Presidential Race Tightens  —  Democrats lead in other state contests  —  West Long Branch, NJ - Joe Biden holds a 4-point lead over Donald Trump among all registered voters in Pennsylvania according to the Monmouth ("Mon-muth") University Poll.  Among likely voters, the race is a tight 1 to 3 points …

Joe Biden to visit Kenosha on Thursday, making his first campaign visit to Wisconsin  —  MADISON - Former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, will visit Kenosha on Thursday.  —  His visit to Wisconsin comes just days after President Donald Trump toured the destructive aftermath …

Kenosha business owner declines President Trump photo-op, former owner replaces him  —  A Kenosha business owner is accusing President Donald Trump of using his destroyed store for political gain.  —  Tom Gram's century-old camera shop burned to the ground a week ago during the unrest in Uptown Kenosha.

C.D.C. Tells States How to Prepare for Covid-19 Vaccine by Early November  —  As Trump pushes the possibility of a vaccine this year, the C.D.C. has outlined technical scenarios to state public health officials for an unidentified “Vaccine A” and “Vaccine B.”

Trump told Sarah Sanders to ‘take one for the team’ after Kim Jong-un wink  —  Donald Trump told Sarah Sanders she would have to “go to North Korea and take one for the team”, after Kim Jong-un winked at the then White House press secretary during a summit in Singapore in June 2018.

First covid-19 death linked to Sturgis Motorcycle Rally reported in Minnesota  —  The case, involving a biker in his 60s, is one of at least 260 infections traced to the event last month where many declined to wear masks.  —  A Minnesota biker who attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally …

DHS withheld July intelligence bulletin calling out Russian attack on Biden's mental health  —  The Trump campaign has repeatedly engaged in a similar line of attack.  —  In early July the Department of Homeland Security withheld publication of an intelligence bulletin warning law enforcement agencies …

Tactics of fiery White House trade adviser draw new scrutiny as some of his pandemic moves unravel  —  Peter Navarro has faced an internal investigation into his treatment of colleagues, and now two of his coronavirus-related actions are under internal scrutiny.

US debt will overtake GDP next year for the first time since 1946, CBO says  —  Washington (CNN)The US debt is projected to exceed the size of the entire country's economy next year, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.  —  It will be the first time the federal debt could be bigger …

GOP Rep. Clay Higgins Threatens To Shoot Armed Protesters: 'I'd Drop Any 10 Of You'  —  His social media post, which was removed by Facebook, had a photo of armed Black men.  —  Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) said he'd be more than willing to shoot any armed demonstrators in Louisiana …

Georgia likely removed nearly 200k from voter rolls wrongfully, report says  —  (CNN)The state of Georgia has likely removed nearly 200,000 Georgia citizens from the voter rolls for wrongfully concluding that those people had moved and not changed the address on their voter registration …

5 mistakes that can disqualify your November mail ballot and how to avoid them  — More states and counties than ever are allowing Americans to vote from home with a paper ballot mailed to their house this fall.  — But voting by mail can be more prone to human error than voting in person …

Trump melts down after Lincoln Project ad mocks his RNC TV ratings: ‘We have FAR more people!’  —  President Donald Trump on Wednesday threw a tantrum about a new Lincoln Project ad that mocked him for scoring lower television ratings for the Republican National Convention than Democratic rival Joe Biden.

Speaker Pelosi calls salon visit a ‘set-up,’ refuses to apologize  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to apologize Wednesday for her controversial visit to a San Francisco hair salon, calling it “a set up” and suggesting that she had been tricked by the business owner.

‘So skeptical’: Sen. Joni Ernst echoes conspiracy theory questioning coronavirus death count  —  When a man in the crowd of her Iowa campaign stop told Sen. Joni Ernst (R) on Monday that he believed the number of U.S. coronavirus deaths had been overcounted, Ernst replied that she too was “so skeptical.”

The Little Cards That Tell Police 'Let's Forget This Ever Happened'  —  Some cops give their friends and family union-issued “courtesy cards” to help get them out of minor infractions.  The cards embody everything wrong with modern policing.  —  KW  —  Mike, a white man in his 50s …

Scoop: Andrew Gillum and his wife, R. Jai Gillum, To Sit Down With Tamron Hall For First Television Interview  —  It would mean so much to me if you would subscribe to my newsletter by clicking the button above or the button at the end of this post.  You can subscribe for free …

This Is Democrats' Doomsday Scenario for Election Night  —  What if early results in swing states on Nov. 3 show President Trump ahead, and he declares victory before heavily Democratic mail-in votes, which he has falsely linked with fraud, are fully counted?

Three years ago, an officer was filmed beating up a handcuffed Black man.  Now, he's the police chief.  —  When Kentdrick Ratliff tried to reach for a pill bottle that police had confiscated from him, his physical struggle with officers in Hammond, La., quickly got violent.

Alexei Navalny poisoned with Novichok, says German government … The German government has said toxicological exams at Berlin's Charité hospital have yielded “unequivocal proof” that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent.

Melania Trump used private email accounts while in the White House, says former colleague and friend  —  Melania Trump regularly used a private Trump Organization email account, an email from a MelaniaTrump.com domain, iMessage and the encrypted messaging app, Signal, while in the White House …

At Voice of America, Trump Appointee Sought Political Influence Over Coverage  —  Toggle more options  —  At the Voice of America, staffers say the Trump appointee leading their parent agency is threatening to wash away legal protections intended to insulate their news reports from political meddling.

Fauci predicts ‘safe and effective’ coronavirus vaccine by end of year … Dr. Anthony Fauci predicts that a coronavirus vaccine will be developed by the end of 2020.  —  “I believe that by the time we get to the end of this calendar year that we will feel comfortable that we do have a safe …

A Cartoon of Peace and Outrage  —  Kushner can't paper over the unpopularity of the Emirati-Israel accord in the Arab world.  —  Kushner's flight of fancy from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi  —  The headlines in the Emirati papers proclaimed peace.  “Salam, Shalom,” read one.

Trump presses Barr (again) to target his enemies before election … A few weeks ago, Donald Trump sat down with Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo and the president threw a bit of a tantrum about his perceived enemies “spying on his campaign” in 2016, which he insisted constituted “treason” and “the crime of the century.”

Disdain for the Less Educated Is the Last Acceptable Prejudice  —  It's having a corrosive effect on American life — and hurting the Democratic Party.  —  Mr. Sandel is a political philosopher.  —  Joe Biden has a secret weapon in his bid for the presidency: He is the first Democratic nominee …

The War on America  —  BLM and Antifa are determined to bring the country to its knees.  We should act accordingly.  —  In what has since become known as his first “major” speech, Abraham Lincoln famously warned the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois in 1838 about the dangers of “mob rule.”

POLITICO Playbook: Brace for impact  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  GOOD MORNING, and happy Wednesday.  We should all begin to focus our attention on the end of this month and the fiscal stimulus/government funding mess that awaits Washington — because it is massive, can easily go off the rails and is very far from being figured out.

Soldier to receive Medal of Honor for Iraq hostage rescue  —  DELRAY BEACH, FL (AP) — An American soldier who helped rescue about 70 hostages set to be executed by Islamic State militants in Iraq has been approved to receive the Medal of Honor for actions during a daring 2015 raid, The Associated Press has learned.