A new Missouri Scout poll finds Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) and challenger Josh Hawley (R) deadlocked at 47% each in the U.S. Senate race.

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.”

Sen. Claire McCaskill’s (D-MO) campaign is trying to persuade Missouri voters that she is not “one of those crazy Democrats,” with a radio ad airing during the final stretch of her heated re-election fight, CNN reports.

“The ad appears designed to win over skeptical Trump voters, whose support McCaskill will need to best Hawley. But the phrase ‘crazy Democrats’ could alienate some voters in McCaskill’s own party at a moment when she is counting on their enthusiasm.”

Nicholas Lemann: “Republicans have had McCaskill’s seat in their sights for years, and the fight over Kavanaugh has given a big boost to most of the candidates who are trying to unseat Democratic senators in red states. Polls show the Missouri race to be a tossup, with Josh Hawley gaining slightly in recent weeks. Outside money is pouring into the state —$54.9 million, according to the latest reports, from independent groups, evenly split between the two campaigns, plus nearly forty million that the candidates have raised themselves. The race, possibly the Senate’s closest this year, is a test of whether a Democrat who doesn’t openly break ranks with the national party — even an adept veteran like McCaskill—can survive in Trump country.”

Josh Hawley (R) has criticized Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) repeatedly “for using a private plane to travel around Missouri. But the Republican Senate hopeful isn’t above taking a ride in a private plane himself,” Politico reports.

“Hawley received an in-kind contribution of $5,225 for a charter flight in September on a plane owned by lobbyist Travis Brown and his wife, according to public records. Hawley attended a West Virginia fundraiser on that day, social media posts show, before returning to Springfield, Missouri that night – and posting a Facebook video of him driving into the city for a rally with President Donald Trump the next day.”

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) “has outraised her Republican challenger by a more than 2 to 1 margin since July, but she’s also been spending money at a faster rate than she’s collecting it,” McClatchy reports.

“The Missouri Democrat, who has faced frequent attacks from President Trump, raised nearly $8.5 million from July 1 through Sept. 30, a record for the quarter in Missouri… Her three-month total is almost as much as her GOP opponent Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley has raised since launching his candidacy last year.”

A new CNN/SRSS poll in Missouri finds Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) edges challenger Josh Hawley (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 47% to 44% among likely voters.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) is out with a very effective ad recounting her experience in beating breast cancer while blasting rival Josh Hawley (R) for joining a lawsuit that could undo Obamacare’s protections for those with pre-existing conditions.

First Read highlights other Democrats seizing on health care and pre-existing conditions in their ads:

• Joe Manchin in West Virginia
• Richard Cordray in Ohio
• Elissa Slotkin in Michigan

A new NBC News-Marist poll finds Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) locked in a dead heat with challenger Josh Hawley (R), 47% to 47%.

“The Russian intelligence agency behind the 2016 election cyberattacks targeted Sen. Claire McCaskill as she began her 2018 re-election campaign in earnest,” a Daily Beast analysis reveals.

“That makes the Missouri Democrat the first identified target of the Kremlin’s 2018 election interference.”

Asked about the hack attempt, McCaskill said: “I’m not going to speak of it right now. I think we’ll have something on it next week. I’m not going to speak about it right now. I can’t confirm or do anything about it right now.”

A new Remington Research poll in Missouri finds Josh Hawley (R) just ahead of Claire McCaskill (D) in their U.S. Senate race, 48% to 46%.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) “confirmed that she used a private plane during a three-day RV tour of her state last month, an admission that promises to become a political headache in the Missouri Democrat’s reelection bid,” Politico reports.

“She disputed the notion that the use of the plane allowed her to ‘pretend’ that she was using an RV rather than the multi-million-dollar plane, reportedly purchased by her husband’s company in 2013.”

“Two candidates for the GOP nomination for Missouri’s U.S. Senate race agreed in writing that one would drop out of the race after a joint poll determined which of the two had the better chance to defeat state Attorney General Josh Hawley in the Aug. 7 primary,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

“One of the candidates, Austin Petersen, said that the other, Tony Monetti, has withdrawn from the agreement. But Monetti told the Post-Dispatch hours later that he still wants to go ahead with it.”