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Morning Must Reads for Thursday, October 27, 2016

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Good Thursday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 301st day of the year. There are 65 days left in 2016.

Most Utahns say Donald Trump lacks the temperament to be president. Rep. Jason Chaffetz flip-flops and says he will vote for Donald Trump in November. GOP vice presidential candidate Mike Pence campaigns in Salt Lake City.

The clock:

  • Five days left to register to vote online in Utah (11/1/2016)
  • 12 days until the 2016 presidential election – (11/8/2016)
  • 53 days until the Electoral College meets to cast their votes for president and vice president (12/19/2016)
  • 85 days until Inauguration Day (1/20/2017)
  • 88 days until the first day of the 2017 Utah Legislature – (1/23/2017)
  • 133 days until the final day of the 2017 Utah Legislature – (3/9/2017)

Ten talking points for Thursday:

  1.  Two-thirds of Utahns say Donald Trump does not have the temperament to be president [Utah Policy].
  2. Rep. Rob Bishop is cruising toward another term in Congress as he has a massive lead over Democrat Peter Clemens [Utah Policy].
  3. Rep. Jason Chaffetz was the first prominent Republican to abandon support for Donald Trump after a videotape of Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women surfaced. Chaffetz has gone back on that pledge, saying he will now vote for Trump because he’s better than Hillary Clinton [Huffington Post].
  4. Mitt Romney says he wants to “kick himself” sometimes for not better explaining the benefits of conservative economic principles when he was the GOP nominee in 2012 [CNBC].
  5. Rep. Jason Chaffetz says he’s already got years worth of material ready for investigations into Hillary Clinton‘s administration if she wins the presidency in November [Washington Post].
  6. Sen. Ted Cruz says Republicans may block Hillary Clinton from filling the vacant seat on the Supreme Court indefinitely if she wins in November [Politico]. Sen. Harry Reid says Republicans are threatening to cause a “constitutional crisis” if they follow through on that threat [Huffington Post].
  7. GOP vice presidential candidate Mike Pence holds a rally in Salt Lake City urging Republican voters to “come home” and vote for Donald Trump [Deseret News, Tribune].
  8. Twitter explodes after Fox Business host Lou Dobbs blames a “Mormon Mafia” for putting Evan McMullin in a position to possibly carry Utah in November’s election. The “Mormon Mafia” hashtag became an endless source of comedy on Wednesday night [Huffington Post].
  9. What is Evan McMullin‘s ultimate goal? He’s hoping to build a new political party from the destruction of the GOP wrought by Donald Trump [BuzzFeed].
  10. BYU adopts an amnesty clause to protect students who report sexual assault from being investigated for Honor Code violations [Deseret News].

On this day in history:

  • 1787 – A New York newspaper published the first of 77 essays explaining the new Constitution and urging its ratification. The essays were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay (and later combined as “The Federalist Papers).”
  • 1904 – The first rapid transit subway opened, in New York City.
  • 1997 – The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 554.26 points, forcing the stock market to shut down for the first time since the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.