memeorandum: Michelle Obama makes case for Clinton (CNN)

8:00 AM ET, September 16, 2016

Top Items:

Trump defiant as polls rise, won't say Obama was born in United States — CANTON, Ohio — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said in an interview here that he remains unwilling to say that President Obama is born in the United States, that he is more bullish than ever on his chances …

Donald J Trump for President:

TRUMP CAMPAIGN STATEMENT — “Hillary Clinton's campaign first raised this issue to smear then-candidate Barack Obama in her very nasty, failed 2008 campaign for President. This type of vicious and conniving behavior is straight from the Clinton Playbook. As usual, however, Hillary Clinton was too weak to get an answer.

Discussion: New York Times, Politicus USA, CANNONFIRE, Post On Politics, The Week, Daily Kos, Guardian, Raw Story, Media Matters for America and The Last Refuge

Jake Sherman / Politico:

Exclusive: Reid hits back at Trump — Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid punched right back at Donald Trump for poking fun at his grisly eye injury, calling the GOP presidential nominee a “con artist” and rapping Republican leaders for not getting answers from the New York billionaire.

Discussion: Political Wire, The Week, Raw Story, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo and Washington Post

CNN:

Michelle Obama makes case for Clinton — Michelle Obama's entire Democratic convention speech — Washington (CNN)With virtually unmatched popularity at her back, First Lady Michelle Obama debuts on the stump for Hillary Clinton Friday, hoping to galvanize suburban voters behind a candidate she once fiercely opposed.

Discussion: Political Wire and The Week

Harper Neidig / The Hill:

Trump refuses to say whether he thinks Obama was born in US — refused to say if he thinks President Obama was born in the U.S. on Wednesday, despite many of his surrogates declaring in recent weeks that the Republican nominee had renounced his “birther” theory.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Week, Mother Jones, Raw Story, Refinery29, RedState and Politicus USA

Daniella Diaz / CNN:

Trump campaign: Obama born in the US — “In 2011, Mr. Trump was finally able to bring this ugly incident to its conclusion,” his campaign said — Washington (CNN)Donald Trump's campaign on Thursday said he believes President Barack Obama was born in the US, a major reversal from a line of attack Trump launched five years ago.

Discussion: Fox News, Mediaite, fox8.com and Politico

Robert Costa / Washington Post:
Trump releases letter from his doctor, saying he takes cholesterol-lowering drug, is overweight

Discussion: ABC News, Vox, Respectful Insolence, The Week, Politico, The Atlantic, International Business Times, heave-ho.org, Media Matters for America, Shareblue, Washington Monthly, MSNBC and Mother Jones

New York Times:

Hillary Clinton Takes Aim at Voters Drifting Toward Third Party — WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton and her Democratic allies, unnerved by the tightening presidential race, are making a major push to dissuade disaffected voters from backing third-party candidates, and pouring more energy into Rust Belt states …

Discussion: twitchy.com, New York Magazine, Vox, MichelleMalkin.com and Washington Post

Todd Spangler / Detroit Free Press:

Poll: Donald Trump gaining on Hillary Clinton in Michigan — WASHINGTON - A month after it appeared the race for president in Michigan might be all but over, Donald Trump has cut deeply into Hillary Clinton's post-convention lead, with an exclusive new Free Press/WXYZ-TV poll showing …

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:

Gary Johnson cuts into Clinton's lead — NEW YORK — Gary Johnson was never supposed to be a problem for Hillary Clinton. — The low-profile Libertarian's presence on the ballot would serve as an easy out for #NeverTrump Republicans, Democrats aligned with the nominee have long figured, and that could only hurt Donald Trump.

Discussion: Political Wire

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:

The race is tightening for a painfully simple reason — Hillary Clinton's ongoing campaign to paint Donald Trump as unacceptable in the eyes of most Americans is working. It's just not good enough. That's the message of the spate of recent polls showing a dramatically tightened race that Trump may even be narrowly winning.

Discussion: The Other McCain, CNN, Liberal Values, Marginal REVOLUTION, The Hill, CANNONFIRE, Politico, alan.com, Townhall.com, Common Dreams, Washington Free Beacon, CNBC and CBS News

Dana Blanton / Fox News:
Fox News Poll: Clinton and Trump in a one-point race among likely voters

Discussion: Infowars, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, FOX News Radio and Political Wire

Bill Bartel / Associated Press:
Trump-Clinton is now too close to call in Virginia, according to new poll

Discussion: ThinkProgress

QU Poll:
Release Detail — While the presidential horse race between …

Discussion: The Hill, The American Spectator and Hot Air

Monmouth University:
Monmouth University Polling Institute

Discussion: Politico, The Gateway Pundit, Suffolk University, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo and Washington Times

Liz Crokin / The New York Observer:

Exclusive: Hillary Clinton Campaign Systematically Overcharging Poorest Donors — Wells Fargo fraud department inundated with calls from low-income Clinton supporters reporting repeated unauthorized charges — Hillary Clinton's campaign is stealing from her poorest supporters by purposefully …

Discussion: BizPac Review, Da Tech Guy Blog, The Hayride and The Gateway Pundit

Kristin Salaky / Talking Points Memo:

Trump Camp Defends Don Jr.: He Was Talking Executions, Not The Holocaust! — Donald Trump Jr. and the Trump campaign both defended his “gas chamber” quip in a Thursday interview, saying that he was making a reference to capital punishment rather than the Holocaust, as many had interpreted it.

