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Tight races in two Southwestern states and wide margin in Virginia show how 2016 could continue to be an election of surprises. Hillary Clinton holds a narrow two-point edge over Donald Trump in Nevada, earning 43% against Trump’s 41% among likely voters in a swing state George W. Bush and Barack Obama both won twice. In Arizona, which has only voted Democratic once since 1948, it’s Donald Trump with the slim lead, topping Clinton 44% to 42%. But Clinton could be headed for a relative blow-out in Virginia, where she leads Trump 49% to 37%. In 2008 Obama turned Virginia...

The mother of the crying baby that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump joked about at an Ashburn, Virginia campaign rally on Tuesday has spoken out disputing the media and Clinton campaign’s smear job against Trump over the incident. Trump starts rally in Ashburn, Virginia by saying he needs bigger arenas pic.twitter.com/PMTRXoBYzt — Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) August 2, 2016

EXCERPT Dale’s account is confirmed by the mother herself — Virginia resident Devan Ebert. (She spoke on the condition that we not report her town.) “The media did in fact blow this entire situation out of proportion,” she wrote in an email. “I’m not looking to make it into anything bigger. All I’m hoping is that Trump personally is aware that I am in agreement with him and stand by the fact that I was never kicked out of the rally.” She said that she decided to leave the auditorium on her own because “it’s the considerate thing to do...

Tim Kaine says being Hillary Clinton's running mate feels like being kidnapped. Kaine spoke at a coordinated campaign field office for Clinton and local Democrats in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Friday, according to Politico. Asked by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) what it was like to be Clinton's running mate, he responded: "It feels like I got kidnapped." Kaine, a Virginia senator, was announced as Clinton's running mate July 22. He held his first joint campaign event with her the next day, and spoke at the Democratic National Convention the following week — speaking just after Vice President Joe Biden and...

Tim Kaine says being Hillary Clinton's running mate feels like being kidnapped. Kaine spoke at a coordinated campaign field office for Clinton and local Democrats in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Friday, according to Politico. Asked by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) what it was like to be Clinton's running mate, he responded: "It feels like I got kidnapped." Kaine, a Virginia senator, was announced as Clinton's running mate July 22. He held his first joint campaign event with her the next day, and spoke at the Democratic National Convention the following week — speaking just after Vice President Joe Biden and...

Electronic voting machines—particularly a design called Direct Recording Electronic, or DRE’s—took off in 2002, in the wake of Bush v. Gore. For the ensuing 15 years, Appel and his colleagues have deployed every manner of stunt to convince the public that the system is pervasively unsecure and vulnerable.

A federal appeals court has signaled that it agrees that former Virginia first lady Maureen McDonnell’s corruption convictions should be tossed out because of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned her husband’s convictions. Attorneys on both sides said that a ruling Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit suspends the public corruption case, and that further legal action is necessary to vacate the convictions as prosecutors decide whether to seek a new trial. But they said the order indicates that the court agrees with a defense analysis — unchallenged by prosecutors — that the first...

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (WBAY) – Hillary Clinton’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, visited a Milwaukee brewery Friday to make a case for Clinton’s economic plan. The Virginia senator took the stage at Lakefront Brewery after an introduction from Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin). Kaine said Clinton’s 5-point economic plan would be best for small business by investing in infrastructure, education, and having businesses share profits with employees. Kaine also made a case for raising the minimum wage.

He isn't a politician, but many are hoping the father of a slain Muslim-American war hero will become one after his powerful Democratic National Convention speech. Leading the effort to get Khizr Khan to consider a run for elected office is Vietnam veteran and Democratic activist Tom Keefe, who launched a fundraiser on Wednesday called "Yes We Khan." The campaign, which aims to get Khan in the Virginia House of Delegates, raised more than $11,000 in just 24 hours. Keefe, who also attended the DNC and was on stage with other veterans during Gen. John Allen's speech, told NBC News...

Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign has left Virginia off its upcoming battleground-state television ad buy beginning next week — the second state to be dropped in recent weeks as Clinton holds a significant lead over Donald Trump nationally and in key states. The campaign’s new television ad buy, which begins next Tuesday, consists of Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The reservations, which could easily be amended in the future, run through Labor Day. The decision reflects increasing confidence among Democrats that Clinton will keep Virginia, a state that had been expected to be bitterly contested, in...

