This week in our battleground state…

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• Michigan TV stations are raking in the cash with campaign spending well over $200-million, fueled by close races for President, U.S. Senate and congressional districts and control of the state legislature.
  
• The Harris campaign reports it has raised a staggering $1-billion in 7 weeks.
  
• Michigan is also getting massive personal attention from the national campaigns, with candidates and surrogates making campaign visits on an almost daily basis.
  
• Republicans are hoping concerns over electric vehicles will put them over the top in Michigan, with both JD Vance and Mike Rogers calling for reneging on a federal promise of $500-million for upgrading Lansing’s General Motors downtown assembly plant.
  
• Rogers is battling a new carpetbagger charge with the revelation that the house he claims as his home doesn’t even have an occupancy permit
  
• And in the Bizarro World that is Donald Trump, the week’s four strangest developments:
  
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  • The Kremlin confirms Trump sent COVID test equipment for Putin’s personal use even as Americans were unable to get tested
    
  • Republican governors and U.S. Senators praise the federal response to the two hurricanes in direct contradiction of Trump’s claims; President Biden calls Trump a liar
    
  • It turns out Trump’s $60 “God Bless the USA” Bibles are being printed in China
    
  • And when Trump said on a podcast that he’s a very truthful person, the podcast host breaks out in laughter
    
  
  
  
• Slotkin, Rogers spar in Michigan U.S. Senate debate. Here are the facts – Bridge Michigan
  
• Annual inflation rate drops to 2.4 percent, lowest since February 2021
  
• New Statewide Poll: Voters’ Reluctance to Embrace the Economy of the Future Putting Michigan’s Competitiveness, Top Industry at Risk – Detroit Regional Chamber
  
• Florida threatens TV executive with jail time for airing ad in support of abortion rights – Popular Information
  
• Pornographic Film Actors Launch Ad Campaign Targeting Project 2025 – The New York Times
  
• Trump’s Rambling Speeches Reinforce Question of Age – The New York Times
  
• Oops, They Did It Again: The Mainstream Media Buries Trump’s Outrage – The New Republic
  

We are joined this week by Delaware’s junior Senator Chris Coons. He was elected in 2010, topping Christine O’Donnell, who ran an ad denying that she was a witch – a precursor to a long line of unusual Republican candidates for the Senate.

Coons is one of Joe Biden’s closest personal friends. In the Senate he chairs the Ethics Committee.

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