Friday's Campaign Round-Up, 9.30.16

Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.* For the first time in the history of the newspaper, USA Today's editorial board published a piece urging readers not to vote for a specific presidential candidate. "This year, the choice isn't between two capable major party nominees who happen to have significant ideological differences," today's piece read. "This year, one of the candidates -- Republican nominee Donald Trump -- is, by unanimous consensus of the Editorial Board, unfit for the presidency."* On a related note, the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune, which nearly always backs the Republican nominee, threw its support to Libertarian Gary Johnson today.* Healy Baumgardner, a Florida-based national surrogate for the Trump campaign, announced this morning she's quitting. "It is clear the campaign is now going in a direction I am no longer comfortable with and I have decided to move on," she said.* Jason Miller, Trump's senior communications adviser, fielded questions yesterday from MSNBC's Chuck Todd on why the campaign takes unscientific online polls so seriously. Miller's attempts at answering did not go well.* On Monday, Trump said Lester Holt did a "great job" at the debate. Yesterday, reflecting on the debate, the GOP nominee argued, "I had to put up with the anchor and fight the anchor all the time on everything I said." Trump now believes the debate was "a rigged deal."* In Florida, a new Mason-Dixon poll shows Hillary Clinton leading Trump, 46% to 42%. Last month, the same poll showed Clinton ahead by just two in the Sunshine State.* In New Hampshire, a new MassINC Polling Group poll for WBUR-FM shows Clinton ahead in the Granite State, 42% to 35%, in a four-way contest. In a head-to-head match-up, Clinton's lead grows to nine points.* In Michigan, a new Detroit News-WDIV-TV poll shows Clinton up by seven in a four-way race, 42% to 35%.* With polls showing Trump in the lead in Ohio, will the Clinton campaign give up on the state and focus resources elsewhere? That's a distinct possibility.* One of Trump's television ads features footage of Phoenix police officers. City officials wrote to the campaign yesterday, demanding that the ad be taken down immediately, and explaining that the officers "were unaware that they were photographed and videotaped, and they did not consent to the use of their on-duty images in any Trump (or other) campaign advertisement."* Star Trek fans may be interested in this L.A. Times report, which noted, "A bevy of 'Star Trek' cast and crew members from multiple generations signed an open letter Thursday by the Facebook group 'Trek Against Trump,' blasting GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and arguing against a third-party 'protest vote' in the November election."