“Democratic candidate Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by a 53-43 percent margin, in a Fox News national survey of likely voters conducted after a combative debate and the president testing positive for coronavirus. Biden’s 10-point advantage is up from a 5-point lead last month” – Fox News.

Washington Post: “Facebook said it plans to temporarily suspend all political and issue-based advertising after polls close Nov. 3, a move the company said was intended to limit confusion, misinformation and abuse of its services in the days after the presidential election.”

“The social media giant also said it would remove calls for people to watch the polls when those posts use militaristic or intimidating language. Executives said that the policy applies to anyone, including President Trump and other politicians. Trump has made calls for people to engage in poll-watching, and his son Donald Trump Jr. appeared in an ad last month urging people to ‘defend your ballot’ and join an ‘army’ to protect the polls.”

The poll was conducted by Garin-Hart-Yang Research for Dem gubernatorial candidate Nicole Galloway, showing her also trailing incumbent GOP governor Mike Parsons 50 to 48.

For perspective, Trump won Missouri by 18 points in 2016.

“Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe has approved the release to the Department of Justice of a large binder full of documents to assist a review of the Obama administration’s handling of the Trump-Russia investigation, according to a source with direct knowledge of the materials and confirmed by Ratcliffe. The release, which is being revealed publicly for the first time today, comes as President Trump is urging his agencies to expedite the release of materials that he believes will be politically advantageous to him” – Axios.

Ron Brownstein: “Watching Kamala Harris take the stage tonight for her debate with Mike Pence, many Democrats may be wondering the same thing: Why would she agree to appear in person, just a few feet away from the vice president, amid a coronavirus outbreak that has ravaged the White House and infected President Donald Trump? The answer, above all, is that the Biden campaign does not want to shift the public’s focus away from Trump’s unsteady handling of the COVID-19 crisis—not even to a debate about whether to debate.”

“In that way, the campaign’s decision for Harris to participate reflects the same messaging discipline that’s led Joe Biden to brush off questions about, say, whether he supports packing the Supreme Court: He doesn’t want to provide any opportunity for the GOP to talk about anything but Trump’s performance. Multiple sources inside the Biden campaign told me officials never seriously explored withdrawing from tonight’s debate or demanding that the Commission on Presidential Debates stage a virtual contest instead. Nor is the campaign, at this point, pushing either of those options ahead of the second Trump-Biden face-off next week.”

“Donald Trump mounted an overnight Twitter blitz demanding to jail his political enemies and call out allies he says are failing to arrest his rivals swiftly enough. Trump twice amplified supporters’ criticisms of Attorney General William Barr, including one featuring a meme calling on him to ‘arrest somebody!’ He wondered aloud why his rivals, like President Barack Obama, Democratic nominee Joe Biden and former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton hadn’t been imprisoned for launching a ‘coup’ against his administration” Politico reports.

“‘Where are all of the arrests?’ Trump said, after several dozen tweets on the subject over the past 24 hours. ‘Can you imagine if the roles were reversed? Long term sentences would have started two years ago. Shameful!’ The day-long run of tweets and retweets marked the most frantic stretch of Trump’s public activity since he left the presidential suite at Walter Reed Medical Center and returned to treatment at the White House. They also underscored the degree to which Trump remains fixated on his grievances over the Russia probe, and often on obscure aspects of that investigation that are unintelligible to all but its most careful followers.”

Axios: “President Trump went to the Oval Office on Wednesday to receive a briefing on coronavirus stimulus and Hurricane Delta, White House spokesperson Brian Morgenstern confirmed to reporters. White House aides had advised Trump to avoid the Oval Office while he’s still infected with the coronavirus, following his positive test and hospitalization last week. The CDC states that a person can be contagious for up to 10 days after coronavirus symptoms resolve.”

Dr. Sean Conley, the president’s personal physician, released a statement Wednesday in which part of his update was repeating a statement from Trump:  “I feel great!”

Reported by CNBC, the update notes that coronavirus antibodies were found in a blood sample taken Monday.  Conley also stated that Trump’s vital signs, including his PulseOx were normal, and he has not had a fever since Thursday.

Conley also states Trump has been “symptom-free for 24 hours,” which slightly differs from yesterday’s statement during which he said, “The president reports showing no symptoms.”  If Trump had been symptom free yesterday, the time period he was symptom free would be longer.

Conley didn’t mention whether Trump’s declaration were an aftereffect of taking a powerful steroid or if it was an improvement in Trump’s overall condition.

Florida: Biden 51 – Trump 40
Pennsylvania: Biden 54 – Trump 41
Iowa: Biden 50 – Trump 45
Iowa Senate: Greenfield 50 – Ernst 45
Read the poll release here.

ProPublica: “The Department of Justice has weakened its long-standing prohibition against interfering in elections, according to two department officials.”

