| | | | Kasich still won't back Trump | | Ohio Gov. John Kasich won't say who he's supporting for president -- but he told CNN's Jake Tapper several times Sunday on "State of the Union" that "actions speak louder than words." Making clear his decision to skip the Republican convention in his home state means he still doesn't back Donald Trump, Kasich said: "If I wasn't prepared to go there and get up and endorse a nominee, I just thought it was inappropriate to go into that convention hall. Some people are really furious with me about that. But I did what I thought I needed to do."
Kasich for the first time confirmed the scoop The New York Times' Robert Draper landed last month: that Donald Trump Jr. tried to entice Kasich with a position as the most powerful vice president in history -- putting him in charge of all domestic and foreign policy -- was accurate. He said Trump Jr. reached out to one of his emissaries. "That's what one of them has told me, yes," Kasich said. More from CNN's Will Cadigan.
Swing-state concerns: Both Kasich in Ohio and Sen. Jeff Flake in Arizona voiced doubts about Trump's ability to win their states -- both musts for GOP presidential candidates, The Washington Post's Abby Phillip and Sean Sullivan note.
The big picture: The New York Times' Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns report that GOP super PAC strategists are "discussing advertisements that would treat Mr. Trump's defeat as a given and urge voters to send Republicans to Congress as a check on a Hillary Clinton White House ... Plans for ads that distance congressional candidates from the top of the ticket have accelerated" to mid-September. | | "She took a short-circuit in the brain." -- Donald Trump, in New Hampshire on Saturday night. Republicans begged him to get back onto his anti-Hillary Clinton message -- so he launched his harshest attack yet, questioning her mental health. | | | | Jake Tapper imagines Kendrick Lamar and Ellen DeGeneres -- both on the guest list for President Barack Obama's 55th birthday bash -- having no trouble getting Obama onto the dance floor in this week's "State of the Cartoonion." | | Stats of the day: Obama's golf habit | | President Barack Obama played a round of golf Sunday on Martha's Vineyard. Here are two interesting numbers about his golfing, noted by CNN's Kevin Liptak:
-- 300: That's the number of rounds Obama has played while in the Oval Office, according to figures maintained by CBS correspondent and unofficial White House historian Mark Knoller.
-- "An honest 13": That's what Obama told Golf Channel's David Feherty his handicap is. It's an improvement over the reported 17 Obama entered the White House with. "I think my irons are good, my drive is straight but unimpressive in length, and my putting's decent, chipping is OK," Obama told Feherty. "My sand game is terrible." | | Hillary Clinton now has an 85% chance of winning the presidential election, according to the CNN Political Prediction Market, powered by Pivit. The chart above, tracking the last month, shows she's increased her odds against Donald Trump sharply since the Democratic convention.
The latest poll -- an ABC News/Washington Post survey out today -- has Clinton up by 8 points. | | Kaine: Clinton and I will be 'real transparent' | | | After Hillary Clinton's controversy over her private email use, running mate Tim Kaine told NBC's Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press" that the two would be "real transparent" in the White House. "She said it was a mistake," Kaine said. "I am not presumptuous enough to start thinking about how I'm going to do things after November. But I know that this is something that she's learned from, and we're going to be real transparent, absolutely." | | Libertarian Gary Johnson picked up his first congressional backer -- GOP Rep. Scott Rigell of Virginia -- this weekend. ... Frank Lavin, a former Ronald Reagan political director, says he's voting for Hillary Clinton. ... Former CIA Acting Director Mike Morell kept up his assertion that Vladimir Putin is working the GOP nominee, saying the Russian President has "manipulated people much smarter than Donald Trump."
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