Daily Digest for October 26, 2020 Posted at 7:45 a.m. by Michael Olson |
Good morning, Vice President Mike Pence plans to maintain an aggressive campaign schedule this week — including a stop in Minnesota — despite an apparent outbreak of the coronavirus among his senior aides, the White House said. Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, and “a couple of key staff surrounding the vice president” have tested positive for the virus, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Sunday.
The vice president, who along with his wife, Karen, tested negative on Sunday, according to his office, is considered a “close contact” of the aides under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria but will not quarantine, his spokesman said. -- Associated Press
The president is zipping across the country on Air Force One on Saturday, holding large rallies and trying to replicate the energy of his first campaign's final week in 2016. Joe Biden, meanwhile, is running a final stretch tailored to the realities of a worsening pandemic, maintaining a scaled-back itinerary for himself and fanning out top surrogates for socially distant, drive-in rallies in swing states.
The approach the two candidates are taking in this final leg of the campaign mirrors the divergent narratives they're trying to convey about the pandemic and the choice voters face this fall.
Early vote total surpasses 2016; GOP narrowing gap with Democrats The opening of early voting locations in Florida, Texas and elsewhere has piled millions of new votes on top of the mail ballots arriving at election offices, as voters try to avoid crowded places on Nov. 3 during the coronavirus pandemic.
The result is a total of 58.6 million ballots cast so far, more than the 58 million that the Associated Press logged as being cast through the mail or at in-person early voting sites in 2016.
Democrats have continued to dominate the initial balloting, but Republicans are narrowing the gap. GOP voters have begun to show up for early in-person voting, a sign that many heeded President Donald Trump's unfounded warnings about mail-voting fraud. -- Associated Press
Faith leaders in St. Cloud are making a call for civility leading up to and following the Nov. 3 election. Greater St. Cloud Faith Leaders is an organization that includes members of Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish and other faith communities. It formed about six years ago in response to vandalism at a St. Cloud mosque.
Last week, the group circulated a letter saying members have seen "harsh words and actions abounding in these past months."
“Our fear is that these ruthless behaviors will only continue on Election Day and beyond,” the letter states. It urges members of faith communities to seek peace, respect and civility in the coming weeks. -- Kirsti Marohn, MPR News
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