US Presidential Election: Bad News for Clinton Campaign: Trump Ahead in Iowa - UPDATED

New: Fact-Checking Hillary Clinton's Economic Speech in Michigan

Hillary Clinton delivered an economic speech in Warren, Michigan Thursday. She offered few new details on her own policy, and instead devoted most of her time to slamming Donald Trump's tax plan, which he discussed Monday.

Here are the facts behind Clinton's speech. Read More

New: There’s no easy answer for the bereft boomer worker

Neither candidate, however, has grappled with what may be the most challenging economic crisis of our times: what to do with older workers whose jobs have disappeared and are never coming back — and who are injecting so much frustration (and rage) into this election cycle. Read More

Economic dislocation is the name for what this article is describing. It is a complex problem for which there are no simple solutions.

New: Poll: Trump leads in key swing state. Really.

The way the polls have gone lately, that headline reads like a punchline, with Utah or South Carolina as the “swing state.” No foolin’, though: He really does lead in a bona fide swing state according to the new survey from Suffolk. In Iowa it’s Trump 41, Clinton 40. The same poll has the four-way race at Trump 37, Clinton 36, which is in line with the other post-convention poll of Iowa showing the race dead even at 35(!). This new one isn’t an outlier.

Even during a bad stretch, he has a real chance to pick off a state that broke for Obama twice. How come? Read More

New: Trump makes play for evangelicals by noting his problems in Mormon-rich Utah

Donald Trump urged evangelical Christians to rally behind him in a speech here Thursday, seeking to ease their concerns about the Republican presidential nominee and proclaiming that sending him to the White House is crucial for the future of their movement. Read More

New: Donald Trump Sounds the Alarm, Citing 'Tremendous Problem' in Deep Red Utah

Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump raised questions about his campaign during a speech in Florida Thursday afternoon, admitting he needs help in traditionally red Utah and calling for reinforcement in other crucial swing states. Read More

New: Shifting tone, Trump entertains the notion he could lose

Straying from his trademark bravado, Donald Trump acknowledged Thursday that his presidential campaign is facing challenges and could ultimately fall short — a rare expression of humility by the Republican presidential nominee. Read More

Trump's audience was not his usual audience. It was composed of evangelical pastors. This could account for his shift in tone as he sought to persuade his audience to take a more active role in turning out the vote on election day.

New: Inside A Broken Nominee’s Mind: The Four Reasons Why Donald Trump Lies So Much

The four reasons why Donald Trump lies so much go to the heart of who Donald Trump really is; aka, what's wrong with Donald Trump. Read More

If Sarah Jones is accurate in her description of Trump's mental functioning, what she is describing are characteristics often associated with a personality disorder. Under stress these characteristics in a person with a personality disorder would become more pronounced and would seriously affect that person's judgment.

New: Trump's Iraqi obsession wasn't ISIL but oil

In numerous interviews, he urged removal of troops except to 'protect the oil' for the United States. Read More

Trump predicts winning the presidency will get him into heaven

Donald Trump called on evangelical pastors to help him win the presidency this November, which he said is “maybe the only way I'm going to get to heaven.” Read More

"Trump spent the first half of his roughly 40-minute speech pledging to undo the Johnson Amendment, a rule that the real estate mogul said 'silenced' religious leaders politically by threatening to revoke their tax exempt status. In addition to offering a political voice, Trump told the assembled pastors that with the Johnson Amendment removed, church attendance would grow.

He also pledged to appoint conservative Supreme Court justices, but did not mention other issues popular with evangelicals, like abortion or same-sex marriage." Louis Nelson, Politico

Clinton: I will stamp out 'the Trump loophole'

Hillary Clinton lambasted Donald Trump's economic plans in a speech Thursday as nothing more than a huge tax break for himself, labeling tax cuts he proposed earlier this week as "the Trump Loophole." Read More

Trump, Clinton spar over economic plans in dueling speeches

The 2016 presidential rivals set aside their latest campaign controversies Thursday to trade jabs on jobs, taxes and the economy -- with Donald Trump casting Hillary Clinton as bad for the housing industry and the Democratic nominee accusing her opponent of offering "no credible plans" for working Americans. Read More

The Donald Trump interview that should terrify national Republicans, annotated

Donald Trump is going to do Donald Trump. That's the big takeaway from a striking (and lengthy) interview Trump did with CNBC on Thursday morning.

Over the course of the interview, Trump unapologetically said he's going to win or lose doing much the same thing he's doing now -- even as he's currently losing badly. And for any Republicans hoping he'll clean up his act going forward, there was plenty to be concerned about. He even turned decades of Republican Party orthodoxy on its head and suggested the United States should borrow more money while rates are low.

Below, we annotate the transcript. A note: The top half includes lots of specifics about economic plans. The political stuff starts about halfway through. Read More

Donald Trump’s former North Carolina campaign manager, accused of pulling gun on three staffers, quickly resigns from new post

A former Donald Trump campaign manager once terrorized a staffer by jabbing a loaded gun into his knee — and team Trump refused to step in and help the harassed employee, according to a new lawsuit. Read More

Lawsuit claims Trump campaign turned blind eye when staffer pulled gun

Donald Trump’s North Carolina state director allegedly pulled a gun on multiple Trump staffers but was never admonished by the Trump campaign, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Read More

Ex-Trump State Director Pulled Gun On Staffer: Lawsuit

A former North Carolina staffer for Donald Trump's presidential campaign is claiming in a lawsuit that its then-state director pulled a gun on him and that senior campaign officials refused to do anything about it. Read More

Clinton wrestles with a stubborn swing state

Even as Clinton pulls away elsewhere, Iowa remains within striking distance for Trump. Read More

Here's Why Your Facebook Timeline Is Suddenly Full of Hillary Clinton Supporters

Those “closeted” HRC fans are ready to come out. Read More

Dozens of Republicans to urge RNC to cut off funds for Trump

The open letter pushes the RNC to shift resources to Senate and House races. Read More

"The letter ticks off a series of Trump actions that they believe have 'alienated millions of voters of all parties,' including, attacking Gold Star families, positive comments about violent foreign leaders and encouraging Russia to find Clinton’s lost emails.

'Those recent outrages have built on his campaign of anger and exclusion, during which he has mocked and offended millions of voters, including the disabled, women, Muslims, immigrants, and minorities,' the letter states. 'He also has shown dangerous authoritarian tendencies, including threats to ban an entire religion from entering the country, order the military to break the law by torturing prisoners, kill the families of suspected terrorists, track law-abiding Muslim citizens in databases, and use executive orders to implement other illegal and unconstitutional measures.'" Anna Palmer, Politico

Can Obama's counter-ISIL campaign counter Trump? 
The president's aides have spent months promoting the idea that America is winning the fight against the terrorist group. But Trump's message is easier to digest. Read More

Donald Trump: I meant that Obama founded ISIS, literally

Donald Trump said Thursday that he meant exactly what he said when he called President Barack Obama the "founder of ISIS" and objected when a conservative radio show host tried to clarify the GOP nominee's position. Read More

Trump escalates claim that Obama founded ISIL

And he gives Clinton credit for being the terrorist group's co-founder. Read More

Trump's other polling headache

While the switch to likely voters in public polling is just beginning, all indications are that Trump won’t run better among the voters who will actually turn out this fall, compared with the universe of all Americans on the voting rolls. Read More