memeorandum: Trump Dismisses Virus Coverage and Biden Dismisses Virus Leadership: This Week in the 2020 Race (New York Times)

9:15 PM ET, October 31, 2020

Top Items:

Brianne Pfannenstiel / Des Moines Register:

Iowa Poll: Donald Trump takes over lead in Iowa as Joe Biden fades — | Des Moines Register Show Caption Hide Caption … Republican President Donald Trump has taken over the lead in Iowa as Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden has faded, a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows just days before Election Day.

Discussion: Fox News, Salt Lake Tribune, Washington Times and Bloomberg

Brianne Pfannenstiel / Des Moines Register:

Iowa Poll: Republican Joni Ernst pulls ahead of Democrat Theresa Greenfield in closing days of U.S. Senate race — | Des Moines Register Show Caption Hide Caption … Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst has pulled ahead of Democrat Theresa Greenfield in the closing stretch of a contentious U.S. Senate race …

Nick Coltrain / Des Moines Register:

Iowa Poll: Republicans preferred in 3 of 4 U.S. House races; Rep. Finkenauer appears at risk — | Des Moines Register Show Caption Hide Caption … A Republican could be poised to win back one of the Iowa congressional districts that flipped to Democrats two years ago …

Discussion: Boston Herald

Naomi Lim / Washington Examiner:
Biden needles Joni Ernst in Iowa for not knowing breakeven soybean price

Discussion: Politico

Kelly Weill / The Daily Beast:

Biden Team Cancels Texas Event After Highway ‘Ambush’ by MAGA Cavalry — Dozens of pickup trucks, many with Trump flags, surrounded a Biden campaign bus as it traveled from San Antonio to Austin. — Joe Biden's presidential campaign canceled a Friday event in Austin, Texas, after harassment from a pro-Trump contingent.

Discussion: CNN, KXAN-TV, Washington Examiner, Daily Kos, Mashable, Business Insider, The Mahablog, Occupy Democrats, Mediaite, CBS Dallas / Fort Worth, TheBlaze, The Sun, Law & Crime and Mother Jones

Doug P. / Twitchy:

‘Is this a joke?’ Biden/Harris supporter in Texas bus tour called 911 on Trump caravan that tagged along & put them 'in harm's way' — A Biden/Harris bus was driven around Texas (for a while, but we'll get to that in a minute) this week, and it was escorted by many, many supporters... of President Trump:

Discussion: Rolling Stone, The Gateway Pundit, The Last Refuge, Occupy Democrats, Instapundit and Chicago Boyz

David R. Montgomery / New York Times:
Vehicles flying Trump flags try to force a Biden-Harris campaign bus off a highway in Texas.

Discussion: NBC News, Axios and TMZ.com

KEYE:
Biden campaign cancels Austin rally; Trump supporters reportedly harass bus on I-35

Discussion: Forbes, Townhall and Raw Story

Washington Post:

‘A whole lot of hurt’: Fauci warns of covid-19 surge, offers blunt assessment of Trump's response — President Trump's repeated assertions the United States is “rounding the turn” on the coronavirus have increasingly alarmed the government's top health experts, who say the country is heading …

Discussion: Mediaite and Raw Story

CNN:

CNN Polls: Biden leads in Michigan and Wisconsin as campaign ends, with tighter races in Arizona and North Carolina — (CNN)Former Vice President Joe Biden holds an advantage in the upper Midwest states of Wisconsin and Michigan, according to CNN Polls conducted by SSRS …

Discussion: The Hill and Mediaite

Kevin Freking / Associated Press:
EXPLAINER: A long night, or more, before president is known

Discussion: Reuters

Washington Post:
More than 91 million ballots cast as of Saturday, as hopes and tensions magnify ahead of Election Day

Discussion: USA Today, NPR, Vox and Raw Story

Berkeley Lovelace Jr / CNBC:

Trump campaign rallies led to more than 30,000 coronavirus cases, Stanford researchers say — Researchers looked at 18 Trump rallies held between June 20 and Sept. 22 and analyzed Covid-19 data the weeks following each event. — The researchers found that the rallies ultimately resulted …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Axios, Baller Alert, HillReporter.com, Al Jazeera, Slate and Mediaite

SSRN:

Abstract — We investigate the effects of large group meetings on the spread of COVID-19 by studying the impact of eighteen Trump campaign rallies. To capture the effects of subsequent contagion within the pertinent communities, our analysis encompasses up to ten post-rally weeks for each event.

Discussion: The Hill, New York Times, Politico, The Wrap, CNBC and Forbes

Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:

Trump Camp Uses Online Gimmick to Fuel Donations Into December — The Trump campaign is now automatically checking a box to create recurring weekly donations from supporters until mid-December. — President Trump's campaign is raising money for a prolonged political and legal fight long …

ABC News:

American hostage Philip Walton rescued in dramatic military operation: Officials — Walton was abducted recently in Niger, where he had been living. — Catch up on the developing stories making headlines. — An American citizen abducted last week in Niger has been rescued during …

Discussion: United States Department …, Washington Examiner, Reuters, CNN, Vox, The Hill, The Daily Caller, The Last Refuge, TheBlaze, Townhall, Breitbart, The Sun, NPR, New York Post and Task & Purpose

Lucas Tomlinson / Fox News:
American hostage rescued in West Africa by SEAL Team 6 in daring raid

Discussion: CBS News, UPI and National Review

New York Times:

The President's Taxes: A Reader's Guide — Over the past four years, The New York Times has independently obtained and published information on several decades of Donald J. Trump's taxes. — Over the last several weeks, The New York Times has published the findings of its investigation …

Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:

Intercept Staffers Roll Their Eyes Over Glenn Greenwald's Censorship Claim — Glenn Greenwald had the freedom to publish almost anything he wanted at The Intercept. Then he cried censorship. — Glenn Greenwald officially left The Intercept on Thursday, complaining of censorship and heavy-handed editing.