The mayor of Fairfax City has been arrested and charged in connection with what authorities say was a methamphetamine-for-sex scheme. Richard “Scott” Silverthorne, 50, was arrested as part of an undercover operation by police, authorities announced Friday. The scheme involved offers of meth in exchange for group sexual encounters with men, police allege.

teven C. LaTourette, an Ohio Republican who was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in his party’s 1994 sweep of the chamber and stepped down after nine terms citing his frustration at rancorous partisanship, died Aug. 3 at his home in McLean, Va. He was 62. His former chief of staff, Dino DiSanto, confirmed his death. Mr. LaTourette was diagnosed in 2014 with pancreatic cancer and filed a claim against the government in May 2015 alleging that a Capitol physician had failed to inform him three years earlier of a lesion on his pancreas. Mr. LaTourette, a lawyer, won...

In light of the Rolling Stone-University of Virginia libel lawsuit and other rape hoaxes across the U.S., The Women Against VAWA [Violence Against Women Act] Excess (known as WAVE) issued a brief directed towards Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and her rhetoric on sexual assaults. In their brief, WAVE noted, "Gillibrand has no regard for the presumption of innocence and has repeatedly misrepresented the facts surround the issue." Additionally, Wave pointed out how the criminal justice system's purpose is to "reach a reliable determination of innocence and guilt," while the Left's rhetoric is to mostly ignore the due process rights...

After a sluggish start, the United States has ramped up its number of Syrian refugee admissions, putting it within reach of meeting President Barack Obama’s goal of taking in 10,000 Syrians by the end of the federal fiscal year. The surge has included resettling 21 Syrian refugees in the Roanoke region over the past three months, a significant uptick from last year’s total of just two admissions. Roanoke has long been a hub for arriving refugees, with more than 800 accepted in the past five years, according to U.S. State Department data. The acceleration of Syrian refugee admissions nationwide...

A Virginia school board may temporarily block a student who was born a girl from using the boys' bathroom while a legal fight over transgender rights proceeds on appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court said on Wednesday. The case is the first time the fight over transgender bathroom rights has reached the Supreme Court, and the subject arrived in the heat of a U.S. presidential election in which the makeup of the court is a central issue. In a brief order, the country's highest court put on hold an order from a lower court that had permitted the high school student...

The Supreme Court decided Wednesday to put a hold on a ruling that would have required a Virginia school district to allow a transgender high school student to use the boy's bathroom. The eight justices split 5-3, with Democrat-appointed Justice Stephen Breyer siding with the Republican-appointed judges that the Gloucester County public school system does not have to accommodate student Gavin Grimm's request to use the bathroom of his choice.

A Metro Transit police officer has been arrested and charged with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, marking the first time a U.S. law enforcement officer has been accused of trying to aid the terrorist group. Nicholas Young, 36, of Fairfax, Va., was arrested Wednesday morning at Metropolitan Police Headquarters in Washington and his employment was terminated. Young, at the request of an undercover federal agent, sent codes for mobile messaging cards that Young believed would be used by Islamic State fighters overseas to communicate, according to an indictment filed in federal court in Alexandria, Va.

Joe Montano, a close aide to Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and a prominent activist in the Washington area’s Filipino American community, died July 25 at his home in Falls Church, Va. He was 47. His parents said he had hypertension and died of an apparent heart attack.

August 2, 2016: Live streaming coverage of the Donald Trump for President rally in Ashburn, VA at Briar Woods High School. Live coverage begins at 11:00 AM ET. Ashburn, VA Watch the LIVE STREAM of the event below beginning at 11:00 AM ET: Briar Woods High School Tuesday, August 2, 2016: Live stream coverage of the Donald Trump for President town hall event in Phoenix, AZ at the Phoenix Convention Center featuring Vice Presidential candidate Governor Mike Pence @ 7pm PT. Phoenix, AZ Watch the LIVE STREAM of the event below beginning at 7:00 PM PT:

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