memeorandum: Election denier Mark Finchem's sleeper campaign closes in on MAGA prize (Washington Post)

11:50 AM ET, October 31, 2022

Top Items:

Senate Control Hinges on Neck-and-Neck Races, Times/Siena Poll Finds — The contests are close in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Many voters want Republicans to flip the Senate, but prefer the Democrat in their state. — Control of the Senate rests on a knife's edge …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Washington Times, The Forward, Opinion Today and DNyuz

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

Times/Siena Polls Show Democrats Slightly Ahead in Key Senate Races — Respondents said they preferred Republicans to control the Senate, but individual matchups showed a different story. — Eight days before the election, we have our final* midterm surveys: polls of the four states likeliest to determine control of the Senate.

Discussion: Raw Story and Political Wire

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: The next big precedent SCOTUS is set to overturn — Presented by With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross — DRIVING THE DAY — ALMOST THERE — 8 days left until Election Day. ... 21,174,265 early votes cast as of 4:44 p.m. Sunday, per the United States Elections Project.

Discussion: New York Times

Rolling Stone:

Dr. Oz's Campaign Is Stocked With Jan. 6ers — The Republican has kept his distance from the “stolen election” lie while running for Senate, but records obtained by Rolling Stone reveal some of his staffers have embraced it wholeheartedly — and even attended the Jan. 6 rally to overturn the election

Discussion: The Hill and Raw Story

Washington Post:
Election denier Mark Finchem's sleeper campaign closes in on MAGA prize

Discussion: NBC News, Raw Story, Election Law Blog and Insider

Politico:
Senate control could go either way despite Republican momentum

Discussion: The Michigan Daily, New York Times and Breitbart

Ally Mutnick / Politico:
The Michigan race testing the limits of a GOP wave

Discussion: Reason

Scott Pelley / CBS News:
Belief in the Ballot: Republicans in Arizona running on claims of election fraud

Discussion: The Hill, HuffPost and Axios

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Ambitious GOP senators dive into midterms while Trump weighs his 2024 plans

Discussion: Raw Story

Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:
The Battle for Blue-Collar White Voters Raging in Biden's Birthplace

Discussion: CNN and The Daily Caller

Francis Wilkinson / Bloomberg.com:
In Pennsylvania, the Big Lie Is Spreading Its Roots

Discussion: HuffPost

Alex Heath / The Verge:

Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for verification … Now that he owns Twitter, Elon Musk has given employees their first ultimatum: Meet his deadline to introduce paid verification on Twitter or pack up and leave. — The directive is to change Twitter Blue …

NBC News:

Biden lost temper with Zelenskyy in June phone call when Ukrainian leader asked for more aid — It's become routine since Russia invaded Ukraine: President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak by phone whenever the U.S. announces a new package of military assistance for Kyiv.

Discussion: Insider, Washington Examiner, Politico, Breitbart, DNyuz, Mediaite and New York Post

Brett Samuels / The Hill:

Trump: Attack on Paul Pelosi a ‘terrible thing’ — Former President Donald Trump in an interview Sunday called the attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) husband in their San Francisco home a “terrible thing” as he railed against crime in Democrat-led cities.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Insider, Mediaite, CNN, HuffPost, CD Media, New York Post, BizPac Review, Lucianne, Vanity Fair and Just The News

CBS News:
Suspect in Paul Pelosi attack had list of targets, law enforcement sources say

Discussion: Fox News, CNN, Forbes, DNyuz, IJR, Mediaite, The Hill, Raw Story, New York Post, ABC7, NBC News, New York Post, Law & Crime and New York Times

New York Times:
Pelosi, Vilified by Republicans for Years, Is a Top Target of Threats

Discussion: DNyuz, Popular Information, CNN, Fox News, The Hill, ABC7, RedState, Axios and CBS News

Jay Caspian Kang / New Yorker:
The Futile Race to Label Paul Pelosi's Attacker

Discussion: MSNBC, DNyuz and The Gateway Pundit

Max Boot / Washington Post:
Don't blame ‘both sides.’ The right is driving political violence.

