A new set of Fox News polls:
A new NBC News/Marist Poll:
“A conservative group that creates undercover ‘sting’ videos infiltrated the campaign of Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat in a tight race with Rep. Dave Brat in Virginia’s 7th District,” the Washington Post reports.
“The campaign said a young woman working for Project Veritas posed as a Democratic volunteer and spent every day over the past several weeks in Spanberger’s suburban Richmond campaign office, performing basic office tasks — and peppering her office mates with questions that eventually raised red flags.”
“The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee is pursuing a wide-ranging investigation into former White House adviser Steve Bannon’s activities during the 2016 presidential campaign,” Reuters reports.
“The committee is looking into what Bannon might know about any contacts during the campaign between Moscow and two advisers to the campaign, George Papadopoulos and Carter Page.”
A New York Times reporter met Shahbaz, a scammer who used fake bank alerts to make victims panic. When confronted, he just laughed—no guilt, no remorse.
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“There’s still a week to go before the midterm elections, but Wall Street has already voted — with its campaign contributions,” CBS News reports.
“The securities and finance industry has backed Democratic congressional candidates 63% to 37%… Democratic candidates and political action committees have received $56.8 million, compared to Republicans’ $33.4 million.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee says it will not help out Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who has supported far-right causes and white supremacists, in the remaining days of his bid to win re-election to his Iowa 4th District seat against Democratic challenger J.D. Scholten, CNBC reports.
The NRCC cited King’s “words and actions” for its decision to sit out the race.
President Trump said that “he is considering a significant increase to the number of military personnel along the border, two days after he unveiled plans to send 5,200 troops there,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Trump: “We’ll go up to anywhere between 10 and 15,000 military personnel on top of Border Patrol, ICE and everybody else at the border. Nobody’s coming in. We’re not allowing people to come in.”
President Trump warned that Americans could “lose a lot of money” if Republicans don’t do well in next week’s midterm elections, Politico reports.
Said Trump: “If the midterms for some reason don’t do so well for Republicans, I think you’re all going to lose a lot of money. I hate to say that. I think you’re going to lose a lot of money.”
Kansas City Star: “Josh Hawley pledged to Missouri voters in 2016 that he was not the kind of career politician who would use ‘one office to get to another.'”
“But within weeks of Hawley’s swearing in as the state’s top law enforcement official, the high-powered political team that would go on to run his U.S. Senate campaign had stepped in to help direct the office of the Missouri attorney general — and raise his national profile.”
“Hawley’s out-of-state political consultants gave direct guidance and tasks to his taxpayer-funded staff, and followed up to ensure the tasks were completed, according to emails, text messages and other records.”
“President Trump has agreed to produce portions of his calendar from 2007 and 2008 as part of discovery in a defamation lawsuit brought by former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos, according to a proposed court order signed by attorneys for all parties,” the Washington Post reports.
Joe Biden pushed back on claims by President Trump and fellow Republicans that the GOP can protect patients with pre-existing conditions better than Democrats, Politico reports.
Said Biden: “They’re either not telling the truth or they’re really stupid. Because there’s no way you can afford to cover pre-existing conditions without everybody being in on the deal.”
A new Marquette University Law School poll in Wisconsin finds Gov. Scott Walker (R) and challenger Tony Evers (D) is dead-even at 47% each.
“Former White House Counsel Don McGahn ended his tumultuous tenure at the White House with one last encounter in which President Donald Trump blamed him for Robert Mueller’s appointment,” CNN reports.
“In a face-to-face Oval Office meeting, the President groused to McGahn about Mueller’s appointment made on McGahn’s watch as White House counsel, and the cloud the investigation has continued to cast over the presidency.”
Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ) is going “positive” — a sign that that the moderate and independent voters of suburban New Jersey might need some tending if MacArthur is going to keep his Washington job, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
“Never mind that MacArthur and his allies have been pounding Kim, a Rhodes scholar who served as a national security officer under President Barack Obama, with negative ads for months: tax cheat, liar, carpetbagger, ‘Real Fishy,’ Nancy Pelosi liberal.”
President Trump slammed Speaker Paul Ryan on Twitter for rejecting his call to end birthright citizenship.
Said Trump: “Paul Ryan should be focusing on holding the majority rather than giving his opinions on birthright citizenship, something he knows nothing about! Our new Republican majority will work on this, closing the immigration loopholes and securing our border!”
Playbook: “The rich irony of this is that Ryan has been on the road non-stop for the last two years — as have Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise. Don’t cry for them — it’s their job! — but to say that any of them aren’t worried about the majority would be nonsense.”
The National Archives just released the famed — and long mysterious — “Watergate Road Map,” which the special prosecutor sent to Congress in 1974.
The document has been under seal since March 1, 1974.
Rep. Chris Curbelo (R-FL) told MSNBC that he would never vote for Rep. Steve King (R-IA), whose white nationalist ties are finally hurting his bid for re-election.
Said Curbelo: “His comments and his actions are disgusting. And look, I know nothing about his opponent, but I will tell you this: I would never cast a ballot for someone like Steve King.”
A new CNN poll in Nevada finds Jacky Rosen (D) leading Sen. Dean Heller in the U.S. Senate race, 48% to 45% among likely voters.
Still, 10% of likely voters in the state say they haven’t yet made a firm decision on the race.
Key findings: “There’s been almost no change in the Nevada survey in the demographic divides fueling voter preferences. There remains a sharp gender gap, with a majority of women behind Rosen and most men backing Heller. White voters with college degrees narrowly break toward Rosen, while whites without a degree favor Heller by a wide margin.”
A new CNN poll in Arizona finds Kyrsten Sinema (D) leading Martha McSally (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 51% to 47%.
Key findings: “In mid-September, a sizable 17% of likely voters said they hadn’t yet made up their minds about this critical Senate contest, that’s now dropped to just 5%. As voters have shifted, McSally gained ground on Sinema among women and among independents.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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