Top Items:
Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg:
Embattled Iowa Lawmaker King Says Ted Cruz Expressed His Support — GOP campaign leader renounced King after attack in Pittsburgh — Cruz is in a close race; his campaign says call was ‘personal’ — Representative Steve King of Iowa, who has been abandoned by Republican leaders …
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BuzzFeed News:
Steve King Is Beginning To Lose Support After Years Of Racist Statements. Republicans Still Expect Him To Win. — Donors and some Republicans are moving away from Steve King. But “it would take a tidal wave to knock him out.” — After making racist statements for years …
Todd J. Gillman / Dallas Morning News:
Ted Cruz calls Steve King support of white supremacists ‘divisive,’ stops short of condemning him
Ted Cruz calls Steve King support of white supremacists ‘divisive,’ stops short of condemning him
Discussion:
USA Today, Bleeding Heartland, HuffPost, Daily Kos, CNN and The Guardian
New York Times:
Inside What Even an Ally Calls Trump's ‘Reality Distortion Field’ — From nonexistent riots to conspiracy theories about migrants to false claims about his popularity and job-creating record, the president has offered a litany of falsehoods in the midterm campaign.
Discussion:
Florida Politics and HuffPost
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Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns & Money:
Republicans Getting Borked on Healthcare
Republicans Getting Borked on Healthcare
Discussion:
New York Magazine and Eschaton
New York Times:
How Vilification of George Soros Moved From the Fringes to the Mainstream — WASHINGTON — Hours after he was informed last week that an explosive device had been delivered to his suburban New York home, George Soros, the billionaire investor and Democratic donor, got on a call with colleagues …
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Ali Dukakis / ABC News:
Conspiracy theorist becomes key figure as Mueller builds case — Self-proclaimed conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi returned to Washington, D.C., again this week for more closed-door meetings with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators, and on Friday is scheduled to make a second appearance …
Discussion:
Politico
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CNN:
Exclusive: Trump blamed ex-counsel McGahn for Mueller investigation
Exclusive: Trump blamed ex-counsel McGahn for Mueller investigation
Discussion:
The Week, Observer, Political Wire and Talking Points Memo
Dana Blanton / Fox News:
Fox News Poll: Trump approval remains high in Senate battleground states — A new round of Fox News battleground state polls proves we don't call them battlegrounds for nothing. With six days until the election, three of the five U.S. Senate races could go either way …
Discussion:
CNN, POLITICUSUSA, Hot Air, The Daily Caller and LifeZette
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Mark Murray / NBC News:
Poll: Indiana Senate race is a dead heat
Mark Hosenball / Reuters:
U.S. Senate panel investigates former Trump aide Bannon: sources — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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, three sources familiar with the inquiry told Reuters.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, The Week, Boing Boing, Splinter, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Shepard Smith can't redeem Fox News — A header on Brian Stelter's nightly media newsletter reads, “Fox under pressure,” a reference to the growing concerns that Fox News's rhetoric is driving conspiracy theories. “Modern Family” co-creator Steve Levitan has signaled that he won't …
Discussion:
New York Times, Forbes, LifeZette and Breitbart, more at Mediagazer »
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Joe Concha / The Hill:
Fox News tops CNN and MSNBC combined in October cable news ratings
Fox News tops CNN and MSNBC combined in October cable news ratings
Discussion:
TVNewser and twitchy.com
Kansas City Star:
Out-of-state political consultants helped direct Josh Hawley's Missouri AG office — 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 …
Discussion:
Political Wire
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Erik Wasson / Bloomberg:
Democrats More Hopeful About Unseating Montana's Body-Slamming Lawmaker
Democrats More Hopeful About Unseating Montana's Body-Slamming Lawmaker
Discussion:
Great Falls Tribune, Power Line and Talking Points Memo
The Daily Beast:
‘Homeland Security’ Ignores White Terror, DHS Veterans Say — As far-right terror attacks mount, DHS is concentrating on a migrant caravan 1000+ miles away—and some FBI veterans say the bureau isn't taking white supremacy seriously enough. — On Tuesday, just days after a white supremacist gunned …
Discussion:
The Crime Report, New Republic and Raw Story
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Laura Strickler / NBC News:
Trump admin will apparently not renew program to fight domestic terror
Trump admin will apparently not renew program to fight domestic terror
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Jonathan Karl / ABC News:
‘We have to have a wall of people’: Trump defends military presence on border — President Donald Trump said that the increased military presence on the border is going to help stop the “invasion” that is coming in the migrant caravan. — “We have to have a wall of people,” Trump said …
Discussion:
Mediaite
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Elizabeth McLaughlin / ABC News:
Days before midterms, Trump now says military's border mission could increase to 15K troops
David Crook / DCReport.org:
Human Rights Group Calls for Investigation of Giuliani, Trump Money-Laundering Scheme — Prosecutors Asked to Probe Dutch Middlemen Washing Billions in Dirty Kazahk Cash for Real Estate Deals in U.S. and Europe — A human rights organization has asked Dutch prosecutors to open …
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Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Trump vows to end ‘crazy’ birthright citizenship in closing midterms appeal — ESTERO, Fla. — President Trump introduced the polarizing issue of birthright citizenship as a central plank of his closing argument to voters here Wednesday night as he began his final campaign sprint to Election Day.
