Daily Digest for September 9, 2020 Posted at 7:45 a.m. by Michael Olson |
Good morning. There are 55 days until election day. Donald Trump Jr. and Jill Biden planned visits to Minnesota today, a sign that both campaigns see the state in play as Trump maintains strong support in rural areas.
President Trump came very close to flipping Minnesota in 2016, as he upset Hillary Clinton with a surge of rural support in other northern industrial states that Democrats banked on, like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Trump only lost Minnesota by about 44,000 votes, a margin he hopes to overcome in 2020.
The president hopes that what led to victory in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania will extend to Minnesota, where his response to COVID-19 and racial justice protests has support in rural areas.-- Mark Zdechlik, MPR News
Trump, Biden and the road to 270 electoral votes With Election Day just eight weeks away, former Vice President Joe Biden is maintaining the same comfortable lead in most national polls that he enjoyed through the summer. He also has an advantage, though narrower, in many of the battleground states that will decide the election. But President Donald Trump remains in striking distance. -- AP
Two Minnesota legislators have joined other lawmakers from states with Big Ten universities, asking the conference to overturn its decision to cancel fall sports.
"Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-Nisswa, and House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, were two of 10 legislators signing a letter written by Michigan House of Representatives speaker Lee Chatfield. All are Republicans from six states — including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Wisconsin. The letter went to Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren as well as all of the institutions’ presidents and chancellors." -- Megan Ryan, Star Tribune
Fired staffer to Rep. Jim Hagedorn pushes back after mail controversy “U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn told his former chief of staff in a phone conversation last month that ‘I don’t believe there’s any problem’ with taxpayer-funded mail to constituents that was produced by two companies with ties to his congressional office. Peter Su, the former chief of staff, gave the Star Tribune an audio recording of the conversation, which he said occurred on Aug. 7. Hagedorn, in an interview, did not dispute that it was an authentic recording. … Su said the phone call he recorded — about six weeks after his departure from the office — shows that Hagedorn’s concerns as depicted in the internal review are being inflated in retrospect as he faces a tough re-election battle.” -- Briana Bierschbach and Patrick Condon, Star Tribune :
Minnesota’s Department of Public Safety advertised Tuesday for an outside evaluator to independently review the role of state entities in responding to civil unrest and riots after the killing of George Floyd as more details emerged about what was happening behind the scenes. The comprehensive report, which would be due next year, is expected to cover collaboration between several state agencies and local entities that dealt with many days of upheaval. -- Brian Bakst, MPR News |
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