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WHAT AMERICA SHOULD WORRY ABOUT
* The charging announcement in the death of Breonna Taylor has produced more large ripples of injustice, racial bias, and chaos, with limited words or actions to help us all through.
(Wednesday protests in Louisville, Seattle, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Buffalo, Denver, and more.)
* There is no national leadership sufficient to break the gridlock in DC on coronavirus relief or policing reform legislation, even though there is broad overlap between the parties in both cases about what should be done to help.
* The president’s undermining of his administration’s own public health experts during a pandemic has life-and-death consequences – and apparently no one can or will stop him.
* The Republican governor of Missouri – long a symbol of anti-masking and anti- other restrictions – announces he has tested positive for the virus, and there is no national soul searching about what that means.
* The media is so consumed with the sacred responsibility to hold the president accountable to the truth that it too often goes overboard in ways that are detrimental to the public interest, false, and helpful to Trump’s reelection, as in this whopper of a sentence from the Associated Press:
It’s unlikely that any chaos in states with universal mail-in voting will cause the election result to be inaccurately tabulated, as Trump has suggested.
* The latest accusations regarding how the administration did its pre-publication review of John Bolton’s book only arouse more suspicion of the politicization of large portions of the government under Donald Trump.
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WHAT TEAM RED SHOULD WORRY ABOUT
* Fresh New York Times key state polling that show Donald Trump in some trouble (and/but still poised to potentially win these must-win states back).
* In the face of voters trusting Democrats more to deal with the high-priority issue of health care, Donald Trump has no specific plan to deal with the implications of nixing the Affordable Care Act -- and no serious commitment to finding one, as detailed in this essential reading Washington Post story pegged to an expected POTUS announcement in North Carolina Thursday.
Seriously, Democrats could win the entire election just based on the themes and issues raised in this story.
* This, also from the Washington Post on SCOTUS:
Among some of the president’s advisers, jitters stem from a recent internal Republican poll discussed among officials in the White House and the Trump campaign this week that contained an alarming range of signs about the vacancy, according to people who reviewed it. The poll — conducted over the weekend among about 1,500 likely voters in 17 swing states, including Arizona, Wisconsin, Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania — showed that 51 percent of voters said they trust Biden more than Trump to handle the vacancy, while only 43 percent said they trusted Trump.
The document also found that only 28 percent of the voters said they would be more likely to vote for Trump if a replacement is confirmed, while 38 percent said they would be less likely. And 52 percent said the Senate should hold hearings after the election, while 41 percent said it should hold hearings before the election….
Some Republicans fear injecting abortion politics into the election with the choice of judge Amy Coney Barrett — a potential vote to overturn Roe v. Wade — which could be damaging for the president and Republican senators. Indeed, the GOP polling scrutinized by the White House showed that a majority of swing-state voters wanted a justice who supports abortion rights.
* And/but:
But there were other promising signs for the party, with one campaign adviser noting that low-dollar online fundraising was near record highs this weekend after Ginsburg’s death.
Campaign advisers also say they expect the Supreme Court pick could drive up turnout among evangelical and Catholic supporters, and the president has told advisers he believes that Democrats will overreach in the fight — giving him a target to mock.
* And/but the most important quote in the whole politico-media universe regarding the SCOTUS scuffle:
Josh Holmes, a longtime McConnell adviser, downplayed any polling indicating the nomination could hurt Trump and the GOP. The numbers, he said, would improve once the nominee is named and hearings begin.
“There is nothing that polling will tell me now,” he said. “When you have a live human being sitting in front of you, who is quite obviously a qualified judge, that’s a harder argument to make. The worm turns a little bit with independents.”
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WHAT TEAM BLUE SHOULD WORRY ABOUT
* Despite all the pre-election attempts at consciousness raising, Democrats might be powerless to stop a post-election Trump power play that would threaten our democracy beyond anything that has occurred in the lives of all those living today.
“Even though Republicans may claim to already have the votes to confirm Trump’s pick, Democrats cannot afford to compartmentalize this Supreme Court fight because the fate of the election itself may ride on it,” the group’s executive director, Brian Fallon, said in a statement.
