donald trump adviser jason miller said that the campaign<u+2019>s internal polling has the race at a <u+201c>dead heat<u+201d> in michigan. | getty by ben schreckinger 10/31/16 08:49 pm edt warren, mich. <u+2014> donald trump spent halloween trying to give democrats a fright, campaigning in solidly blue michigan to conjure the specter of a shocking election day win here. his two monday rallies came on the heels of a late-sunday night stop in new mexico, another state that had faded from battleground contention, even as public polls and new deployments by pro-hillary clinton forces suggest the race will come down to wisconsin, north carolina, pennsylvania and florida. story continued below but as trump explained at his afternoon rally here, his aides have him convinced he can pull out an upset here. <u+201c>all the geniuses that work for me they say, <u+2018>oh, you<u+2019>re even in michigan.<u+2019><u+201d> trump recounted. <u+201c>so i say, <u+2018>let<u+2019>s go and win it.<u+2019><u+201d> trump adviser jason miller said the campaign<u+2019>s internal polling has the race in a <u+201c>dead heat<u+201d> in both michigan and new mexico. meanwhile, trump is down 5 to 7 points in the four most recent nonpartisan public polls of michigan and the two most recent public polls of new mexico, conducted roughly a month ago, have clinton up 14 and 24 points. 2016 by michael crowley trump upsets would be a real shock indeed to the clinton campaign, which has not bought ads in either state or sent its candidate to new mexico during the general election. but trump is playing offense as the discovery of emails potentially relevant to the fbi investigation of clinton<u+2019>s email server practices have given a jolt of life to his campaign. at both stops on monday, he declared that clinton<u+2019>s election would prompt a <u+201c>constitutional crisis.<u+201d> <u+201c>she would be under protracted criminal investigation and probably a criminal trial i would say. so we<u+2019>d have a criminal trial for a sitting president,<u+201d> trump said, adding that vladimir putin and other world leaders would be sitting back and laughing at the u.s. if that happened. trump charged, <u+201c>now there are five fbi probes into the clinton foundation and their pay-for-play activities,<u+201d> though campaign representatives did not respond to a request for documentation of that claim. and he continued to bask in the misfortune that huma abedin, through her estranged husband, anthony weiner, has brought to the clinton campaign. <u+201c>do you think right now that hillary clinton is happy with the services of huma?<u+201d> trump mused, pronouncing the name with a silent h. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t think so. i don<u+2019>t think she likes huma.<u+201d> by louis nelson trump also relished the fallout from the latest wikileaks release, saying, <u+201c>donna brazile was fired from the network for giving crooked hillary the answers and the questions to the debate.<u+201d> trump continued leading his speeches with an assault on obamacare<u+2019>s rate increases, though his policy talk has been overshadowed by the drama of recent days. the campaign also unveiled a 10-point <u+201c>new deal for black america.<u+201d> donald trump is introduced by former indiana university basketball coach bobby knight during a campaign rally in grand rapids, michigan, on oct. 31. | getty it consists mostly of trump<u+2019>s signature policies framed to cater to a black electorate along with a pledge to <u+201c>apply the law fairly, equally and without prejudice<u+201d> that comes in the wake of trump<u+2019>s infamous call to execute the central park five and his continued insistence even now that the black and latino men are guilty of gang-raping a white woman despite their being exonerated by both dna evidence and the detailed confession of a serial rapist whose dna was found inside the victim. if the michigan swing doesn<u+2019>t yield an election day surprise, it did at least serve as a stroll down memory lane. first on monday, trump visited with the ghost of christmas past, returning to the deltaplex in grand rapids, the site of a festive dec. 22 campaign rally <u+2014> his last before the 2015 holidays <u+2014> and one of his greatest triumphs on trail. at that rally, the pool camera finally panned the crowd after trump<u+2019>s incessant shouting at camera operators, who are instructed to remain trained on the speakers, to do just that. a sentimental campaign video later memorialized the camera obeying trump, set to dramatic music. the scene was festive again on monday, with cobwebs and spiders decorating the press risers and pumpkins and bales of hay decorating the stage in grand rapids. attendees<u+2019> costumes ran the gamut from the patriotic (abraham and mary todd lincoln), to the incendiary (the now-popular clinton in an orange prison jumpsuit), to the avant-garde (a bottle of ketchup holding a sign that said, <u+201c>we need to ketchup with the rest. put trump in the white house<u+201d>). 2016 by michael crowley trump also brought along former indiana university basketball coach bobby knight, whose endorsement propelled the businessman to his nomination-clinching victory in the indiana primary this spring. trump has continued to reminisce about knight and his endorsement on the trail in the intervening months. knight spoke at both rallies and he observed halloween with curses, calling trump a <u+201c>tough son of a bitch,<u+201d> promising, <u+201c>in a donald trump administration there will be no bullshit,<u+201d> and declaring, <u+201c>black, white whatever our color is, we can be damn proud that we<u+2019>re americans.<u+201d> knight also rang in the pagan holiday by canonizing trump, repeatedly referring to him as <u+201c>saint donald.<u+201d> at both rallies knight introduced trump and then reappeared mid-rally to interrupt the businessman. "hey, hey, my man needs a break," knight butted in at the rally in warren. trump for his part, continued to promise to prevent local employers from leaving michigan. he said he would delegate to knight <u+2014> who was fired from indiana university for choking a player <u+2014> the task of calling up ceos planning to outsource jobs and coercing them to keep them in the u.s., a scary prospect indeed. by bill scher by joshua zeitz by thomas wright by jack shafer
trump tries to spook dems with halloween michigan swing - politico
ben schreckinger michael crowley louis nelson michael crowley jack shafer