Brett McGinness

USA TODAY

The race is getting tighter. Two national polls show Hillary Clinton's lead down to just two points in a four-way race against Donald Trump, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein, and the LA Times/USC tracking poll of the two-way race has Trump up by 3 as of early Thursday morning. So what's changed? Voters may be waiting for the other shoe to drop with the pending release of the FBI's Hillary Clinton files, or perhaps Trump's outreach to minority voters is winning over fence-sitters. On the other hand, if he was winning over any voters who had expected a "softening" of Trump's immigration plans — well, it's a funny story ...

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Trump's latest immigration plan: pretty much the same as before

Wednesday brought clarity to Donald Trump's stance on illegal immigration; in recent days, Trump has described his views on the matter as "softening," then "hardening," then "ripening," then "emulsifying." Trump's day started with a "Rashomon"-style meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico City ...

Trump's recollection: Ha, you know what, we totally forgot to talk about the border wall, and how they could remit payment. Welp, we'll talk about it next time, I guess.

Pena Nieto's recollection: Not paying for the wall was literally the first thing I said.

Following the meeting, Trump headed for Phoenix for a much-anticipated speech on immigration. Ever since his use of the word "softening" in the Fox News town hall with Sean Hannity, pundits have speculated on what a new plan might look like. No wall? Perhaps no efforts at expulsion of undocumented immigrants? Some form of formal amnesty for those already living in the U.S.?

As it turns out, the answers are yes to the wall, yes to expulsion, no to any sort of amnesty. Trump's 10-point plan announced last night also includes the extreme vetting of future legal immigrants for "ideological certification" and accepting only immigrants likely to thrive and love their new country.

"There is only one core issue in the immigration debate and that is the well-being of the American people. Nothing even comes a close second," Trump said. "Our greatest compassion must be for our American citizens."

Meanwhile in Cincinnati, Hillary Clinton pre-responded (pre-sponded?) to the meeting, saying that it it would take more from Trump than a quick meeting to make up for "a year of insults and insinuations"

Paging Gary Johnson

Speaking of that Cincinnati speech, Hillary Clinton was in the Queen City yesterday to address the 98th Convention of the American Legion. "My opponent is wrong when he says that America is no longer great," Clinton told the audience. “Our power comes with a responsibility to lead humbly, thoughtfully and with a fierce commitment to our values. When America fails to lead, we leave a vacuum.” Convention organizers asked that candidates keep their comments about the race to a minimum, forcing Clinton to say things like "my opponent" and "Tronald Drump." Trump gets a chance to take oblique shots at Hillary this morning during his address to the convention.

Cincinnati is actually in the middle of a week-long inundation of presidential candidates. Green Party nominee Jill Stein is making her way through Ohio to drum up support for her third-party candidacy, and will be in Cincy this Sunday. "It's important for the citizens of our city to hear that they have another alternative choice besides the two political candidates being presented as our only options for president," said Nathaniel David Lane, Ohio volunteer coordinator with the Stein campaign. "The Green Party is no longer the alternative, they are the imperative." Ohio is key swing state not only for Clinton and Trump, but for Stein as well; no Green Party candidate has ever won the White House without winning Ohio.

Only 1,525 days until Election Day 2020

Ask Marco Rubio about whether or not he'd serve out another six-year term in the U.S. Senate, and all of a sudden he gets really philosophical. “No one can make that commitment because you don’t know what the future’s going to hold in your life,” he told CNN. He's not saying it outright, but he's eyeing another possible run at the presidency next time around — and theoretically, it might not matter if it's Trump or Clinton sitting in the Oval Office.

Sitting presidents don't often get serious primary challenges — the last one was Ted Kennedy's 1980 attempt to unseat President Jimmy Carter. But both major-party candidates have unfavorable ratings of more than 50%, so barring a four-year turnaround, it wouldn't be outrageous to see a still-unpopular politician face a primary battle. On the Republican side, both Rubio and Ted Cruz might take another shot at the nomination. On the Democratic side, it's probably too late for Bernie Sanders, but stranger things have happened (see: this entire election).

More from the campaign trail

How many of the 30 'new' Hillary Clinton Benghazi emails are actually new? Team Clinton says it might be zero (USA TODAY OnPolitics)

Clinton's Wisconsin lead narrows to 5 (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

FactCheck.org examines Trump's latest TV ad; says it's unlikely that everything will become gray if Hillary's elected (USA TODAY)

Trump supporters on Reddit: "F--- that s---" (USA TODAY OnPolitics)

Volunteering for the Trump campaign? First, promise that you'll never say anything bad about Trump forever (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Hatters gonna hat

No sign of these bad boys yet in the Trump online store, but it looks like we're about to get "Make Mexico Great Again Also" hats.