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39 days to go until November 3rd, and what do we know?

Sep 25, 2020

By Dave Andrusko

As we reach the end of the week—and with just four days to until the first presidential debate—here are illuminating headlines and some follow up observations.

*“The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 52% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Forty-eight percent (48%) disapprove”—Rasmussen Reports

*“Biden campaign called a lid at 9:20 am today [Thursday]. Harris also has no public events on her schedule. Meanwhile, Trump has events in Charlotte, North Carolina and Jacksonville, Florida. Pence is on a bus tour w/ stops in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and Minneapolis, Minnesota”– Justin Gomez [@JustinGomezABC]

*“Gov. DeWine activates National Guard to assist Cleveland police during presidential debate”–ABC 7

*“Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday there shouldn’t be any presidential debates this year between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, adding that the president would debase the debate stage with poor behavior”—POLITICO

And

*“For observant Catholics like Mr. Sullivan, the motive matters less than the results Mr. Trump achieves on issues like access to abortion. ‘He’s a person of action,’ said Mr. Sullivan, who reluctantly voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 but will enthusiastically do so this time, citing abortion as his most important issue. ‘I care a lot more about what he does than what he believes’”New York Times.

Steady as she goes. President Trump’s job approval numbers remain at 52%, according to today’s Rasmussen Reports. These figures are higher, but only slightly higher, than other surveys which are finally catching up to the continuing uptick in President Trump’s  job approval. 

I’ve read just about every rationalization I can find for why pro-abortion former vice president Joe Biden’s campaign footprint is almost invisible. It boils down to super-duper caution at a time of COVID-19 and/or preparation for the September 29 debate at the health-education campus of Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic–the first one-on-one matchup of the general election.

Does either hold water? Of course not. You end your day just after 9 in the morning?  Is he going to prepare for 14 hours? 

Here’s an Associated Press story from today, written by Will Weissert, Alexander Jaffe, and Alan Fram, that makes the point in dramatic fashion.

Since his Aug. 11 selection of California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate, Biden has had 22 days where he either didn’t make public appearances, held only virtual fundraisers or ventured from his Delaware home solely for church, according to an Associated Press analysis of his schedules. He made 12 visits outside of Delaware during that period, including Friday when he went to Washington and paid respects to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

During the same time, President Donald Trump had 24 trips that took him to 17 different states, not counting a personal visit to New York to see his ailing brother in the hospital or weekend golf outings. He was hitting Florida, Georgia, Virginia and the nation’s capital on Friday alone.

And then this corker!

Biden so far hasn’t spent the night anywhere while campaigning, flying back to Delaware to sleep at home every night.

The headline from a local Cleveland television station need not be elaborated. The first sentence says it all:COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX/WTTE) — Governor Mike DeWine shared Thursday that he has activated ‘around 300’ members of the Ohio National Guard to assist Cleveland Police during Tuesday’s presidential debate.”

Speaker Pelosi’s comments Thursday were not the first time she opined that Biden should skip the debates. If he does participate, presumably all the advance apocalyptic language about how badly the President will treat him (a man whose been debating for 50 years) will be to cushion the impact of Biden’s performance, should he fall flat on his face.

As the approach November 3, we’re seeing more and more stories about either the Evangelical vote or (in the instance noted above) Catholic voters. We’ll be told incessantly (as we already have for months) about how Mr. Trump’s support in both communities is flagging and how (fill in the blank) was undertaken to “court” these voters. 

This means that President Trump can never be credited with nominating (if he does) someone like Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace Justice Ruth  Baker Ginsburg simply because she is an all-star candidate on every front. 

It can only be because she is a Catholic, not that she clerked for Justice Scalia, was voted Professor of the Year three times at the University of Notre Dame, and is, as Professor Stephen Yelderman told the South Bend Tribune, “mind-blowingly intelligent, and she’s also one of the most humble people you’re going to meet. Judge Barrett is the complete package.”

More on Monday. If you can, please also read the stories we are running today specifically about Judge Barrett.

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