And, of course, this is an America worry as well, not just a partisan one.
* Politico:
Republicans have closed the traditional voter registration gap with Democrats to an historically small margin in Florida, triggering a wave of Democratic apprehension in the nation’s biggest swing state.
Top Florida Democrats and longtime activists have increasingly groused in private that they feel pressure from Joe Biden’s campaign to refrain from door-to-door canvassing or holding voter registration drives due to the potential spread of coronavirus and fears of muddying his messaging on the pandemic.
* Based on the thumbs-down reactions of many Democratic senate hopefuls and this essential-reading and well-reasoned Rich Lowry column, it appears clear that the Democratic Party is going to be divided for a bit on court packing/expansion (and suggesting Joe Biden could well come out against it in the first debate…)
* With so much riding on the expected Supreme Court nomination Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings, this Politico story on Democratic concerns about how well the party’s ranking member – Dianne Feinstein – will perform her role (including an extraordinary number of Senators speaking on background in ways that undermine their colleague and are in some ways likely a manifestation of a desperate cry for help) is somewhere between a ticking time bomb and a bombshell.
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ESSENTIAL READING FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE BESCHLOSSIAN
The Associated Press has a first look at never-before-published correspondence between Richard Nixon and Donald J. Trump.
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ESSENTIAL VIEWING
With the 2020 outcome pretty clear at this point, let’s move on to 2024.
Ready, steady, go:
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The Big 4.2 - by Brian P. Nadeau
Arizona - Early Voting Begins October 7th
* Retired Tempe Police Commander Jeff Glover returning to dept. as its first Black chief, will serve 1-year interim term. (KPNX NBC12)
* Scottsdale’s biggest employer, HonorHealth, local chamber of commerce urging city officials to reinstate mask mandate after mayor ended it Monday. (Arizona Republic)
* Grand Canyon State faith leaders say Gov. Ducey not doing enough to address racism 3 months after they met. (KPNX ABC15)
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Michigan - Early Voting Begins Today
* HUD Sec. Carson visits Flint as $30M, 253-rental-unit project prepares for phase 1 opening. (WNEM CBS5)
* Gov. Whitmer signs 2 exec. orders aimed at Wolverine State carbon neutrality by 2050. (The Detroit News)
* Ingham County health dept. indicates MSU is significantly underreporting COVID cases, university aware of issue, working to implement fix. (Lansing State Journal)
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Nebraska-2 - Early Voting Begins October 5th
* Jake Gardner waited for looters in his bar with other armed patrons the night James Scurlock was killed. (Omaha World-Herald)
* Omaha Public Libraries starting to reopen, COIVD safety rules in place. (WOWT NBC6)
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Pennsylvania - Absentee/Mail-In Voting Begins: TBA
* PA House vote of 130-71 falls short in overriding Gov. Wolf’s school sports bill veto. (PENN LIVE Patriot-News)
* More fans heading to Keystone State schools sporting events after Fed. Judge ruling. (WTAE ABC4)
* After hiring 153 temp. workers, City of Brotherly Love finally catches-up on recycling, trash pickup, sanitation staff remain concerned about second wave. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
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Wisconsin - Early Voting Begins October 15th
* Fed. Judge won’t rule on student ID expiration date case prior to election. (Wisconsin State Journal)
* Longtime Racine business owner denied COVID grant because husband protested restrictions testifies before U.S. House Judiciary subcommittee. (The Journal Times)
* Washington, Ozaukee counties’ Health Dir. Kirsten Johnson, pleading with parents, says sending sick kids to school '[i]rresponsible.' (WISN ABC12)
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TOP STORIES – by Brian P. Nadeau
Sports: Gayle Sayers, Chicago Bears Hall of Fame running back dies at 77.
Business: JPMorgan Chase close to paying $1B fine to settle investigation into manipulating metal, Treasuries markets.
Entertainment: Writers Guild of America West wants Nov. 3rd paid holiday.
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