BloggeRhythms

Once again, the huge upheaval in the presidential race floods media outlets across the spectrum. While broad-based news is rampant, several items today provide insight into the probable outcome, at this point most of them favoring Trump.  

One example comes from Douglas E. Schoen, one of the most influential Democrat campaign consultants for over thirty years

Yesterday, during an interview by Fox New’s Harris Faulkner, the following exchange took place:

“DOUG SCHOEN: As you know, I have been a supporter of Secretary Clinton... But given that this investigation is going to go on for many months after the election... But if the Secretary of State wins, we will have a president under criminal investigation, with Huma Abedin under criminal investigation, with the Secretary of State, the president-elect, should she win under investigation.

Harris, under these circumstances, I am actively reassessing my support. I'm not a Trump --

“HARRIS FAULKNER, FOX NEWS: Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. You are not going to vote for Hillary Clinton? 

“SCHOEN: Harris, I'm deeply concerned that we'll have a constitutional crisis if she's elected.

“FAULKNER: Wow!

“SCHOEN: I want to learn more this week. See what we see. But as of today, I am not a supporter of the Secretary of State for the nation's highest office.

“FAULKNER: How long have you known the Clintons.

“SCHOEN: I've known the Clintons since '94.

“FAULKNER: Wow! But their friend here has said he's reconsidering.

“SCHOEN: I have to, because of the impact on the governance of the country and our international situation.

“FAULKNER: So the news in that is are there other people, I would imagine, like Doug Schoen.”

To reiterate who Schoen is: he’s not only been one of the most influential Democratic campaign consultants for over thirty years, but a founding partner and principle strategist for Penn, Schoen & Berland, and widely recognized as one of the co-inventors of overnight polling.

Named Pollster of the Year in 1996 by the American Association of Political Consultants for his contributions to the President Bill Clinton reelection campaign, his political clients include New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Indiana Governor Evan Bayh.

Corporate clients include AOL Time Warner, Procter & Gamble and AT&T. Internationally, he has worked for the heads of states of over 15 countries, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and three Israeli Prime Ministers.

Thus, Schoen’s a guy who really, really knows what he’s talking about.

Another indication of current trends comes from Chris Ariens @adweek.com, who writes: 

“With heavy emphasis on the 2016 election, FBN averaged 170,000 total viewers (vs. 164,000 for CNBC) for business day, giving FBN its most-watched month ever and up 67 percent vs. October 2015. CNBC won the advertiser-friendly A25-54 demo (33,000 vs. 22,000). But FBN saw growth in the demo (+38 percent), while CNBC lost demo viewers (-35 percent) vs. October 2015.

Which means that the right-leaning Fox, which continually leads in TV news viewership, has now become the leader in business reporting as well with its conservative outlet Fox Business Network. 

As far as the Fox News Channel itself is concerned, adweek.com’s  A.J. Katz provides results for the new 25-54 demographic (Live +SD.)

• Total day: FNC: 502 | CNN: 308 | MSNBC: 195 | HLN: 86
• Primetime: FNC: 863  | CNN: 452  | MSNBC: 318 | HLN: 57

Individually, Sean Hannity sits at the top of Fox’s host list by far. Another indication of significant audience interest in Conservative politics.

And then, on the other side, Tyler Durden @zerohedge.com, headlined his article today: “Podesta To Mills: "We Are Going To Have To Dump All Those Emails"

Mr. Durden goes on: “In today's, 25th, Wikileaks release of hacked Podesta emails, one of the notable highlights is a March 2, 2015 exchange between John Podesta and Clinton aide Cheryl Mills in which the Clinton Campaign Chair says "On another matter....and not to sound like Lanny, but we are going to have to dump all those emails." 

“The email, which may indicate intent, was sent just days before the NYT story revealing the existence of Hillary's email server, and Hillary's press conference addressing what was at the time, the stunning revelation that she had a personal email account, and server, in her home. 

“Mills' response: "Think you just got your new nick name." 

“It is also unclear for now which emails Podesta is referring to in the thread, but Podesta adds: "better to do so sooner than later." 

Mr. Durden then explains the dire implications of the revelation, whereas: “If the exchange is shown to disclose intent to mislead, it will negate the entire narrative prepared by Clinton that she merely deleted "personal" emails and will reveal a strategic plan to hinder the State Department and FBI "investigation." 

“This is the first time that particular exchange has emerged among the Podesta emails. 

“And in a separate email sent out just days later by Clinton campaign communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, we get yet another confirmation that the president actively mislead the public when he said he didn't know Hillary was using a private email address:

“Suggest Philippe talk to Josh or Eric. They know POTUS and HRC emailed. Josh has been asked about that. Standard practice is not to confirm anything about his email, so his answer to press was that he would not comment/confirm. I recollect that Josh was also asked if POTUS ever noticed her personal email account and he said something like POTUS likely had better things to do than focus on his Cabinet's email addresses.

“Perhaps while the DOJ/FBI is taking a second look into Huma Abedin's emails, it can also take a repeat look at some of these, especially the ones involving POTUS.” 

So, with information continually amassing from newly released emails, the rationale for pollster Schoen’s change of heart becomes far clearer. Because he knows better than most, whether or not there’s truth and substance to the validity of the discovery’s. And therefore, whereas he’s chosen to abandon the Democrats, that speaks volumes for the depth of their problems.   

Bringing us to today’s update on Bill Clinton’s wife. 

This one comes from reporters @dailymail.co.uk, who’ve put together a synopsis of where Bill’s wife’s campaign stands at the moment. The best way to present it is to post it precisely as they wrote it: 

“Influence peddling, acting for Putin's ally, hiding classified secrets and sexting - how FIVE separate FBI cases are probing virtually every one of Clinton's inner circle and their families

• Scale of FBI investigations into Clinton's closest aides and friends is becoming clear 
• Besides Huma Abedin,  a swathe of long-time loyalists are at the center of investigations including Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe  
• John Podesta ran the Clinton Foundation which is under investigation while his brother Tony is also focus of a probe about foreign corruption  
• Cheryl Mills already received limited FBI immunity during Clinton email investigation - and is key Clinton fixer 
• String of other names are being looked at or have been caught up in earlier scandals  

According to the article’s text: “The Clintons' long-term inner-circle - some of whom stretch back in service to the very first days of Bill's White House - are being examined in at least five separate investigations. 

“The five known investigations are into: Anthony Weiner, Huma Abedin's estranged husband sexting a 15-year-old; the handling of classified material by Clinton and her staff on her private email server; questions over whether the Clinton Foundation was used as a front for influence-peddling; whether the Virginia governor broke laws about foreign donations; and whether Hillary's campaign chairman's brother did the same. 

A significant amount of detailed homework was done by the authors. Here’s a link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3889994/Influence-peddling-acting-Putin-s-ally-hiding-classified-secrets-sexting-FIVE-separate-FBI-cases-probing-virtually-one-Clinton-s-inner-circle-families.html#ixzz4OlyBYasa

Consequently, although there are only seven days remaining until the presidential election, pressure may be building on the POTUS to try to save his party from potential embarrassing losses. And that would mean having to find a replacement at the top.

Which brings up the ongoing question, once again: Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Jerry Brown, and Starbucks chairman and CEO, Howard Schultz, are you guys are reading this? 

That's it for today folks.    

 

Adios