Good morning. A warmer start to the week with clearing skies today and highs near the mid-70s for much of the state. More on Updraft It's a big week in Minnesota politics.
Voters will get an up-close look at the rivals for the presidency this week and also will have the chance to start casting their general election ballots.
Friday will be the center of it all. President Donald Trump and his Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, will both campaign in Minnesota.
Trump, the Republican nominee, is doing another of his fly-in rallies. This time he’ll be in Bemidji.
He’s been visiting a lot of regional airports outside of the big cities. He was in Mankato in August.
Biden’s itinerary hasn’t been released, but his campaign said he would appear in the state Friday for the first time this race. He has avoided the rally scene because of coronavirus precautions. His stops in other states have been tailored around messages he’s aiming to get across — appearances at factories to talk about blue-collar jobs or a church to stress race and fairness.
Both campaigns are treating Minnesota as though its 10 electoral votes are up for grabs despite going for the Democratic nominee in every year since 1976. Four years ago Trump came within about 45,000 votes of defeating Hillary Clinton in Minnesota.
More on the battle for Minnesota from MPR News reporter Brian Bakst
No poll has found Trump ahead in Minnesota, but polling underestimated his 2016 support, and Republicans contend he has held or gained ground since then. As in the rest of the Midwest, Trump struggled in cities but won vast numbers of rural White voters — and in Minnesota, that cut right through the coalition that had elected Democrats for decades. … Democrats have lost ground with some of their traditional Minnesota voters, but the 2018 election revealed the limits of the GOP’s gains. Trump had won just 45 percent of the vote in 2016 and got close to Clinton in part because 9 percent of voters backed a third-party candidate.” -- Dave Weigel and Lauren Tierney,The Washington Post
The family of George Floyd celebrated his life Sunday in Minneapolis as they launched the George Floyd Memorial Foundation.
“The overall goal of the foundation is to continue his legacy, things that he loved to do (for) the community,” said Bridgett Floyd, George Floyd’s sister and president of the foundation. “Trying to get people their license, police reform, things of that nature.” -- Myah Christenson, MPR News
Despite a new federal ban, many renters are still getting evicted The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered a nationwide eviction ban for people who can't pay rent and have no place to go. It's helping some, but many others are getting evicted anyway. -- NPR
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-- Michael Olson, MPR News @publicmic | 