KAMALA LEADING: Vice President Kamala Harris leads Donald Trump in polling of voters in three key states, according to The NY Times/Siena research.

The poll has Harris at 50 percent and Trump at 46 in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

  The surveys were conducted from August 5th to 9^th, showing a dramatic reversal in Democratic fortunes since President Joe Biden left the race for re-election.

  Overall, the FiveThirtyEight website average of polls has Harris leading Trump 45.5 to 43.4 percent.

  The durability of voter enthusiasm for Harris is yet to be tested. Presidential candidates usually get a bounce after announcing their running mate.

ORANGE ALERT !!: Former President Donald Trump held his first rally in nearly a week last night in Montana, a state he is sure to win. His operatives said it was to raise money.

  Trump’s latest line is that if Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz are elected to The White House the country will turn communist. He told a roaring crowd that, “If Comrade Walz and Comrade Harris win this November the people cheering will be the pink-haired Marxists, the looters, perverts, the flag burners, Hamas supporters, drug dealers, gun grabbers, and human traffickers.”

BLACKHAWK DOWN: Trump is threatening to sue the NY Times for debunking a story about how he was in a near helicopter crash with now-retired California politician Willie Brown.

  He said during his Thursday press conference that, “We thought maybe this was the end.” He also said Brown said “terrible things” about Kamala Harris, his girlfriend 30 years ago.

  Brown says he never flew in a helicopter with Trump and that Trump may have confused him, a Black man, with former California Gov. Jerry Brown, who’s white. Jerry Brown says he did fly with Trump to survey California wildfire damage, but there was no emergency landing. 

  Nevertheless, Trump claimed to Ny Times reporter Maggie Haberman that, “We have the flight records of the helicopter” and that the chopper had landed “in a field.” He said he would release the records but so far has not. They are filed somewhere with the proof of election fraud.

AIR CRASH: Brazilian authorities have begun an investigation into why a passenger jet carrying 61 people crashed in the outskirts of São Paulo, killing everyone on board.  The airline says there were 57 passengers and four crew.

  Video captured the plane in a slow flat spin in its final moments. Tracking data showed that the jet dropped 17,000 feet in one minute. Icing on the wings is suspected, but it’s too early to know the cause of the accident.

  About 10 people at the departing airport had missed the flight because they were waiting at the wrong gate. 

THE WAR ROOM: A video posted online appears to show burnt-out Russian military trucks and bodies of soldiers in the country’s southwestern Kursk region where Ukrainian armored forces have struck across the border. The Ukrainians are believed to be in control of about 100 square miles of Russian territory, more than what the Ukrainians recovered of their own ground in their summer counter-offensive.

  The Kremlin in response has declared a state of emergency. 

  The video taken in daytime shared by Russian military bloggers and independent outlets shows about a dozen burned and disabled trucks with bodies in them and on the ground. 

FIVE RINGS:  Team USA, anchored by Sha’Carri Richardson, won gold in the women’s 4×100 meter relay.

  American runner Rai Benjamin won gold yesterday in the 400-meter hurdles finishing just .6 seconds ahead of Karsten Warholm of Norway.

  The US women’s soccer team and men’s basketball both are headed for gold medal matches.

 In the ring, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, whose gender has been under question, won gold in her weight class. Critics have said she punches not only above her 145 pound weight, but her sex.

  The International Boxing Association disqualified Khelif last year after testing and saying she had “competitive advantages over other female competitors.” Khelif says she was born female and the Olympic Committee has not challenged that.

THE OBIT PAGE: Howie Cohen, an advertising copywriter who with a colleague coined slogans for Alka-Seltzer that became national catch phrases, died this past March in Los Angeles at age 81.

  Cohen came close to immortality with his first line for Alka Seltzer, “Try it, you’ll like it.” But the one that became a pop culture punchline was: “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.” A marketing survey found that about 85 percent of Americans could identify Alka-Seltzer through the “whole thing” slogan

THE SPIN RACK: Jack Campbell, the Illinois sheriff under fire for hiring a deputy now charged with murder for shooting a Black woman in her home last month, said he will resign effective at the end of the month. The deputy in question had two DWI convictions and an early discharge from the Army before Campbell hired him. — David Dempsey, a California man who attacked officers during the January 6^thinsurrection with his hands, feet, a flagpole, crutches, pepper spray, and broken furniture was sentenced to 20 years in prison. It’s one of the stiffest sentences for a January 6^th rioter.

BELOW THE FOLD: One of the critical questions facing the country is not who will be elected to The White House in November, but who will play the candidates on Saturday Night Live. SNL already has a great Trump with James Austin Johnson and they are bringing back Maya Rudolph to skewer Kamala Harris.

  That leaves the VP candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz. The Hollywood Reporter suggests maybe former cast member and US Senator Al Franken would return to play Walz. Maybe actor John Goodman.

  As for Vance, the Hollywood reporter posits that writer and “Weekend Update” co-anchor Colin Jost could nail him. There’s also Ted Lasso’s Jason Sudeikis.

  No matter who gets the job, there’s going to be plenty of material.

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