Discussion: New York Times, NBC News, Mashable, The Times of Israel, Algemeiner.com, ThinkProgress, RT and Mediaite

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Aide Shuts Down Local TV Interview With Trump Jr. When Charity Issue Is Raised

Discussion: CBS News, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Raw Story, Balloon Juice and Talking Points Memo

Asawin Suebsaeng / The Daily Beast:
Donald Trump Didn't Keep His Word in Flint, Pastor Says

Discussion: Guardian, Sputnik International and The Frisky

Lydia Wheeler / The Hill:

Trump would roll back food safety regulations — intends to roll back food safety regulations if he wins the White House in November. — In a fact sheet Thursday, the campaign highlighted a number of “specific regulations to be eliminated” under the GOP nominee's economic plan, including what they called the “FDA Food Police.”

Discussion: Salon, alicublog, Hit & Run, Hot Air, Vocativ, Daily Kos, Mother Jones, ThinkProgress, The Week, Balloon Juice and Talking Points Memo

Donald J Trump for President:
FACT SHEET: DONALD J. TRUMP'S PRO-GROWTH ECONOMIC POLICY WILL CREATE 25 MILLION JOBS

Discussion: Politico, Bloomberg, Washington Post, New York Magazine, WHNT-TV, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Mother Jones and National Review

Donald J Trump for President:
TRUMP DELIVERS SPEECH ON JOBS AT NEW YORK ECONOMIC CLUB

Discussion: taxpolicycenter.org, CRFB Papers and Blog Posts, Common Dreams, The Daily Caller and NPR

Alex Griswold / Mediaite:

MSNBC Host Complains Hillary Clinton ‘Faces a Double Standard Every Day’ — MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle complained Thursday that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was being treated unfairly by the media, saying there was a “double standard” where she received more negative coverage than Donald Trump.

Discussion: Independent Journal Review

Wall Street Journal:
Paul Ryan Says Donald Trump Should Release Tax Returns

Discussion: The Forward, The Week, Correct The Record, Greensburg Tribune-Review, BuzzFeed, RedState, CNN, Mother Jones, ThinkProgress, The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, Vox, Politicus USA, Mediaite, Guardian and Politico

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Donald Trump Jr. just told everyone the real reason his dad isn't releasing his tax returns

Discussion: CNN, Correct The Record, AOL, Greensburg Tribune-Review, Independent Journal Review, Business Insider and ThinkProgress

The Columbus Dispatch:

Police chief identifies officer who shot 13-year-old suspect — City and police officials released the name of the police officer who shot a 13-year-old boy Wednesday night in the Olde Towne East neighborhood. — Tyre King, an 8th grader at Linden-McKinley STEM Academy …

Discussion: ABC News, Washington Post, Sputnik International, Guardian, Vox, Shakesville, NBC News and CBS Baltimore

Todd S. Purdum / Politico:

What's Really Ailing Hillary — She wasn't always like this. She wasn't always a woman who could almost collapse in public, then emerge from seclusion a couple of hours later announcing, “I'm feeing great,” as if nothing had happened, as if she hadn't already known for two days that she had pneumonia.

Rick Seltzer / Inside Higher Ed:

The Librarian's Bequest — Alumnus and longtime library employee left largely unrestricted bequest to U of New Hampshire. It is spending $100,000 on the library and $1 million on a video scoreboard for the football stadium. — By — It sounds too good to be true …

Discussion: USA TODAY College, NPR, The Big Lead and New York Magazine

Bloomberg:

Cruz's Internet Crusade Gains Steam in U.S. Funding Debate — Senator warns freedom at stake if U.S. doesn't oversee the web — Republicans want internet provision included in spending bill — Another year, another standoff over a possible government shutdown, and Ted Cruz is back in the center …

Discussion: heave-ho.org

Edward Morrissey / The Fiscal Times:

How Obamacare Clears the Field for a GOP Senate Win — Democrats have licked their chops in anticipation of the 2016 election when it comes to control of the US Senate. Under normal circumstances, a 24-10 advantage in a presidential cycle would all but guarantee Democrats victory in the Senate race.

Discussion: CNN, Hot Air and The Federalist