Morning Report — Harris vs. Trump: Hearing what they don’t say

In today’s issue:

• Harris, Trump omissions during final barnstorming 
• GOP backpedals on abortion
• Georgia’s controversial election rules
• US envoys head to Israel to push cease-fire

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What are Vice President Harris and former President Trump not talking about in the final days of this campaign?

The scripts not in constant rotation — the deletions and omissions — offer some insights.

Among voters in a trio of “blue wall” battleground states Monday, Harris was not focused on the nitty-gritty of her economic plan, although in Michigan, she voiced her support for a higher minimum wage. Trump continues to outpace the vice president in polls when it comes to the economy and inflation. He touts higher tariffs, lower taxes and less regulation every chance he gets. His job approval on those issues is higher than it was when he was president.

The vice president has not crafted a sharper answer than she gave on “The View” about differences between her approach and President Biden’s, if elected. Some political analysts believe it was a serious misstep when she replied early this month, “There is not a thing that comes to mind.” Trump’s campaign uses her words in an attack ad.

Harris has pitched herself as a candidate of change while rhetorically hugging Biden. She’s once again concentrating on dire warnings about Trump, painting the former president as a hazard to the nation. But in the end, that may not be enough to assemble a winning coalition of voters amid a dead-heat final lap.

“The only way to win is for her to be excellent,” veteran Republican campaign adviser Mike Murphy, who opposes Trump, said last week. “And the only way to be excellent is to be able to answer, ‘Why are you different than Biden?’ Which I think would be three-by-five card 1 in any campaign in her situation,” he added on the “Hacks on Tap” podcast with co-host Democratic adviser David Axelrod.

Trump, during a North Carolina event with Christian leaders Monday, steered clear of states’ abortion and reproductive health care restrictions, which are backed by conservatives but not by most Americans, polls show. Harris, hoping to corral support among female voters and moderate GOP suburban women, continues to be all-in on promoting federal reproductive rights. She campaigned Monday with former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who told an audience that conservative women who personally oppose abortion have reason to support Harris.

“I think there are many of us around the country who have been pro-life but who have watched what’s going on in our states since the Dobbs decision and have watched state legislatures put in place laws that are resulting in women not getting the care they need,” Cheney, a Trump critic, said in Pennsylvania during a convivial town hall-style discussion with the vice president that sparked some applause for bipartisanship. “In places like Texas, for example, the attorney general is talking about suing, is suing, to get access to women’s medical records. That’s not sustainable for us as a country, and it has to change,” the former House member added.

Trump, who insists over-the-top, off-color rhetoric and norm-defying photo ops don’t cost him votes, ventured Monday to a western North Carolina community ravaged by Hurricane Helene to deploy some empathy and to repeat some fiction. He again criticized the administration for its disaster response in the swing state, asserting falsely that the Federal Emergency Management Agency ran out of funding to assist hurricane victims because of federal aid spent on “illegal immigrants.” Trump uses the attacks to paint Harris as ill-prepared and unfit to be president.

Harris has not visited the Asheville, N.C., region since the hurricane washed away towns and killed at least 95 people.

The vice president this afternoon will tape interviews with NBC News (airing at 6:30 p.m. tonight) and Telemundo (for broadcast Wednesday night).  

▪ The Hill’s Niall Stanage in The Memo: Trump leans into populism, crudeness and possibly a second term.

▪ Politico: They lost their homes and possessions. They’re showing up to vote in North Carolina.

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BOB’S SMART TAKE:

Trump and congressional Republicans want to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act in 2025, but the party isn’t as united on the IRA as it used to be.

Citing the law’s tax credits, top executives in the oil and gas industry have lobbied Trump not to torpedo all of the IRA, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

Eighteen House Republicans earlier this year wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) cautioning him against repealing energy tax credits.

Johnson has gotten the message. In an interview with CNBC last month, the Speaker said it would be impossible to “blow up” the IRA. He has also said that “you’ve got to use a scalpel and not a sledgehammer.”

Energy is not the only concern. There are Republicans who are wary of repealing the prescription drug negotiation provisions of the IRA, stating it would be politically difficult.

The White House says Republicans have tried to repeal part or all of the IRA more than 50 times. If the GOP wins control of the White House and Congress, the GOP will have the power to repeal the law. 

Repealing ObamaCare didn’t work out for Republicans, though it sounds like senior Republican leaders learned from that failure. But will they be able to get their members on the same page on the IRA?

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3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY: 

▪ Restaurant chains and operators this year are on track to declare the most bankruptcies in decades. Customers have pulled back on dining out and interest rates and labor costs are high.

▪ The 7.5 million recipients of Supplemental Security Income, which is distinct from Social Security retirement benefits, will receive two November checks (Nov. 1 and Nov. 29) and no December check due to a scheduling quirk in the calendar.

