Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 222nd day of the year. There are 144 days left in 2016.
Gov. Herbert has a massive lead over Michael Weinholtz. A BYU grad launches a longshot bid for the White House. More Republicans shy away from supporting Donald Trump.
The clock:
- 91 days until the 2016 presidential election – (11/8/2016)
- 167 days until the first day of the 2017 Utah Legislature – (1/23/2017)
- 212 days until the final day of the 2017 Utah Legislature – (3/9/2017)
Ten talking points for Tuesday:
- Gov. Gary Herbert has opened up a whopping 41-point lead over Democrat Michael Weinholtz in the Utah gubernatorial contest according to a new poll [Utah Policy].
- Evan McMullin, a virtually unknown BYU graduate and longtime Republican advisor in Washington, is launching a longshot, independent bid for the White House to stop Donald Trump [Utah Policy, Politico, Deseret News, 2 News].
- More Republicans are turning away from Donald Trump. GOP Senator Susan Collins pens an op-ed explaining why she cannot vote for Trump in November [Washington Post]. Former Michigan Republican Governor William Milliken announces he will vote for Hillary Clinton [Talking Points Memo]. 50 top Republican national security experts pen a letter saying Trump does not have the qualifications to be president [The Hill].
- Donald Trump unveils his updated economic proposal in Detroit. Critics say the plan is a big benefit for upper-income Americans [Bloomberg].
- Salt Lake County DA Sim Gill rules that the police-involved shooting of a 17-year-old Somali refugee outside of a downtown homeless shelter in February was “justified” [Utah Policy, Tribune, Deseret News].
- Poll Roundup: Hillary Clinton has opened up a 10-point lead over Donald Trump in one survey [NBC News]. A Monmouth University poll gives Clinton a 13-point lead over Trump nationally [Politico]. A survey gives Clinton a 10-point lead in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania [Talking Points Memo].
- A proposed massive Facebook data center could break ground in West Jordan sometime this month [Deseret News, Tribune].
- Millcreek Mayoral candidate Fred Healey has withdrawn from the race due to his cancer diagnosis, leaving Jeff Silvestrini as the only name on November’s ballot [Tribune, Deseret News].
- LGBT groups are pressuring the Big 12 conference to reject BYU’s bid to join because the school discriminates against LGBTQ students [Fox News, Deseret News].
- Comedian Leslie Jones (Saturday Night Live, Ghostbusters) has been tweeting about the Olympics and it’s been glorious! She has been invited to Rio to help NBC cover the remainder of the games [ReCode].
On this day in history:
- 1854 – “Walden” was published by Henry David Thoreau.
- 1945 – A U.S. bomber dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
- 1974 – President Richard Nixon’s resignation became effective at noon and Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as the nation’s 38th president.
- 2010 – Former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens was killed in a plane crash in southwestern Alaska.