Politico:

USPS investigates undelivered Miami ballots — TALLAHASSEE — State and federal authorities are investigating a pileup of mail at a Miami post office that included a handful of completed ballots after Florida House Minority Leader Kionne McGhee posted a video Friday.

Discussion: Associated Press, WINK NEWS, Forbes, Political Wire, New York Post and POLITICUSUSA

Wall Street Journal: Millions of Mail-in Ballots at Risk in Battleground States With Looming Deadlines

Eric Hananoki / Media Matters for America:

One of the plaintiffs trying to throw out drive-thru votes in Harris County, Texas, is a COVID and QAnon conspiracy theorist — Texas Republicans have petitioned a federal court to potentially throw out more than 100,000 ballots cast in drive-thru voting in Harris County, Texas.

Discussion: Law & Crime, Austin American-Statesman and Slate

Jan Wolfe / Reuters:
U.S. judge to hear Republican bid to void 100,000 votes in Texas

Discussion: Mother Jones

Marisa Fernandez / Axios:

Boris Johnson announces month-long COVID-19 lockdown in England — A new national lockdown will be imposed in England, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Saturday, as the number of COVID-19 cases in the country topped 1 million. — Details: Starting Thursday, people in England must stay at home …

Discussion: The Guardian, Associated Press and Politico

New York Times:

Trump Dismisses Virus Coverage and Biden Dismisses Virus Leadership: This Week in the 2020 Race — President Trump has complained this week of what he calls a media obsession with the coronavirus pandemic. The message from Democrats has been united — all coronavirus, all the time.

Discussion: NBC4 Washington

Tresa Baldas / Detroit Free Press:

Whitmer kidnap suspect wants out of jail. He's diabetic, and fears COVID-19 — After three weeks in jail, one of the suspects charged with plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is asking the judge to reconsider her decision to keep him locked up: He's worried about getting the COVID-19 virus.

Hunter Walker / Yahoo News:

Lincoln Project targets 3 deep red states with million-dollar ad buy as election map ‘turning against’ Trump — WASHINGTON — With just three days left until the election, President Trump's enemies are seeing new opportunities in staunchly red states. The Lincoln Project …

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Trump Can Still Win, But The Polls Would Have To Be Off By Way More Than In 2016 — To borrow from Cook Political Report's Dave Wasserman, “I've seen enough.” — No, I don't know who's going to win the election. According to our forecast, President Trump still has a chance at a second term …

Discussion: CNN, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Investor's Business Daily and IJR

Jackie Calmes / Los Angeles Times:

Barack Obama is making the argument for Joe Biden — by roasting Trump — Barack Obama is uncorked and letting it fly. — For three-and-a-half years, he mostly honored the tradition that former presidents do not criticize their successors, even as his norm-breaking successor attacked him relentlessly.

Discussion: The Hill, Business Insider, Washington Post, Breitbart, The Sun, HillReporter.com, NBC4 Washington, KXAN-TV, The Colorado Sun and Talking Points Memo

Chicago Tribune:

Kyle Rittenhouse cried, vomited and worried about social media as he told Antioch cops, ‘I shot two white kids’ — Kyle Rittenhouse cried, vomited and worried about negative social media comments after turning himself in to a far north suburban police department following the fatal shooting …

Discussion: CBS News, abc7NY, NBC Chicago and New York Post

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:

Democrats grow more anxious about Pennsylvania — Joe Biden on Saturday prepared to mount a last-minute, two-day blitz of Pennsylvania, amid concern among some local Democrats about a potential late shift that would threaten his narrow advantage there and mirror President Trump's 2016 comeback.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Washington Times, Breitbart, CBS Philly, The Hill and Political Wire

Washington Post:

Trump drags down GOP senators, giving Democrats more paths to the majority — From the deepest conservative states to more Democratic leaning terrain, Senate Republicans face a brutal political environment that has left the GOP needing to pull off a near-perfect run in a dozen highly competitive races to retain the majority.

Discussion: NBC News, Fox News, The Week, POLITICUSUSA and Forbes

Christopher Cadelago / Politico:

Trump goes it alone — Donald Trump ambushed his party establishment and mowed down a sprawling lineup of polished and better-connected rivals in 2016 — mostly on his own. — Four years later, the benefits of incumbency have done little to draw the biggest Republicans to the president …

Discussion: Washington Post, New Yorker, Raw Story, National Review and Associated Press

New York Times:

Their First Try Backfired, but Giuliani and Allies Keep Aiming at Biden — The former New York mayor's dirt-digging effort on Hunter Biden in 2019 ended with President Trump's impeachment. Now he is back with new associates. So far it is not going exactly as planned.

Washington Post:

Trailing in the polls, Trump enlists his administration and co-opts the government to bolster his reelection — In the final days of the 2020 election season, President Trump has featured his White House press secretary as a star at his campaign rallies, where she has triumphantly joined him onstage.

Discussion: E&E News and New York Times

Max Greenwood / The Hill:

Obama hammers Trump's claim that doctors have inflated coronavirus numbers — Former President Obama laid into President Trump on Saturday over his claim that doctors have tried to profit off of the coronavirus pandemic by intentionally inflating the number of COVID-19 cases.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Breitbart, The Sun and Al Jazeera