Jim VandeHei: “Polls show the path for Biden is quite plausible: He is winning in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and essentially even in Florida — all Trump states in 2016.”

“And remember: Trump lost the popular vote by 3 million last time to a much more unpopular Democrat, Hillary Clinton.”

“Biden, thanks in part to changing demographics, is running close or better in red states Texas, Georgia, Arizona, Iowa and North Carolina.”

Playbook: “With 40 days left until Election Day, it seems as though the United States is well on its way to becoming a banana republic…”

“The news cycle today is going to be absolutely dominated by the president’s suggestion there might not be a peaceful transfer of power. It will be all the chatter in the hallways of the Capitol, where many lawmakers are just weeks from being on the ballot themselves.”

“President Trump’s campaign has canceled $4.5 million in ad buys in key battleground states this week, raising more signs of trouble for his re-election effort, even as Democratic nominee Joe Biden expands his advertising footprint,” Bloomberg reports.

“Faced with a shrinking cash balance, Trump has pulled back on television ads in all but three states where the race is close: Arizona, Florida and Georgia. And his ads have disappeared from must-win states like Ohio and Iowa, where he and Biden are essentially tied.”

New New York Times/Sienna College polls:

• GEORGIA: Biden 45%, Trump 45%
• IOWA: Biden 45%, Trump 42%
• TEXAS: Trump 46%, Biden 43%

Politico: “Trump and his aides are betting that Catholic voters will feel enough of a kinship with either of the women he is eyeing for the vacancy — 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a Catholic mother of seven, or 11th Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa, a Catholic mother of three — that his nomination of one of them will lock in a majority of the Catholic vote just in time for the November election.”

“On the other hand, they are hoping Catholic voters who have already swung toward Biden, due to grievances with the president’s behavior or policies, will return to Trump’s column if the former vice president remains quiet as Senate Democrats and progressive activists knock the faith of his impending nominee.”

“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,” Politico reports.

“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.”

“The influx of Michael Bloomberg election cash in Florida is yielding yet another million dollar ad buy to make the case for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, this time in a $6 million Spanish-language TV and radio blitz that will run in major media markets throughout the key battleground state,” the Miami Herald reports.