SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:53 P.M. ET:

MONEYBAGS DROP HILLARY – From The Wall Street Journal:   WASHINGTON—Some Hillary Clinton donors are defecting to Joe Biden, resisting entreaties from the Democratic front-runner’s campaign to stand by her despite slipping poll numbers.  A few of the fundraisers have gone public with their presidential preference. Others have quietly decamped and signaled their intentions to the Draft Biden 2016 super PAC that is working to prod the vice president into the race for the White House.  “Instead of being ready for Hillary, we’re waiting for Joe,” said Bill Bartmann, the founder and chief executive of CFS2 Inc., and onetime donor to Mrs. Clinton’s friendly super PAC. Mr. Bartmann’s switch in allegiance prompted one Clinton campaign official to contact him and ask: “Why are you doing this?” he said.  I can understand abandoning a sinking ship, but I can't understand boarding one that has leaked for years.  Joe has run for president before, and was massacred each time.

NOT GOOD – From the Washington Examiner:   For a third month in a row, native-born Americans saw their job numbers tumble while immigrants experience solid gains.  According to the monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers just released, "foreign-born" jobs numbers increased by 14,000, while those for "native-born" Americans fell off a cliff, by 262,000.  There is, of course, nothing wrong with legal immigrants getting jobs.  We'd criticize them if they didn't.  But numbers like this can produce ugly friction between immigrants and native-born, and help feed the narrative that immigrants are taking jobs away from Americans. 

GILLESPIE TO RUN FOR VIRGINIA GOVERNORSHIP – From WaPo:   RICHMOND — Former White House adviser and Republican U.S. Senate nominee Ed Gillespie confirmed Friday that he plans to run for Virginia governor in 2017.  Word of Gillespie’s plans leaked earlier this week, after the state senator who was widely considered the GOP’s most likely nominee dropped out. But Gillespie himself had not commented until Friday.  “My focus right now is helping keep our Republican majority in the General Assembly, and next year it will be ensuring that our Republican presidential nominee wins Virginia, but with my friend Mark Obenshain making clear he won’t be running in 2017, I’ll start laying a foundation to run myself after our elections here are over next month,” Gillespie said in an e-mail to The Washington Post.  He proved a superb candidate against popular incumbent Senator Mark Warner last year, coming close to victory.  I think he'd be a great asset to our side in the governor's chair.

October 2, 2015