The state’s COVID numbers continue to go in the wrong directions.

· Hospitalizations are now touching the 1,000 mark. It had been in the 500-600 range back in May and June.

· The positivity rate is over 12%.

· And the cases are spreading out across Missouri and hitting rural counties now.

1. Americans self-identified party affiliation

2. Trump approval / disapproval

3. Generic ballot

4. Electoral map based on history

5. The crisis didn’t unify

6. Consumer spending starting to cool

7. How to gerrymander

8. Map of racial inequality

9. Hard to keep the band together

Watson Passes

John Watson, who served as Governor Jay Nixon’s chief of staff, died. In 2015, he was appointed State Auditor to fill out the term of Tom Schweich. And then later he headed up the Missouri State Employees Retirement System.

JeffCo Gets Mask Mandate

The virus remains an electoral wildcard. It’s just not knowable what things will look like in two months when people line up at polling places.

CLEAN Lands Another Big Check

While the court battle continues to determine what the official ballot language will be, the CLEAN campaign committee is landing some big checks. Today there’s a half-million check from the National Education Association.

Greitens on the Offense

Greitens filed a sweeping sunshine request of the General Assembly. It also asks for records from many individuals associated with the LIHTC industry.

• One Dem politico wonders if Greitens is searching for an October surprise to daisy-cutter on Parson.

Galloway Ad

Auditor Nicole Galloway released her first gubernatorial TV ad. It’s called “urgency,” and Galloway speaks fast with a subtle drumbeat behind her.

The ad hits Parson as Galloway simply refers to “him” and “he.”

The tag: We can’t have a governor who does so little. I’ll do things differently – with a sense of urgency.

Driving the Day: Galloway’s COVID Action Plan

Media Advisory: Auditor Nicole Galloway will deliver remarks in Kansas City and Springfield where she will lay out what steps, as Governor, she would take to contain COVID-19 in Missouri…

Top of the list: statewide mask mandate.

1. The Auditor’s draft report on SLEDP.

2. MO 1% threshold.

3. STL homicides stats.

4. Almost always with a gun.

5. Americans feel COVID crisis getting worse.

6. Job postings indicator.

7. Face mask mandates across the country.

8. Morgan Stanley’s economic scenarios.

9. Food column?

Hancock to New MO States Newsroom Affiliate

KCStar’s Jason Hancock announced over Twitter that he was leaving the paper to start a new venture.

Galloway Makes Big Media Buy

The Galloway campaign has made its first big TV buy. It’s a $2.1 million reservation across eight weeks starting after Labor Day.

GOP Focuses on Crime

Although COVID, back-to-school and the economy seem to dominate neighbor conversations, Republican candidates are focusing on crime as their top issue for the general election.

Labor Sends $250K to Galloway

Keep Government Accountable, the pro-Nicole Galloway PAC, received two large checks from organized labor.

· $150K from Missouri and Kansas Laborers PAC.

· $100K from Midwest Region Laborers Political League Education Fund.

Judge Rewrites CLEANER Ballot Language

Judge Patricia Joyce delivered a potential deathblow to the CLEANER proposal, rewriting the summary language.

The first bullet point would now read: “Repeal rules for drawing state legislative districts approved by the voters in November 2018 and replace them with rules proposed by the legislature.”

In last week’s Remington Group/MOScout poll: 65% of Missourians responded that “the spread of COVID-19 is a public health threat, and face masks should be required in public.”

1. Retail sales

2. Voter priorities.

3. Children catching COVID.

4. Vaccine participation

5. Presidential prediction.

Labor Defends CLEAN

In the large contributions, the Missouri and Kansas Laborers' PAC sends $250,000 to the CLEAN Missouri campaign committee.

MEC Committee Deadline

YAL’s Make Liberty Win PAC won a preliminary injunction against the requirement that committees must be formed 60 days before an election in order to spend money on that election.

Judge Stephen Bough writes in the order: “There is a strong and compelling interest in protecting First Amendment rights of political speech and association” as the basis of his order. See it here.

Special Session Reset

The House referred its special session bills, breaking up the Senate’s omnibus SB1 into individual bills as they announced they would.

· It would appear that at least for now the House is taking a wait-and-see approach to the AG jurisdiction provision. They may decide to wait for the Senate act to what if anything can be passed out of that chamber on the topic before expending their own political capital.

Virtual Truman Gala

MO Dems’ annual Truman Dinner is going virtual. But they’re still selling “tables” for the September 12 event. See it here.

I guess it’s BYOB?