“Donald Trump and his joint committees raised $90 million in August, a substantial haul for a candidate late to fundraising but one that still significantly trails Hillary Clinton’s enormous summer totals,” CNN reports.

“A Trump campaign official said Wednesday the campaign had collected the $90 million despite its paltry fundraising operation. That total is expected to come largely from small-dollar donors, who have flocked to the Republican nominee thanks to his costly investment in digital fundraising tools. “

Stuart Rothenberg: “Nine months ago, I thought that Democrats had a pretty easy road to a four-seat gain and a Senate majority in November. Now I’m not so sure.”

“The numbers, of course, still favor them. With 10 Republican-held Senate seats at risk this year and only a single Democratic-held seat in play, Democratic Senate gains are inevitable. But the fight for control in November remains surprisingly close, and it may not be until October or November before we know whether Democrats will gain the seats they need.”

Here are the latest state polls from the presidential race:

South Carolina: Trump 50%, Clinton 38% (First Tuesday)

Arizona: Clinton 35%, Trump 34% (Arizona Republic)

New Hampshire: Clinton 46%, Trump 41% (PPP)

Pennsylvania: Clinton 47%, Trump 42% (PPP)

Iowa: Clinton 45%, Trump 43% (PPP)

Florida: Trump 44%, Clinton 43% (PPP)

New Hampshire: Clinton 42%, Trump 37% (Emerson College)

Donald Trump is ending his “blacklist” of media outlets,  The Hill reports.

“Trump’s presidential campaign had been denying press credential requests from the Washington Post, BuzzFeed, Univision, the Daily Beast, Politico and other news organizations over what the campaign considered unfair coverage. But starting Wednesday, the campaign will approve their credential requests.”

A new George Washington University Battleground Poll finds Hillary Clinton just ahead of Donald Trump in the presidential race, 42% to 40%.

“The narrow race reflects a conflicted electorate in which voters are weighing many options. Poll respondents were presented with several possibilities for how they may vote in November. Roughly one-quarter of them said that they would likely vote for a third-party candidate or vote for a candidate ‘from the other political party than the one that you usually support.’ Thirteen percent said they might not vote at all, and 45 percent said they might split their tickets (vote for different parties for president and the rest of the ballot).”

For comparison, the HuffPost Pollster average shows Clinton with a five point lead nationally, 47% to 42%.

Rick Klein: “In the evolving standards Donald Trump is using for disclosure, some twists have been added. ‘Let her release lease her emails and I will release my tax returns immediately,’ Trump told Bill O’Reilly on Fox, adding on to the promise that his returns would be disclosed as soon as his ‘routine audit’ is completed. And pressed by ABC’s David Muir on why he doesn’t release his own full medical records to coax Hillary Clinton into doing the same, ‘I think I will do that’ was his response.”

“If past is predictive, voters will see neither Trump’s full medical records nor his tax returns before Nov. 8. But his changing standards for what he might release, under which conditions, and when deserve their own attention and scrutiny. Yes, Clinton is known – and rightly – for secrecy. But the amount of information Trump has not provided about his own finances and personal health remain unprecedented in modern politics.”

First Read notes that the “Let her release her emails, and I’ll release my tax returns immediately” line undermines Trump’s audit argument. It implies the audit isn’t the real excuse.

“Two top outside groups designed to support Senate Republicans raised $42 million in August, a massive haul that shows the fervor with which GOP donors are training their focus – and dollars – on maintaining control of the upper chamber,” Politico reports.

Playbook: “We’ve all settled on the thought that Republicans will lose the Senate majority. But if outside groups keep pulling in tens of millions of dollars a month, the GOP can make a real play to stem the damage, or perhaps even keep the majority.”

The Dallas Morning News endorses Hillary Clinton for president:

We don’t come to this decision easily. This newspaper has not recommended a Democrat for the nation’s highest office since before World War II — if you’re counting, that’s more than 75 years and nearly 20 elections. The party’s over-reliance on government and regulation to remedy the country’s ills is at odds with our belief in private-sector ingenuity and innovation. Our values are more about individual liberty, free markets and a strong national defense.

We’ve been critical of Clinton’s handling of certain issues in the past. But unlike Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton has experience in actual governance, a record of service and a willingness to delve into real policy.

Resume vs. resume, judgment vs. judgment, this election is no contest.

“A substantial bloc of Republican-leaning voters has declined so far to back either major-party candidate for president, suggesting Donald Trump has an opportunity to make the race more competitive by persuading them to return to the GOP,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“His challenge is formidable, however, since almost eight in 10 of these voters have sharply negative views of Mr. Trump and his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. That raises the prospect they might vote for a third-party candidate—or sit out the election.”

For members: Can Undecided Voters Help Trump Win?

“The presidential campaign has intensified long-standing political divisions, but there is one area of broad agreement among voters in both red states and blue states — a pervasive pessimism that no matter the outcome, the election will do little to unify the country,” according to a Washington Post-SurveyMonkey survey of all 50 states.

“Americans also say they fear they are being left behind by the cultural changes that are transforming the country. Asked whether the America of today reflects their values more or less than it did in the past, large majorities of registered voters in every state say the country reflects their values less.”

“But almost hidden behind those broad findings is another striking reality of America at the end of President Obama’s tenure in the White House. Those groups that fall roughly into the coalition that helped elect Obama to successive terms are more likely — in some cases significantly so — to say the country reflects their values more than it did in the past. Obama has pushed policies and taken executive actions that have played directly to that coalition.”