In an exceptionally strange race, what are the strangest things that happened on the campaign trail this week? Members of our politics team offer their picks.
Miley Cyrus as Hillary Clinton on "Saturday Night Live." Photo by Dana Edelson/ NBC/ NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
This sentence may be all I need to type: Miley Cyrus is coming to Northern Virginia Saturday to campaign for Hillary Clinton.
How tempted I am to leave it there. But I'll add just a few more words. The 23-year-old Cyrus is many things: actress, controversial pop star, reality show host, fashion flashpoint and a Twitter phenomenon with 30 million followers.
And now she's a Hillary Clinton ambassador to the young. Among the (many) fascinating and strange things about this story is that Cyrus will be canvassing for Clinton in Northern Virginia. While her appointed spot, George Mason University, is full of young voters, the region surrounding it is notoriously full of people who take themselves seriously and avoid fashion risks. It makes for a potentially mind-blowing contrast.
Other note: Clinton is now fully unleashing the young celebrities. Katy Perry is out registering voters (without clothes, as in this viral video) and she is part of a national Get Out the Vote concert tour from the Clinton campaign that includes the National and J.Lo. Clearly Clinton needs young voters. And she is not making that appeal herself. It is getting strange, but at least this kind of strange is interesting.
— Lisa Desjardins, Correspondent
A supporter of Hillary Clinton in 2014. Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters/File Photo
Before there was "Stronger Together," there was "No Quit," "Don't Turn Back" and "Unleash Opportunity" — along with 80 other potential slogans the Hillary Clinton campaign considered, according to a hacked email posted by WikiLeaks.
The list of rejected campaign slogans was revealed Wednesday as part of a dump of hacked emails from the personal account of John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chairman. WikiLeaks claims they'll release more than 50,000 of his emails in total before the election; they've already posted more than 20,000.
According to an email between campaign aides sent Aug. 18, 2015, campaign theme possibilities included "strength," "basic bargain/making America work" and "it's about you." Among the rejected slogans:
Rise Up
Hillary – For Fairness. For Families.
Your family is her fight.
A better bargain for a better tomorrow.
Real Fairness; Real Solutions.
Because your time is now
Clinton has not verified the authenticity of the emails, instead pointing to Russian hacking as interfering with the election.
— Julie Percha, Reporter/producer
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with running mate Sen. Tim Kaine in Cleveland, Ohio, in September. Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters
Meanwhile, at a rally in Springfield, Ohio, Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine touted his election record — kind of.
"So here's the good news: I am 8-0 in elections, and I'm gonna be 9-0 on Nov. 8," he said to cheers.
He continued: "But, the bad news is: When I win, I barely win. I mean, in Virginia, I'm, like, Mr. Barely Likeable Enough."
The comment drew awkward silence. Kaine has never lost an election — from his first run for Richmond City Council in 1994, to Virginia governor in 2005, to the U.S. Senate in 2012. This one might be close, too: Clinton currently leads Trump by 6.3 points, according to a RealClear Politics average of polls.
— Jasmine Wright, Production assistant