Discussion:
New Republic
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Newsweek:
Migrant Caravan Troop Deployment Could Cost U.S. $50 Million Despite No Evidence of Terrorists, Major Criminal Gang Presence — The Trump administration is preparing for the most dangerous, and unlikely, scenario as it sends thousands of troops to the border to intercept a carvavan …
Discussion:
The Intercept
Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:
“There's Going to Be a Lot of Departures”: Fearing a House Wipeout, Trump Throws Hail Marys as Aides Brace for Staff Changes — White House insiders suggest that Kellyanne Conway and Steve Mnuchin are not long for this West Wing. — BY - GABRIEL SHERMANOctober 31, 2018,
Discussion:
Raw Story, Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog, IJR and Politico
Matt Zdun / The Texas Tribune:
Ted Cruz's lead over Beto O'Rourke narrows to 3.6, UT-Tyler poll says — The UT-Tyler poll follows a number of other polls which show Cruz's lead over O'Rourke diminishing. … Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz leads challenger U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso, by 3.6 percentage points among likely voters …
Discussion:
The Week and CBS Dallas
RELATED:
Lawfare:
The Watergate Road Map Unsealed — The National Archive has released the famed—and long mysterious—Watergate “Road Map,” which Special Prosecutor sent to Congress in 1974. For background on the Road Map, and our litigation to get it released, see here and here.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo and Political Wire
RELATED:
Los Angeles Times:
Veteran featured in GOP congressman's midterm election ad posted racist rants and violent threats on Facebook — On the home page of his campaign website, Rep. Steve Knight of Palmdale has posted a television ad showing a veteran praising the Republican congressman for helping him get a lung transplant.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Sarah Sanders has a knack for lying — One can only marvel at the ease with which White House press secretary Sarah Sanders abuses the people in front of her, deflects blame and outright lies. At Monday's press briefing, her entire bag of tricks was on display.
Peter Hasson / The Daily Caller:
'She's A Piece Of S***' — Claire McCaskill Ignites Feud With Missouri Democrat Just Days Before Election — Democratic Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill sparked a fierce backlash from a Democratic legislator in her home state after listing her as an example of a “crazy Democrat.”
Discussion:
RedState, Power Line, NTK Network, Washington Free Beacon, Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit
Brendan Morrow / The Week:
The Obamas might make a TV show about disorder in the Trump administration for Netflix — Is former President Barack Obama about to unleash one long subtweet against his successor in the form of a Netflix show? — Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama have acquired the rights …
Discussion:
EW.com, Deadline, Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit
Washington Post:
Startling new research finds large buildup of heat in the oceans, suggesting a faster rate of global warming — The findings mean the world might have less time to curb carbon emissions. — The world's oceans have been soaking up far more excess heat in recent decades than scientists realized …
Economist:
Identity politics are stronger on the right than the left — The Republican Party is increasingly unified around whiteness — IN THE popular imagination, identity politics is the stuff of queer-studies seminars and Hillary Clinton rallies. The excesses of intolerant university students raging …
Laura Vozzella / Washington Post:
Democrat says Project Veritas infiltrated her campaign in Va.'s tight 7th District — RICHMOND — 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.
Discussion:
Political Wire
The Times of Israel:
TV report: Israel silent as Iran hit by computer virus more violent than Stuxnet — Tehran strategic networks attacked, Hadashot TV says, hours after Israel revealed it tipped off Denmark about Iran murder plot, and days after Rouhani's phone was found bugged
Discussion:
israpundit.org
Chad Sokol / Spokesman.com:
Rep. Matt Shea takes credit, criticism for document titled ‘Biblical Basis for War’ — chadso@spokesman.com — (509) 459-5047 — Washington state Rep. Matt Shea acknowledged Wednesday he had distributed a four-page manifesto titled “Biblical Basis for War,” which describes the Christian God as a …
PVA:
Gillum Makes Promises He Can't Keep, “that's not for [voters] to know” Says Campaign Staff in Undercover Video … Empty Promises Exposed: “Fairy tales in the modern day begin with ‘once I am elected.’” — Deceiving Voters: “None of the programs that people are hoping for would happen” but “That's not for [voters] to know.”
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit and Daily Wire
ABC News:
Trump: ‘I always like to be truthful’ — Coming up in the next {{countdown}} {{countdownlbl}} — Coming up next: — {{nextVideo.title}} — {{nextVideo.description}} — Skip to this video now — Related Extras Related Videos Video Transcript — Transcript for Trump: ‘I always like to be truthful’
Avery Anapol / The Hill:
California synagogue targeted with anti-Semitic graffiti — A synagogue in Irvine, Calif., was defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti overnight on Tuesday. — In a message shared on Facebook by Orange County Jewish Life Magazine, Beth Jacob Congregation of Irvine synagogue leaders said the …
Bryan Caplan / Econlib:
Socialists Without a Plan — If I met a four-star general and he told me he was a socialist, I'd understand where he's coming from. After all, this is a man who lives and breathes logistics. He leads for a living. His job is to make master plans, then carefully monitor his underlings so they actually implement said master plans.
Natalie Allison / The Tennessean:
Corker on migrant caravan: Republicans ‘using fear to stimulate’ midterm voter turnout — President Donald Trump says the number of military troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexican border could go as high as 15,000. Trump said that the move would be aimed at preventing the entry of a caravan of migrants traveling from Central America.
politics.myajc:
Debate canceled: Candidates unable to agree on alternative after Kemp pulls out of Sunday showdown — The second and final televised Georgia gubernatorial debate was canceled Wednesday after Republican Brian Kemp pulled out of the initial Sunday event and he and Democrat Stacey Abrams couldn't agree on an alternative.
Discussion:
Axios, Political Wire, Associated Press and The Daily Caller