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| Trump heads for battleground states, disregarding Covid concerns – live | Trump heads for battleground states, disregarding Covid concerns – live |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Trump to hold Wisconsin rally despite Covid warnings while Biden seeks to overcome racist legacy of crime bill he backed | Trump to hold Wisconsin rally despite Covid warnings while Biden seeks to overcome racist legacy of crime bill he backed |
| NBC’s Noah Pransky reports that mail-in voting in the swing state of Florida is very high, with 2.4m votes cast already and 19 days to go with the option still open. | |
| During a campaign appearance on Friday, Trump joked he would fire Florida governor Ron DeSantis if he loses the state in the election. | |
| “He’s done a great job and he’s been my friend. Hey, Ron, are we going to win this state, please? You know if we don’t win it, I’m blaming the governor. I’ll fire him somehow. I’m going to fire him. I will find a way, anyway,” Trump said. | |
| You can keep up-to-date with which candidate is leading in all the battleground states with our poll tracker: | |
| The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has announced the six topics that will be covered in the debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden in Tennessee next Thursday: “fighting Covid-19”, “American families”, “race in America”, “climate change”, “national security” and “leadership”. | |
| The debate will take place at 9pm ET and will be moderated by NBC’s Kristen Welker. CPD has not announced any modifications to the format of the event, even though it said after the last debate that it would announce “additional structure … to the format of the remaining debates, to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues”. | |
| The first debate, which took place on 29 September, was largely seen as a chaotic rumble between Trump and Biden, criticized for its lack of substance. | |
| Of course the debate line-up itself changed after Trump contracted Covid-19 and refused to participate in a virtual debate. The two opted for town halls instead. | |
| Of which: | |
| It was a hug that would have shocked many, even in a year without social distancing: Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, ending a contentious week of supreme court confirmation hearings with a full-body embrace of Lindsey Graham, the committee’s Republican chair. | It was a hug that would have shocked many, even in a year without social distancing: Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, ending a contentious week of supreme court confirmation hearings with a full-body embrace of Lindsey Graham, the committee’s Republican chair. |
| The act and her remarks about the hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett – “This has been one of the best set of hearings that I’ve participated in” – sparked calls among progressives for her retirement, and outcry that she had been in office for too long. Many of the California senator’s constituents and her more progressive Democratic colleagues have been arguing that for years. | The act and her remarks about the hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett – “This has been one of the best set of hearings that I’ve participated in” – sparked calls among progressives for her retirement, and outcry that she had been in office for too long. Many of the California senator’s constituents and her more progressive Democratic colleagues have been arguing that for years. |
| “There have been a number of us in San Francisco that for a long time felt that, without taking away from what she has accomplished, it has gotten to a point where she is out of touch with where San Francisco is and where California is,” said David Campos, chair of the San Francisco Democratic party, not speaking on behalf of the organization. | “There have been a number of us in San Francisco that for a long time felt that, without taking away from what she has accomplished, it has gotten to a point where she is out of touch with where San Francisco is and where California is,” said David Campos, chair of the San Francisco Democratic party, not speaking on behalf of the organization. |
| “She represents the past of San Francisco and California,” Campos continued. “It’s not surprising that at a time when we’re facing a crisis, when we have a rightwing supremacist being rushed through the supreme court, she’s not up to the task. And it’s not because of her age. It’s just because of who she is.” | “She represents the past of San Francisco and California,” Campos continued. “It’s not surprising that at a time when we’re facing a crisis, when we have a rightwing supremacist being rushed through the supreme court, she’s not up to the task. And it’s not because of her age. It’s just because of who she is.” |
| Some highlights of the Associated Press’s reporting of some of the lowlights of Trump’s campaigning on Friday, in Florida, forever a key battleground state, and Georgia, until now a state any Republican candidate would have had a hard time imagining losing: | Some highlights of the Associated Press’s reporting of some of the lowlights of Trump’s campaigning on Friday, in Florida, forever a key battleground state, and Georgia, until now a state any Republican candidate would have had a hard time imagining losing: |
| Of that accusation – as the Washington Post literary critic Carlos Lozada has so adroitly pointed out, Trump tends to project. The AP again, on a group with whom Trump needs to succeed, and which polling suggests is not buying what he’s selling: | Of that accusation – as the Washington Post literary critic Carlos Lozada has so adroitly pointed out, Trump tends to project. The AP again, on a group with whom Trump needs to succeed, and which polling suggests is not buying what he’s selling: |
| Here, meanwhile, is Georgia senator David Perdue shamelessly bating a Trump crowd by pretending not to be able to pronounce Kamala Harris’s name, thereby upholding the august dignity of the matchless deliberative body in which they both serve with the sort of effortless gravitas which even Charles Sumner could never have hoped to match. Yes, you can’t type sarcasm, I know: | Here, meanwhile, is Georgia senator David Perdue shamelessly bating a Trump crowd by pretending not to be able to pronounce Kamala Harris’s name, thereby upholding the august dignity of the matchless deliberative body in which they both serve with the sort of effortless gravitas which even Charles Sumner could never have hoped to match. Yes, you can’t type sarcasm, I know: |
| And here’s David Smith’s survey of the state of the race, again: | And here’s David Smith’s survey of the state of the race, again: |
| … and welcome to another day of coverage of electoral politics and Covid crisis in America. The election is two weeks and two days away, and Joe Biden holds a decent lead over Donald Trump in most national polls and many polls in battleground states. | … and welcome to another day of coverage of electoral politics and Covid crisis in America. The election is two weeks and two days away, and Joe Biden holds a decent lead over Donald Trump in most national polls and many polls in battleground states. |
| Trump is heading to no fewer than three such states today: Michigan, to deliver “remarks on Supporting the American Way of Life”; Wisconsin, for an evening rally in a Covid “red zone”; and then on to Nevada. | Trump is heading to no fewer than three such states today: Michigan, to deliver “remarks on Supporting the American Way of Life”; Wisconsin, for an evening rally in a Covid “red zone”; and then on to Nevada. |
| Here’s Jo Walters on the Wisconsin trip: | Here’s Jo Walters on the Wisconsin trip: |
| On Sunday, Biden will head for North Carolina, a state many think Trump has to win if he is to find a path to victory in the electoral college. Fivethirtyeight.com puts Biden up there, but only by 3.1%. Here’s David Smith’s survey of the situation: | On Sunday, Biden will head for North Carolina, a state many think Trump has to win if he is to find a path to victory in the electoral college. Fivethirtyeight.com puts Biden up there, but only by 3.1%. Here’s David Smith’s survey of the situation: |
| In Covid news, on Friday the Johns Hopkins case count in the US passed 8m, with nearly 220,000 deaths, even as Dr Anthony Fauci, the most recognised public health expert in the country, said the White House task force is hardly meeting anymore – and while, as mentioned, Trump charges about the country, disregarding public health measures at campaign events though making sure attendees sign disclaimers lest they catch the bloody thing. | In Covid news, on Friday the Johns Hopkins case count in the US passed 8m, with nearly 220,000 deaths, even as Dr Anthony Fauci, the most recognised public health expert in the country, said the White House task force is hardly meeting anymore – and while, as mentioned, Trump charges about the country, disregarding public health measures at campaign events though making sure attendees sign disclaimers lest they catch the bloody thing. |
| Here’s Lloyd Green’s review of Andrew Cuomo’s new book on the early days of the crisis, when the New York governor battled both virus and a hostile White House: | Here’s Lloyd Green’s review of Andrew Cuomo’s new book on the early days of the crisis, when the New York governor battled both virus and a hostile White House: |
| More follows… | More follows… |