Discussion: Newsbusters, Mediaite, Raw Story, The Colorado Sun, HuffPost, American Greatness, NBC News, The Economist, Morning Shots, Washington Examiner, Politico, CNBC, The Hill, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Post and The Daily Beast

Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:
Elon Musk, right-wing figures push misinformation about Pelosi attack

Discussion: Washington Post, NBC News, Insider, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, Mediaite, The Hill, Newsweek, Grid News, Talking Points Memo, New York Post, The Wrap, San Francisco Chronicle, New Republic, The Daily Caller, RedState, Los Angeles Times, The Post Millennial, Washington Post, New York Post, Althouse, The Western Journal, The Hill, The Daily Beast, Bloomberg, New York Post, Detroit Free Press, IJR, Gizmodo, Mediaite, World Socialist Web Site, Super-Probably Relevant …, Boing Boing, Al Jazeera, Quartz, Today's Edition Newsletter, Robert Reich, NDTV, Mother Jones, Washington Examiner, DNyuz, The Western Journal, Raw Story, The Verge, Associated Press, DNyuz, The Guardian, TMZ.com, TheBlaze, Jezebel, Reuters, The Post Millennial, Insider, The Gateway Pundit, HuffPost, Fortune, DNyuz, NDTV, BuzzFeed News, Twitchy, RedState, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Lucian Truscott Newsletter, Election Law Blog, Washington Examiner, Mashable, DNyuz, Bloomberg, Crooks and Liars, The Times of Israel, New York Magazine, The Wrap, Rolling Stone, The Register, DNyuz, Raw Story, Platformer, CNN, The Daily Wire and New York Times, more at Techmeme »

Mike Allen / Axios:

First look: Mike Pence's new book reveals key moment before Jan. 6 — In former Vice President Mike Pence's “So Help Me God” — out Nov. 15 — he describes a scene in November 2020, just after the election, when he and former President Trump met in the Oval Office to review legal challenges with the campaign's lawyers.

Discussion: HuffPost, Washington Examiner, The Hill and Raw Story

Jack Nicas / Reuters:

Lula's victory likely means big changes for Brazil, though his specific plans are vague. — Maria Magdalena Arréllaga for The New York Times — Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York Times — Victor Venco Moriyama for the New York Times — Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York Times

CNN:
Brazil's Bolsonaro loses bid for second term in fiercely contested presidential vote

Matthew Kassel / Jewish Insider:

Laxalt campaign paid thousands to political operative linked to Twitter account that denigrated Jews, women — A Twitter account connected to former Laxalt staffer Michael Pecjak has compared abortion to the Holocaust and claimed that “Jews are not a religious sect and are a cult,” among other comments

Discussion: Axios

Lawrence Mower / Tampa Bay Times:

After voter fraud arrests, Florida issues new forms that could bolster future cases — “This is just going to make future prosecutions easier for the state,” an attorney said. “I think it's horrifying.” — TALLAHASSEE — A week after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the arrests of 20 people …

Discussion: Raw Story

Nora Mishanec / San Francisco Chronicle:

Ex-girlfriend of suspect in Paul Pelosi attack says he struggled with mental illness, drugs, believed he was ‘Jesus for a year’ — The imprisoned longtime partner of David DePape, the suspect in the attack on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul, said Sunday that mental illness …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Political Wire, BizPac Review, Kurt Nimmo on Geopolitics, Breitbart, Fox News and Just The News

Shelby Talcott / Semafor:

Republican donors are being forced into an agonizing choice between Trump and DeSantis — Shelby is a Political Reporter for Semafor, joining us from the Daily Caller. Morgan is a Political and National Security Reporter for Semafor, joining us from The Hill.

Discussion: Raw Story

Luis Ferré-Sadurní / New York Times:
Clinton, Obama and DeSantis Lend Star Power to Tight N.Y. Races

Discussion: Spectrum News 1 Central NY, Florida's Voice, BizPac Review, Just The News, Washington Examiner, The Daily Wire, National Review, New York Post, The Gateway Pundit, Politico and NBC New York

Kurt Schlichter / Frontpage Mag:

Everyone is Laughing at the Ridiculous Pelosi Big Lie — Meet the underwear-clad MAGA assassin from a hippie commune in Berkeley. — How dare you reject the Official Approved Narrative parroted by the regime media about the weird Schiff that went down at Casa de Pelosi the other night.

Discussion: Washington Times and Mediaite

David Weigel / Semafor:

Happy Halloween, there's a candy-colored fentanyl scare on the campaign trail — MESA, Ariz. - It was the talk of Republican candidates over Halloween weekend: A rumor that their trick-or-treating kids might get candy-colored fentanyl from strangers. — “The cartels, they're dressing …

Discussion: NPR, Mediaite and Tampa Bay Times

David Folkenflik / NPR:

Right-wing “zombie” papers attack Illinois Democrats ahead of elections — Since late summer, many Illinois residents have been receiving newspapers that they haven't paid for or, in many cases, even heard of. — Each paper bears a clear-cut tagline: Real data, real news.