Is it too late for Trump to pull ahead?

[angus]

Not at all.  New revelations are possible.  Clinton could keel over tomorrow, coughing up blood and bile.  We could be attacked by extraterrestrial aliens tomorrow who have long been in communication with The Donald. 

There's only one poll that matters.  That one takes place on November 8.

[angus]

Tell me more about these extraterrestrials in communication with the Donald

Of course they had to promise him that they're not trying to steal our jobs before he gave them permission to land.  And only then if they'd make Hillary Clinton get really sick with their stun guns.

I was thinking that Johnson is probably the most UFO-friendly candidate, so it might not be in Trump's best interest to make that deal.

[angus]

Here's a followup question. Has a candidate ever recovered from this kind of deficit this late in the election season and won?

Breckenridge was way ahead of Lincoln in October of 1860, till the October Suprise emerged and we learned that Breckenridge was taking pictures of women for Playboy magazine.  

Just kidding.  Polling wasn't bigly scientific at the time, but people were so moved that the turnout was huge.  Something like 81%.  I don't know if that has ever been bested.

You ask a good question, and I don't know the answer, but it's a really, really weird election this year.  How many candidates in the first debate said, in answer to the very first question, that if he is not the party's nominee that he will not necessarily support the party's nominee, and yet manage to win that party's nomination, even as every major elected official from that party publicly denounced him?  I don't think that the past is necessarily a good gauge this year.

[angus]

I was at the club tonight and I ran in to old Thomas, a retired wrestling coach from Lancaster High School.  Big time Republican.  I used to see him in the jacuzzi about twice a week a few years ago but I hadn't seen him for at least six months before this afternoon.  He was laughing about Trump and saying how it'll be a Clinton blowout.  "Almost anybody could beat Hillary," he said.  "Almost!" I said.  Emphasis on almost.  We lamented on the sad choices.  He even admitted that he thought Sanders would have been a good choice for the Democrats.  Better than Trump was for the Republicans, he said.  I told him I actually voted for Sanders in the primaries.  (It has been a long time since we saw each other.)  He couldn't stay long, because he had to attend a 4 o'clock mass at Saint John's, but he was clearly of the opinion that Trump was a sorry choice.  It was a bit surprising to me, because six or seven months ago all he could talk about was whoever the GOP nominated was going to blast Clinton.  

I think he may be typical of the average Republican voter of his age.  Not a big fan of Clinton, but realistic about how his own party nominated a WildCard and that they have themselves to blame.