Gender gap doesn’t cause GOP to pause in demonizing two of America’s most prominent women politicians. Utahns like Justice Brett Kavanaugh better than they do the president who nominated him. Want a quick $1,000? Adopt a wild horse.
Happy Friday. Republicans are suffering from a gender gap, but that hasn’t dissuaded them from demonizing two of the most prominent women in politics in attack ads airing across the country. Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton are the villains in some 100 Republican-funded TV ads that have aired more than 34,000 times in the last 100 days. Candidates or affiliated groups have poured more than $28 million into the ad blitz. [Politico]
Topping the news: A new poll of Utahns revealed that while most supported Judge Brett Kavanaugh, they are still split on support for President Trump: 54 percent supported Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation, while 45 percent disapproved the president’s job performance. [Trib]
-> The ACLU of Utah warns that there could be problems with the state’s new Election Day voter registration law unless a number of county clerks start preparing for it and providing people essential information. [Trib]
-> The odd case of a police officer who confronted duck hunters with a weapon after one of them fired a shot in his direction is headed to Utah’s Supreme Court. [Trib]
-> Federal land managers are so desperate to cut down the surging number of wild horses that are in permanent captivity that they are willing to pay $1,000 apiece for anyone who will adopt them and promise a good home. [Trib]
Tweets of the Day: from @ChadHGriffin: “Remembering my dad and the letter I never sent on this 30th annual #NationalComingOutDay. Our mission must be to achieve a world where no person ever fears living their truth.”
-> From @YahooCanada: “I could say I'm the most bullied person on the world. One of them — if you really see what people [are] saying about me." —Melania Trump”
-> From @evenweirdermove: “Donald Trump helped a kid find his parents in Home Alone 2”
-> From @ddale8: “I’ve been on the west coast for 2.5 days and have to tell you how magical this coast is. You miss the entire Fox and Friends morning news cycle and then the news ends at like 7 PM. How is this lifestyle even legal”
Happy Birthday: to Parker Lester, University of Utah ambassador and, on Saturday to House Speaker Greg Hughes.
In other news: President Donald Trump signed Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch’s bill to help songwriters get fairly paid for their creations on Thursday. The President stated that Hatch is a “legendary” senator and an accomplished musician. [DNews]
-> The EPA has cleared for use two former Superfund sites in Utah it says are now clean of contamination — one in Eureka in Juab County and a second an old smelter site in Sandy. [DNews]
Sen. Mike Lee is hosting his annual Solutions Summit in Salt Lake City to address the opioid epidemic on Friday. The meeting will seek to find strategies to get ahead of the opioid crisis and continue on the downward trend in use that began last year. [ABC4]
-> Republican Senate candidate Mitt Romney and Democratic opponent Jenny Wilson disagree on a wide range of issues, but Utah’s signature mayo-ketchup combo — fry sauce — is not one of them. [Trib]
-> President Donald Trump has been raising tariffs recently, and the impacts have started hitting local business owners in Utah. The Salt Lake City Department of Economic Development is working to help ease concerns. [ABC4]
-> Channel 2 News investigated whether the new Inland Port will impact the health of children. [KUTV]
-> News4Utah investigated the efficacy of “Operation Rio Grande” in Salt Lake City so far. [ABC4]
-> Gehrke calls on Utah lawmakers to do something about the coming 3.2 beer debacle before voters have to take the matter into their own hands with an initiative. [Trib]
-> Pat Bagley illustrated Judge Brett Kavanaugh as the new face of the Supreme Court. [Trib]
Nationally: The FBI’s former top lawyer James A. Baker said that Deputy Attorney General Rod A. Rosenstein was serious about secretly taping President Trump, but that FBI officials dismissed the suggestion as being too risky and unlikely to yield any meaningful information. [NYTimes]
-> First lady Melania Trump said that she might be the “most bullied person” in the world, based on what people are saying about her. President Donald Trump added that there are people in the White House that they still can’t trust. [TribviaAP][BBC][CNN]
-> President Trump said that China lived “too well for too long,” announcing that his actions have hurt their economy and that he has “a lot more to do.” [BBC]
-> At least so far, Trump’s trade war with China has had the exact opposite effect as intended, with China now enjoying a record $34.1 billion trade surplus with the United States last month. [WaPost]
-> Six months ago U.S. officials separated a man and his four-year-old daughter at the border. This week ICE finally put the girl on a plane back to Guatemala to rejoin her father— except the father wasn’t informed she was coming until 30 minutes before she landed. He lived 8 hours away from the airport. [CNN]
-> The price of Obamacare insurance plans will take a drop next year for the first time, dipping by 1.5 percent. The decrease will primarily affect the middle tier of plans, after years of double digit increases. [WSJ]
-> A federal judge who oversaw one-time Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s prosecution is questioning the terms of his plea deal that prevented Manafort’s facing a second trial, and he scheduled a new hearing for Oct. 19th. [TribviaWaPost]
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-- Dan Harrie and Cara MacDonald
https://twitter.com/danattrib and Twitter.com/carammacdonald