▪ The administration announced it will propose new rules under the Affordable Care Act that would ensure private insurance coverage at no cost for patients for emergency contraception, a newly approved nonprescription birth control pill, spermicides and condoms. There is widespread bipartisan support for access to contraception, polls show.

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LEADING THE DAY

ABORTION: While Harris is campaigning with GOP surrogates such as Cheney, Republicans are kicking their defensive messaging on abortion into high gear to combat Democrats’ aim to define them as extreme. Several GOP campaigns have successfully pitched fact-checks to local media that pick apart the claims of Democratic campaigns, clarifying, for instance, when Republicans support abortion exceptions when Democrats say they do not. The tactics mark a shift from the last cycle, while many Republicans were caught off guard by the Supreme Court striking down a federal right to abortion. 

This year, national party strategists advised candidates to articulate their position on abortion early — and now use that to combat Democratic messaging. CBS News Colorado, for instance, fact-checked an ad from Rep. Yadira Caraveo’s (D-Colo.) campaign that aimed to link her Republican challenger, Gabe Evans, to far-right Republicans such as Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.). 

“He only cares about that Boebert stuff,” a man identified as an unaffiliated voter says in the ad, like “banning abortion.”

IMMIGRATION: Harris and Trump have had some of their most intense battles of the campaign about how each would handle immigration and the border. Trump has made immigration and the border central to his campaign — often jumping to draw attention to the issue during debates, even when asked about other topics.

Harris, for her part, has embraced restrictions at the border that previously have been eschewed by Democrats, stressing the need to maintain limits on asylum even as she’s called for a pathway to citizenship for some migrants. The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch breaks down where Harris and Trump come down on the issues of the border and immigration.

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2024 CAMPAIGN ROUNDUP:

Senate Democrats in tough races hope Harris’s ground operation can turn out Democratic voters but they don’t want to get stamped with her liberal brand, even as Harris has tacked to the center.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is campaigning against tax hikes in 2025 with advertising it says is part of a “seven-figure” buy to “educate” candidates and lawmakers running this year. The ads are appearing on platforms “in select states and congressional districts” before Nov. 5.

The Cook Political Report on Monday shifted the Pennsylvania Senate race into the “toss-up” category and moved the Nebraska Senate contest from likely to “lean Republican.”

Senate Republicans’ top super PAC is jumping into Nebraska’s closer-than-expected Senate race, in the latest sign the GOP is taking Independent candidate Dan Osborn seriously as he mounts a tough challenge to Sen. Deb Fischer (R).

In the race for Texas’s Senate seat, a new Telemundo poll shows Rep. Colin Allred (D) leading Sen. Ted Cruz (R) among likely Latino voters 51 to 37 percent, with 11 percent undecided. 

Cash dash: What does a campaign purchase with $1 billion raised in three months? A lot of advertising, organizational turnout operations and an experienced campaign staff. The Harris campaign and its allied party committees set a record in the fundraising quarter that ended Sept. 30, according to new filings made with the Federal Election Commission on Sunday evening. 

Illegal? Elon Musk’s political involvement invites blowback: The legality of the billionaire’s $1 million cash giveaway project aimed at getting people who are registered voters to sign a petition while working to elect Trump is questioned by election law experts, as well as by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D). … If Trump is elected and Musk leads a federal “efficiency” commission, as the billionaire proposed to the enthusiastic former president, potential conflicts of interest immediately surface.

Here’s how Republicans pushed social media companies to stop fighting election misinformation.

Go deeper: The Los Angeles Times (paywall) columnist Gustavo Arellano writes about an election-year road trip, including seven states in seven days across 3,000 miles, to check on the lives (not the votes) of Latinos in the American Southwest.

Three Democratic senators are asking McDonald’s about its menu price hikes in recent years, arguing that the increases are higher than they should be — even with inflation and rising operating costs.

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WHERE AND WHEN

• The House will convene a pro forma session at 11 a.m. The Senate will hold a pro forma session at 8 a.m.
  
• The president will host a bilateral meeting at 11:30 a.m. with Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob in the Oval Office. Biden will depart the White House in the afternoon and head to Concord, N.H., to speak about lowering the cost of some prescription drugs. The president will return to the White House tonight.
  
• Candidate schedules this week: Harris is in Washington and will tape interviews with NBC News and Telemundo this afternoon. On Wednesday, Harris will be in Philadelphia and join a live CNN town hall broadcast from Chester Township, Pa. On Thursday, Harris will hold a Georgia rally with an assist from former President Obama. On Saturday, Harris plans a get-out-the-vote rally in Michigan accompanied by Michelle Obama. Trump will host a Latino roundtable this morning in Miami. He will hold a rally today in Greensboro, N.C. Wednesday, Trump will campaign in Duluth, Ga. On Thursday, the former president will campaign in Las Vegas. On Sunday, Trump will headline a New York City campaign event. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) will campaign this afternoon in Madison, Wis., with Barack Obama to focus on the start of early voting. Walz will speak to supporters in Racine, Wis., tonight. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) today headlines an event in Peoria, Ariz., and another in Tucson. On Wednesday, the senator will speak in Reno, Nev., and Las Vegas. On Thursday, Vance will deliver remarks in Waterford, Mich., and participate in a NewsNation town hall from Detroit at 8 p.m. ET, live-streamed on X. 

