Hillary Clinton Headlines Aug. 17, 2016

Donald Trump shakes up campaign team Politico

Hillary Clinton Needs to Step Up and Get Ahead of Her Family Foundation 'Scandal' The Daily Beast

Trump unpopularity fuels wide lead for Clinton in new Virginia poll The Washington Post

Poll: Clinton Maintains Big Lead as Voters Doubt Trump's Temperament NBC News

In private call. DNC flexes unity with Clinton camp and Sanders team Politico

Kris Jenner Quits 'Kardashian U' The Daily Beast

Hillary Clinton Widens Lead Over Donald Trump in Battleground States Wall Street Journal

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is increasing her lead in three battleground states, while maintaining an advantage over Republican rival Donald Trump in Florida, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll has found.

In Colorado, Mrs. Clinton leads Mr. Trump 46% to 32%— up six pts from a July poll taken before the parties' conventions.

Mrs. Clinton also gained support in two Southern battleground states: Virginia, where she now leads 46% to 33%, and North Carolina, where she is ahead 48% to 39%. Mitt Romney won NC in 2012. In Florida the poll finds a tighter race, with Clinton at 44% and Trump at 39%.

Trump campaign launches drive to recruit 'election observers' Politico

In a move that's unprecedented in a presidential election, Donald Trump's campaign is seeking to recruit 'election observers'. Trump's website proclaims, "Help Me Stop Crooked Hillary From Rigging This Election! " as a followup to his assertion that he will win Pennsylvania unless Hillary Clinton steals his victory.

Those who wish to be a Trump "observer" are asked to fill out information on the website that should match their voter registration. Next step, voters are directed to a donation page.

Trump backs off his backpedal on Obama terror claim Politico

Trying to follow Donald Trump's constantly flipflopping positions can give one a whiplash. Om Friday in Erie, Pa the Republican candidate went full throttle after President Obama, again accusing him of founding ISIS.

Friday morning Trump had eased up on his claim, suggesting that it was a 'sarcastic comment'. “Ratings challenged @CNN reports so seriously that I call President Obama (and Clinton) ‘the founder’ of ISIS, & MVP,” Trump tweeted. “THEY DON'T GET SARCASM?”

Fully absorbed in his own ego, Trump was bemused about the media and their studying of his personality. “I love watching these poor, pathetic people (pundits) on television working so hard and so seriously to try and figure me out. They can't!” Trump declared.

“So I said the founder of ISIS,” Trump explained to the Erie, Pa crowd, because the president is “so weak and so bad” that he allowed the Islamic State to grow. “Obviously I’m being sarcastic. Then — but not that sarcastic, to be honest with you.”

The Republican presidential nominee’s swerving attempt at damage control came after doubling down, if not tripling down, on his “founder” claim Thursday. It also came ahead of what one person characterized as a “come-to-Jesus” meeting between Trump’s campaign and Republican Party officials in Orlando, Florida, on Friday morning, as dozens of prominent members of the GOP pressed the Republican National Committee to dump Trump and redirect its funds downballot to save Republican majorities in Congress.

Bernie Sanders's Plan for Perpetual Revolution The Daily Beast

Senator Sanders has launched a new organization, Our Revolution. His first big target is former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who defends her House seat in an Aug. 30 primary against Sanders-backed Tim Canova.

Hillary Clinton detoured her campaign in Florida this week to endorse Wasserman Schultz, at a time when Sanders is determined to remake the Democratic Party in his own image, even wielding more power than the future president. Canova's own poll done after the Democratic convention shows him trailing Wasserman Schultz in the 23rd district by 8 points. Clinton won the primary big in Broward and Palm Beach counties, which comprise the district.

Many hoped that Sanders’s Our Revolution could form a new, effective third party able to make a coalition with Democrats on key issues. As an Independent, Senator Sanders has operated in this way for years. But many fear that Our Revolution will operate as an angry Tea Party type or organization focused on taking out Democrats not to their liking -- making it a feared organization and not one interested in coalition building.

RuPaul on His First Emmy Nomination. Donald Trump, and Hillary Clinton Vulture

Asked what he thinks about Hillary Clinton and the Democrats, Ru Paul let it rip.

[Laughs.] I fucking love them. I have always loved them. And let me just say this: If you're a politician — not just in Washington but in business and industry, you have to be a politician — there are a lot of things that you have to do that you're not proud of. There are a lot of compromises you have to make because it means that you can get this other thing over here. And if you think that you can go to fucking Washington and be rainbows and butterflies the whole time, you're living in a fucking fantasy world. So now, having said that, think about what a female has to do with that: All of those compromises, all of that shit, double it by ten. And you get to understand who this woman is and how powerful, persuasive, brilliant, and resilient she is. Any female executive, anybody who has been put to the side — women, blacks, gays — for them to succeed in a white-male-dominated culture is an act of brilliance. Of resilience, of grit, of everything you can imagine. So, what do I think of Hillary? I think she's fucking awesome. Is she in bed with Wall Street? Goddammit, I should hope so! You've got to dance with the devil. So which of the horrible people do you want? That's more of the question. Do you want a pompous braggart who doesn't know anything about diplomacy? Or do you want a badass bitch who knows how to get shit done? That's really the question.