The late Yogi Berra had a saying, “it ain’t over, ‘til’ it’s over.” Well, for Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, the 2016 election is pretty much over—and Hillary Clinton is going to win. He also said that he would work with her. Yet, he also noted that he has no problem with Donald Trump’s positions (and he wants the Republican candidate to win), even going on to say that that he would campaign with the Republican nominee, but Cassidy concedes that there’s something wrong with the messenger this cycle (via The Times-Picayune):
"I think it's fair to say right now if you're in Vegas, you're betting on Clinton," he [Sen. Bill Cassidy] said in an interview Friday (Sept. 2).Cassidy has said he supports Trump, wants him to win, and would be willing to campaign for him. "I'm a Republican, and I want a Republican to win," he has said.
But on Friday he expressed a post-election strategy that distanced him from the partisan antagonism that has become routine in Congress: a willingness to work with a Clinton White House.
"I will work with the president whoever it is," he said.
Folks, as you know, I’m not a fan of Trump, but I find him to be much more palatable than Clinton. Moreover, it’s a bit premature to wave the white flags of surrender when we haven’t had any of the three planned debates. Clinton, who has many more years of experience in public life, is unable to deliver knockout punches against Donald Trump due to her lingering political baggage over the Clinton Foundation and her emails; two stories that the Clinton camp grossly misjudged in terms of its duration in the press and the value it has held with voters. People sort seem to think that her email fiasco is a big deal, as are the allegations of pay-to-play occurring at the Clinton Foundation. It’s what torpedoed her numbers on trust and honesty.
Clinton was leading Trump by a wide margin mid-August. Then, the Associated Press came out with the latest developments about the Clinton Foundation, which were ethically questionable. The FBI released their notes on their investigation into Clinton’s unsecured and unauthorized email server, which showed that the former first lady didn’t know that documents marked “c” meant they were classified, that aides destroyed Blackberrys with hammers, and she used at least 13 devices.
As Katie pointed out, Clinton’s double-digit lead in some polls is now gone. She’s trailing Trump by two points in the latest CNN poll. Prior to that, her decline was marked by various national polls. Reuters noted that Clinton dropped seven points in three days after the publication of the AP story on the Foundation. That’s lead to Pennsylvania, a state Trump needs to win, becoming more competitive. The national polls that came out after the latest Clinton Foundation news showed that Hillary’s support had taken a hit, with Trump remaining within striking distance of her. The Morning Consult had the race at a statistical dead heat over the Labor Day weekend. Let’s see if more polls follow CNN’s findings showing Trump in the lead between 2-4 points.
The race is tightening. No doubt about that. So, let’s just see what happens before we enter a Treaty of Versailles mindset. If there’s anything about this cycle, it’s that Trump has proven many others and me wrong. The man tends to surprise. Yet, the lack of ground game operations has me somewhat worried, especially in Florida. It’s another state that Donald Trump needs to win—and he only has one field office. But the time to remedy that issue in the Sunshine State, and many others, has probably past, with all eyes on the debates for both camps. It’s the only area left where they can gain an edge on one another, unless Trump goes off script, which doesn’t appear to be happening as often after his campaign shakeup.