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ZOOM IN

GEORGIA JUDGES ARE PICKING APART controversial new election rules in the state as record-breaking early voting gets underway. The rules, imposed by Georgia’s Republican-led State Election Board, stood to upend existing election procedures in the weeks before Election Day — and after early voting already surpassed 1 million ballots cast in the critical battleground state. The changes drew heavy criticism from poll workers and Georgia’s secretary of state, writes The Hill’s Ella Lee, warning that chaos would be unleashed with the eleventh-hour rules.

“We have two judges who have affirmatively shut down … the State Election Board, either claiming that they’re either acting hastily and arbitrarily or that they are just fundamentally acting outside of their statutory powers,” said Anthony Michael Kreis, a constitutional law professor at Georgia State University. “I think that’s a big deal, because it’s not every day that you get major rulings from Fulton Superior Court judges — and you get two of them who are both on the same page.”

▪ Politico: Prosecutors from the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida on Monday submitted an unusually terse, two-page filing to Judge Aileen Cannon, urging the Trump appointee to reject a recusal motion brought by defense attorneys for Ryan Routh, who faces charges including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate. The prosecutors cited legal precedents.

▪ The Hill: Conservatives have had an aggressive and largely successful campaign in recent years taking education issues to the court system, a combination of decades of laying the groundwork, a better political climate and a friendlier Supreme Court. 

▪ NPR: The Supreme Court said Monday it would weigh in on at least one version of what is derisively called “judge shopping” — the phenomenon of plaintiffs going to lengths to file cases with judges they think are sympathetic to their views.

▪ NBC News: The five men who make up the Central Park Five, and now call themselves the Exonerated Five, have filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump over his remarks during last month’s presidential debate.

▪ CBS News: The Supreme Court said Monday it won’t hear a challenge to the structure of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

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ELSEWHERE

BEYOND THE BRINK: Amos Hochstein, pictured above, Biden’s de facto envoy on the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, said Monday that the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah had “escalated out of control.” Speaking in Beirut, he called for the revival of a United Nations resolution that could pull the region back from the brink amid Israel’s widening war in Lebanon. Monday marked Hochstein’s first trip to the Lebanese capital since the Israeli military launched a sweeping offensive last month against Hezbollah, which has caused a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, displacing around a fifth of the population (The New York Times).

The New York Times: What is the UN resolution that tried and failed to keep the peace in Lebanon?

Amid a volley of Israeli rockets being launched into the country, Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel today amid White House efforts to bring calm to the region after the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. It is Blinken’s 11th trip to the region since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, and he is set to discuss the importance of ending the war in Gaza as well as ways to chart a post-conflict plan for the Palestinian enclave (Reuters).

The White House said Monday that Biden remains “deeply concerned” about the leaking of sensitive Pentagon documents that detailed Israeli preparations for an attack on Iran and plans for a potential Iranian counterattack. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that a Defense Department investigation is seeking to “determine the manner in which they did become public,” but he could not comment on whether the document release was a hack or a leak (The Hill).

▪ The Hill: The advanced U.S. air defense system the Pentagon rushed to Israel is now “in place,” according to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

▪ The Washington Post: A razor-thin majority of Moldovans voted in favor of eventually joining the European Union, preliminary results showed Monday, after President Maia Sandu said the referendum had been marred by “unprecedented” pro-Russian interference.

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OPINION 

■ Two weeks to go, but only one way to stay calm, by Kristen Soltis Anderson, guest essayist, The New York Times.

■ Trump is the American leader Ukrainians need, by Alexander Temerko, opinion contributor, The Hill.

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THE CLOSER 

And finally …  🐕‍🦺 Woof! Christian orthodox monks breed and train German shepherds at a monastery in upstate New York, and train others’ dogs, too. 

“One of the things that a dog teaches is about God — forgiveness and love and connection, those are attributes of God,” Brother Luke told The Associated Press. “In the rough and tumble of life, we don’t always exhibit God’s love as well as the dog does.” 

For nearly six decades, the monks of New Skete have financially supported their community and deepened their spiritual life by breeding German shepherds and running onsite training programs for all kinds of dogs. By the late 1970s, what had started as a gift of one German shepherd, Kyr, to protect and keep company to the little band of brothers was revolutionizing their monastic life.

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