“Avoiding election interference is the overarching principle of DOJ policy on voting-related crimes. In place since at least 1980, the policy generally bars prosecutors not only from making any announcement about ongoing investigations close to an election but also from taking public steps — such as an arrest or a raid — before a vote is finalized because the publicity could tip the balance of a race. But according to an email sent Friday by an official in the Public Integrity Section in Washington, now if a U.S. attorney’s office suspects election fraud that involves postal workers or military employees, federal investigators will be allowed to take public investigative steps before the polls close, even if those actions risk affecting the outcome of the election.”

From NBC News:  “Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged in the killing of George Floyd, was released on a million dollar bond Wednesday.

“Chauvin, 44, is facing murder and manslaughter charges after video showed him kneeling on Floyd’s neck for about eight minutes during an arrest on May 25. He was released Wednesday on a conditional release and is expected to appear in court in March of next year, according to his notice of release filed in court.”

“Among WI likely voters, 46% say they will vote for Joe Biden, 41% say they will vote for Donald Trump, 4% for Libertarian Jo Jorgensen in presidential election” – Marquette Law polls via Twitter.

New York Times: “Joseph R. Biden Jr. maintains a steady lead over President Trump in Nevada and the two are virtually tied in Ohio, as voters continue to express dissatisfaction with the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to new polls by The New York Times and Siena College released on Wednesday.”

“Mr. Biden leads 48 percent to 42 percent among likely voters in Nevada and 45 to 44 percent in Ohio, the polls found. Six percent of Nevada voters and 7 percent of Ohioans said they remain undecided. The polls were taken after Mr. Trump announced he had tested positive for the coronavirus, and most of the survey took place before Mr. Trump returned to the White House on Monday night from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.”

Russia launched an experimental hypersonic missile Wednesday, in honor of President Vladimir Putin’s birthday, hitting a target ship 280 miles away in the Barents Sea, Reuters reports.

The Tsirkon (Zircon, in English) hypersonic cruise missile can reportedly reach speeds of 6,800 miles per hour, or Mach 9.  It was launched by the frigate Admiral Gorshkov located in the White Sea.

“This is a big event not only for the life of the armed forces, but also for all of Russia, for the whole country,” Putin told Valery Gerasimov, chief of the army’s general staff.

“Purdue Pharma LP, the OxyContin maker controlled by members of the wealthy Sackler family, is nearing an agreement to plead guilty to criminal charges as part of a broader deal to resolve U.S. Justice Department probes into its alleged role in fueling the nation’s opioid crisis, six people familiar with the matter said.”

“Purdue lawyers and federal prosecutors are brokering a plea deal that could be unveiled as soon as within the next two weeks and include billions of dollars of financial penalties, four of the people said. They stressed that talks are fluid and that some of the terms could change as discussions continue. In addition to the criminal case, U.S. prosecutors are negotiating a settlement of civil claims also carrying a financial penalty that allege unlawful conduct in Purdue’s handling of prescription painkillers, they said” – Reuters.

Boston city schools will delay the opening of in-person classes after the positivity rate of coronavirus cases increased about 4%, Mayor Marty Walsh announced Wednesday according to the Associated Press.

The school district began to remote learning September 21st, but will now delay opening school buildings, with preschoolers and kindergartners starting October 22nd.  Hybrid models, where students spend some time in school and the rest in remote learning will be phased in for older students:  Grades 4 to 8 during the week of November 5th, and grades 9 to 12 the week of November 16th.

Politico: “Starting this week, a generation of voters in Texas will see something they’ve never witnessed before: a heavy rotation of presidential TV ads. In a move that would have been far-fetched even a few months ago, Joe Biden is set to spend $6.2 million on ads in the state over the next month — attempting to put the state in play for the first time in decades. The latest polling averages show President Donald Trump leading by only 2 to 3 points in Texas, and Biden’s push there illustrates both how much the state has changed and how much the political environment is tilting against Trump less than a month from the Election Day. Perhaps even more astounding: Trump doesn’t have the money to counter the cash-flush Biden on TV. Over the past two weeks, Biden had the airwaves to himself in Iowa, Ohio, Texas and New Hampshire, while Trump went dark, according to Advertising Analytics, a TV tracking firm. This week, Trump isn’t airing any ads in Nebraska, where both campaigns are competing for the lone Electoral College vote out of the Omaha-based congressional district, while Biden is dropping just under $500,000.”

“President Trump’s debate performance followed by his coronavirus diagnosis appear to be digging an even deeper hole for him this week. Democrat Joe Biden now has a 12-point lead over the president in Rasmussen Reports’ weekly White House Watch survey. The latest national telephone and online survey finds Biden leading President Trump 52% to 40% among Likely U.S. Voters. Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate. Another four percent (4%) are undecided” – Rasmussen.

.@JoeBiden has a plan to build our country back better and create millions of jobs—jobs that can help working families get ahead. Joe helped manage the Recovery Act, which jumpstarted the longest stretch of job growth in our history. And he’ll do it again. pic.twitter.com/pNOyfrvgB9

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 7, 2020