls report before Tuesday's presidential election." (CNBC)
Looking Back 2016 in...
Yard Signs (AP)
Images (NYT)
Ads (CNN)
Books (Washington Post)
Post-Election GOP "Paul Ryan initially didn't want to be speaker, but he may now have to fight to keep his job. A number of members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus -- a group of roughly 40 members who have been a persistent thorn in the GOP leadership's side -- are refusing to say if they will back the Wisconsin Republican's bid to keep his gavel if their party maintains the House majority." (CNN)
What If the Polls Are Wrong? "Hillary Clinton leads in most national polls and in enough battleground states to put her on pace to surpass the 270 electoral votes she needs Tuesday to become the next president. But not far beneath the surface, as Donald Trump has narrowed the gap following the late-breaking FBI announcement of a renewed review of emails related to her private server, lurks a question making Democrats squirm in these frenzied final days."
"What if the polls are wrong? And more: What if Clinton’s vaunted data operation and ground game don’t deliver? What if there is, in fact, a “silent majority” of Trump fans? What if Clinton’s banked stash of early votes is insufficient? What if, as President Barack Obama’s former campaign manager David Plouffe not so affectionately describes nervous Democrats, the “bed-wetters” are right?...While Trump remains decidedly the underdog, his path to 270 is not nonexistent. In the most recent New York Times/CBS News poll, Trump trailed by 3 percentage points, shrunken from 9 points behind only weeks ago." (Politico)
Early Voting "Democrats are building an early voting lead in North Carolina and Nevada, but Republicans maintain an edge in Florida and Ohio, according to a CNN analysis. With five days to go, registered Republicans also lead Democrats in early voting in Arizona, while Democrats are also ahead in Colorado and Iowa." (CNN)
Today on the Trail Everybody is campaigning.
Donald Trump Hershey, PA; Atkinson, NH; Wilmington, OH
Mike Pence Miami, FL; Lansing, MI; Greenville, NC
Hillary Clinton Pittsburgh, PA; Cleveland, OH; Detroit, MI
Tim Kaine Melbourne, FL
Barack Obama Fayetteville, NC; Charlotte, NC
Joe Biden Madison, WI
Bill Clinton Pueblo, CO; Denver, CO; Fort Collins, CO
Bernie Sanders Davenport, IA; Iowa City, IA; Cedar Falls, IA; Omaha, NE
Stevie Wonder Philadelphia, PA
Gary Johnson Sacramento, CA
Bill Weld Providence, RI