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Daily Briefing

Good Thursday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 334th day of the year. There are 31 days remaining in 2017.

The clock:

• 33 days until candidates can declare their intent to gather signatures for the 2018 election (1/2/2018)
• 53 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
• 98 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
• 99 days until the filing period for candidates in the 2018 election opens (3/9/2018)
• 105 days until the filing deadline for the 2018 elections (3/15/2018)
• 110 days until the statewide GOP caucus meetings (3/20/2018)
• 142 days until the GOP State Convention (4/21/2018)
• 208 days until the 2018 Primary Election (6/26/2018)
• 341 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
• 1,069 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today's political TL; DR -

• POLL: Both Sen. Orrin Hatch and Mitt Romney would win a hypothetical U.S. Senate matchup against Democrat Jenny Wilson [Utah Policy].
  
  
• Will President Donald Trump endorse a possible re-election run by Sen. Orrin Hatch when he visits Utah on Monday? [Utah Policy]
  
  
• Hatch calls President Trump "one of the best presidents" he's served under [Twitter].
  
  
• Sen. Orrin Hatch says there are still some "kinks" to work out in the GOP tax reform bill that heads to the Senate floor for debate on Thursday [Deseret News].
  
  
• Rep. Chris Stewart introduces a bill allowing the victims of sexual harassment in D.C. to release the names of their perpetrators and the details of taxpayer-funded financial settlements [Deseret News, Tribune].
  
  
• New Congressman John Curtis is assigned to the House Foreign Affairs and Small Business committees [Deseret News, Tribune].
  
  
• A Utah County commissioner switched his political affiliation from Republican to Democrat for a few weeks in what he claims was a "stunt" to protest a new ordinance to increase regulations on gravel pits in the county. He has switched back [Daily Herald].
  
  
• Utah's population is growing rapidly, but instead of large families fueling the growth, it's in-migration from job seekers [Tribune].

National headlines:

• The Senate GOP votes to begin floor debate on their tax reform measure with an eye toward passing the package by Friday [The Hill].
  
  
• A new analysis of the current Senate GOP tax plan shows nearly 40% of Americans will not get a significant tax cut [Washington Post].
  
  
• President Trump's director of legislative affairs says a government shutdown in December is not likely [ABC News].
  
  
• President Donald Trump sparked international outrage by re-tweeting a series of anti-Muslim video clips posted initially by a far-right fringe group in Britain [Washington Post].
  
  
• London's mayor, who is a Muslim, is urging Prime Minister Theresa May to cancel Trump's state visit to the U.K. following Trump's retweets of a British far-right extremist group [Associated Press].
  
  
• White House adviser Jared Kushner reportedly met this month with investigators for special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election [New York Times].
  
  
• It's looking more and more like special counsel Robert Mueller has cut a deal with President Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn [CNN].
  
  
• President Donald Trump is feeling more cocksure than ever, reveling in stirring the pot then skating away from the controversies without any consequences [Washington Post].
  
  
• The woman who attempted to infiltrate the Washington Post to plant a false story about Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore was trying to get inside the paper for months [Washington Post].
  
  
• Alabama Republican Roy Moore has regained the lead in the polls ahead of the December special election. He briefly fell behind Democrat Doug Jones following allegations he pursued relationships with teenagers when he was in his 30's [FiveThirtyEight].
  
  
• The U.S. warns North Korea that their leadership will be "utterly destroyed" in the case a war breaks out [Reuters].
  
  
• The current debate over sexual harassment has the potential to disrupt the 2018 midterm elections [Reuters]. 
  
  
• Boring but important: The Senate GOP campaign arm broke into a fundraising database maintained by House Republicans [Politico].
  
  
• Multiple women have accused former NBC anchor Matt Lauer of inappropriate sexual behavior. None of these allegations are related to the reason Lauer was fired by NBC on Wednesday morning [Variety].
  
  
• Economist Joseph Stiglitz says bitcoin should be banned because it's not controlled by any government. He also sees a bubble surrounding the rapid rise in value for the cryptocurrency [Coindesk].

On this day in history:

• 1782 - Treaty of Paris: Representatives from the United States and Great Britain sign preliminary peace articles to end the American Revolutionary War.
  
  
• 1803 - Spanish representatives officially transfer the Louisiana Territory to a French representative. Just 20 days later, France transfers the same land to the United States as the Louisiana Purchase.

Today At Utah Policy

Republicans Orrin Hatch or Romney would boty win a 2018 Senate matchup with Democrat Jenny Wilson By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor If Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch decides to run for another term in 2018, he's in a good position to win over Democrat Jenny Wilson....

A monumental question: While in Utah, will Trump endorse Hatch for re-election? By LaVarr Webb, Publisher So Pres. Trump is coming to town on Monday to talk about national monuments. But I'm going to be listening just as carefully to what he says about another "national monument" Orrin Hatch....

Cyber insurance gaining popularity as hacks increase By Marty Carpenter In this week's episode of CYBER24, we take a look at some interesting polling information that shows exactly who Americans trust and distrust with their data....

Weekly survey: Tax reform By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Republicans in Congress are trying to push their tax reform package through before Christmas. Do you think they'll do it? Do you support the tax reform package? Vote now in our weekly survey....

Policy News

Wise Words

Focus

"If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Lighter Side

Single Thanksgiving

"Pringles has launched several new potato chip flavors including turkey, stuffing, mashed potato, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. Or as single dads call it, "Thanksgiving!" Seth Meyers