Daily Digest for September 30, 2020 Posted at 7:45 a.m. by Michael Olson |
Good morning. President Donald Trump returned to Minnesota on Wednesday, hoping to restock his campaign account and keep supporters motivated after a chaotic first presidential debate with Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Trump was expected to haul in millions of dollars at a Lake Minnetonka fundraiser before jetting to Duluth for a tarmac rally. It’s his third visit to Minnesota in recent weeks and the second focused on the northern part of the state, where his campaign hopes to build a vote cushion given anticipated problems closer to the Twin Cities.
Hours before Trump got to Duluth supporters were lined up in rain and driving wind, with many dressed in rain ponchos.
The president’s focus on Minnesota has been intense since his narrow defeat in the state in the 2016 race. He established an early campaign presence, dispatched top surrogates and visited often himself.
But there are also signs that Trump’s campaign is scaling back its investment as Election Day draws nearer. Twice in September, the campaign slashed television ad spending it had booked for the stretch run — by more than 90 percent in the Twin Cities market this week alone. More from MPR News reporter Dan Kraker in Duluth.
“Now they’re all back,” he said of thousands of Iron Range jobs, seemingly unaware that the region’s mines have been struggling with closures and furloughs since the pandemic began.” -- Katie Galioto, Star Tribune
Trump on defensive over white supremacist group after debate comments President Donald Trump attempted to clarify his position on white supremacists after a litany of members of his own party urged him to more clearly condemn the right wing group known as The Proud Boys, whom he told to "stand back and stand by" in Tuesday night's first presidential debate.
The president told reporters at the White House that he doesn't know who the Proud Boys are, but said they should "stand down" and let law enforcement do their work.
"I don't know who the Proud Boys are, you'll have to give me a definition," he said.
He added, "Whoever they are, they have to stand down, let law enforcement do their work."
Shortly before the president spoke, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., avoided directly criticizing the president's handling of the issue, but McConnell made it clear for his part that he was calling out white supremacy.
Fewer people may vote by mail than expected. That could mean Election Day 'chaos' COVID-19 is still spreading across the U.S., but you would barely know it by how people are planning to vote this year.
As the pandemic took hold in the spring, voting experts predicted a national shift toward mail or absentee voting: some experts predicted as many as 70 percent of all votes cast could be by mail, as was the case in Wisconsin's April primary.
But over the past few months, fears about the Postal Service's reliability as well as President Donald Trump's constant railing against mail voting security have meant fewer and fewer people planning to use the method to vote — to the point that officials now worry there may be such a crush of people who want to vote on Election Day, it could lead to unsafe crowding and excessively long lines.
Both a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll and a Citizen Data poll found that just 35 percent of Americans now say they plan to vote by mail this fall. And half of all voters instead specifically plan to vote in-person on Election Day, according to the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll. - - Miles Parks, NPR
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