NEW POLLS: "Biden Leads Trump by 8 Points in New Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll," by WSJ's Alex Leary: "In a year dominated by a deadly virus, racial unrest and tumultuous news cycles, the presidential race remains remarkably stable, with former Vice President Joe Biden maintaining his lead over President Trump, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows. "Some 51% of registered voters nationally say they would vote for Mr. Biden if the election were held today, while 43% back Mr. Trump. That 8-point lead remains largely unchanged from a month ago, when Mr. Biden had a 9-point advantage, and compares with an 11-point Biden lead in July. Mr. Biden has led Mr. Trump by 6 points or more all year." WSJ -- "Florida race tightens and Trump has edge over Biden in Texas — Battleground Tracker poll," by CBS' Anthony Salvanto, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus, Kabir Khanna and Elena Cox: WAPO'S DAN BALZ: "Ginsburg's death crystallizes the choice in November as no other issue can" WHO WILL TRUMP PICK? -- WAPO'S ROBERT BARNES, SEUNG MIN KIM and JOSH DAWSEY: "In a call with McConnell, Trump mentioned two female appellate court judges — Amy Coney Barrett, 48, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit and Barbara Lagoa, 52, of the 11th Circuit — as favorites, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. Two other judges — McConnell's favorite, Amul Thapar, 51, of Kentucky and the 6th Circuit and 38-year-old Allison Jones Rushing of the 4th Circuit — are in a small group that is being given a close look. "All were nominated by Trump to their present positions and have wide support in the conservative legal establishment that has advised the president on his judicial picks. Lagoa, who served briefly on the Florida Supreme Court, had the easiest confirmation, where a majority of Democratic senators supported her in an 80-to-15 vote." WaPo THE DEMS RESPONSE -- "Joe Biden's Court Vacancy Plan: More Talk of Health Care and the Pandemic," by NYT's Shane Goldmacher, Katie Glueck and Thomas Kaplan: "Now, confronted with a moment that many believe will upend the 2020 election — the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the prospect of a bitter Supreme Court confirmation battle — Mr. Biden's campaign is sticking to what it believes is a winning strategy. Campaign aides said Saturday they would seek to link the court vacancy to the health emergency gripping the country and the future of health care in America. "While confirmation fights have long centered on hot-button cultural divides such as guns and especially abortion, the Biden campaign, at least at the start, plans to chiefly focus on protecting the Affordable Care Act and its popular guarantee of coverage for people with pre-existing conditions." NYT -- "The left channels its fury toward McConnell," by Holly Otterbein SUNDAY BEST … MARGARET BRENNAN interviewed former President BILL CLINTON on CBS' "FACE THE NATION": BRENNAN: "Do you think this galvanizes Democratic or Republican voters more? Are Democrats missing an opportunity, not having talked about the potential vacancy earlier on in this race?" CLINTON: "I think that the voters at least have to know that if you put one more conservative, particularly an ideologically conservative Republican on the court, they're giving up the healthcare bill for, you know, 20 million people's health insurance, losing all the preexisting conditions for tens and tens of millions of people. No help on the other front. That's just one example. So there are consequences. ... "And since it's only 40 days, I think that maybe the Democrats should leave. There are no rules on this. There's no law. So we'll just have to see what happens. But if we're going to have a vote, then it's important that the Democrats and the Republicans make absolutely clear that the voters understand what the consequences of it are." -- CHRIS WALLACE interviewed Sen. CHRIS COONS (D-Del.) on FOX NEWS' "FOX NEWS SUNDAY": COONS said the "Republican majority is going to be responsible for what we do in the next 44 days." COONS also said he planned to talk with his Republican Senate colleagues. "I'm going to work this weekend, this week, to reach across the aisle, and see if I can't persuade some friends to respect tradition, to respect the precedent they set in 2016 and let the voters decide." -- CHUCK TODD interviewed SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-Minn.) on NBC'S "MEET THE PRESS" to discuss the SCOTUS fight: KLOBUCHAR: "If my colleagues want to look themselves in the mirror and say, 'What did I just say the last time this happened? What's the precedent I set? What should I follow?' They each have to make an individual decision. And so, for me, that's what this is about. It's about justice, it's about moving forward as the Senate and a democracy." -- JAKE TAPPER interviewed VP chief of staff MARC SHORT on CNN'S "STATE OF THE UNION" and asked about the timing of Trump's nomination: "He's narrowed his list. And he looks forward to making a nomination and fulfilling his obligation as president to make a nomination. As some of your guests have commented already this morning, the reality in history is that there's been 29 vacancies during a presidential election year, and, 29 times, presidents have put forward a nominee. ON WHETHER THE SENATE WILL CONFIRM BEFORE THE ELECTION: SHORT: "Today, we sit here 44 days out from election, so it's certainly possible. But I think that the president's obligation is to make the nomination. We will leave the timetable to Leader McConnell." ABOUT LAST NIGHT -- "Supreme Court vacancy provides Trump new rallying cry," by Anita Kumar in Fayetteville, N.C.: "A day after Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death, President Donald Trump relished the opportunity to promise his supporters that he would fill the vacant Supreme Court seat, a move designed to energize his voters just weeks before the election. In his first expanded remarks about the Supreme Court, Trump told thousands of supporters at a campaign rally Saturday that he has a 'moral duty' to replace Ginsburg, and that his pick will almost surely be a woman. "'So Article 2 of our constitution says the president shall nominate justices of the Supreme Court,' he said. 'I don't think it can be any more clear ... I don't think so. I don't think so.' 'Fill that seat!' the crowd chanted. 'That's what we're going to do. We're going to fill the seat,' he responded to cheers. "Trump's allies said they hoped he would shift his focus from the coronavirus outbreak to the Supreme Court to invigorate Republicans by showing them what's at stake in the election. The president delivered Saturday, signaling that he plans to campaign on the issue for the next six weeks, revising a strategy he employed in 2016." POLITICO MICHAEL KRUSE: "It might sound a little unseemly, and even a tad nuts, considering the ongoing pandemic, the wheezing economy and his trailing position in most polls, but … all of a sudden, Trump's in a pretty good spot. Maybe one of the best of his presidency. "With the imminent chance to pick his third person for the nine-seat high court, he has the ammunition he needs to amp up enthusiasm for his reelection among the most fervently pro-life portion of his base and maybe flip a script that has had Joe Biden in the lead for months. After the often chaotic, erratic last four years, Trump has within plausible reach a shot at being one of the more consequential presidents ever. "But close observers of Trump's career know that such moments are fraught with risk for him. In the past, when he's been in such situations, wide-eyed with a triumphant runway coming more and more into focus—in the late '80s, for instance, when he went on an epic buying binge, or in the mid-2000s, when he preened on a hit television show—he has gloated and boasted. He's gotten greedy and reckless. He's tried to run up the score. And he's paid for it. "So many questions, of course, roil this tumultuous moment in American politics, but the most operative for Trump might be this: Can he, at 74 years old, continue to do for days or weeks what he did Friday night—arguably for the first time in his whole life—and just hold himself in check, say the diplomatic thing rather than the nakedly partisan one, and let the possible or even probable spoils of this development wash over him?" | 
