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On the roster: Warren surges in Iowa - Time Out: Meet you in St. Louis - Impeachment pressure builds around Trump phone call - Congress set to pass stopgap spending bill this week - Let’s get this bread



WARREN SURGES IN IOWA

Des Moines Register: “Elizabeth Warren has surged in Iowa, narrowly overtaking Joe Biden and distancing herself from fellow progressive Bernie Sanders, the latest Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows. Warren, the U.S. senator from Massachusetts, now holds a 2-percentage-point lead, with 22% of likely Democratic caucusgoers saying she is their first choice for president. It is the first time she has led in the Register’s poll. Former Vice President Biden, who had led each of the Register’s three previous 2020 cycle polls, follows her at 20%. Sanders, the U.S. senator from Vermont, has fallen to third place with 11%. No other candidate reaches double digits. ‘This is the first major shakeup’ in what had been a fairly steady race, said J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., which conducted the poll. … South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg follows the three leaders as the favorite of 9% of poll respondents. U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California is at 6%. U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Cory Booker of New Jersey are at 3%. Polling at 2% are U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, businessman Tom Steyer and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.”



Dem candidates take two approaches in Iowa - Des Moines Register: “Former Vice President Joe Biden brought in a fire truck, bouncy house and ice cream truck for a carnival-style ‘Biden fest.’ A Mariachi band played at former U.S. Housing Secretary Juliàn Castro’s rally site and then marched in with the candidate and his supporters. And Lizzo and Prince blared through the speakers at a gathering for U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. But others took a different tack: U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren focused on organizing supporters, gathering voter information and knocking doors rather than big displays of support. Saturday’s Polk County Steak Fry in Iowa was the largest in the event’s storied history, drawing more than 12,000 excited Democrats to Water Works Park, where they heard from 17 presidential candidates vying for their attention and support on caucus day. Many of the candidates gathered with their supporters ahead of the main event, holding rallies where they each tried to outshine their competitors.”



Voters dislike Trump, still have doubts about Dems - NBC News: “As Democratic candidates compete for the opportunity to take on President Donald Trump, the incumbent they hope to oust is more personally disliked than any of his recent predecessors, and half of voters say they’re very uncomfortable with the idea of his re-election. But the electorate at large also expresses doubts about some of the progressive policies being backed by candidates like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and the party’s more moderate frontrunner — Joe Biden — also faces questions about his fitness for the job. Those are the major findings in the latest release from the September NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll… But Trump also continues to benefit from the upside of the polarization of the electorate around him, commanding more enthusiasm than his Democratic competitors as well. A quarter of voters (26 percent) say they’re enthusiastic about him, while fewer say they’re enthusiastic about Warren (17 percent), Sanders (13 percent) and Biden (12 percent.)”



The end may be near for Booker - Politico: “Cory Booker’s presidential campaign is betting it all on the next 10 days, signaling Saturday that it will cease to exist unless it can raise nearly $2 million by the end of the month. ‘We have reached a critical moment, and time is running out,’ campaign manager Addisu Demissie warned in a memo to Booker staff and supporters. ‘It’s now or never: The next 10 days will determine whether Cory Booker can stay in this race and compete to win the nomination.’ The bottom line, Demissie said, is that ‘we do not see a legitimate long-term path forward’ if the campaign can’t raise another $1.7 million by Sept. 30, the third-quarter fundraising deadline. … Demissie made clear on a conference call with reporters later Saturday that the campaign isn’t out of money or at risk of running out of funds.”



THE RULEBOOK: GOOD CALL GUYS

“For the sake of certainty and uniformity, therefore, the power of defining felonies in this case was in every respect necessary and proper.” – James Madison, Federalist No. 42



TIME OUT: MEET YOU IN ST. LOUIS

History: “Amid much public excitement, American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark return to St. Louis, Missouri, from the first recorded overland journey from the Mississippi River to the Pacific coast and back. The Lewis and Clark Expedition had set off more than two years before to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase. Even before the U.S. government concluded purchase negotiations with France, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned his private secretary Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, an army captain, to lead an expedition into what is now the U.S. Northwest. On May 14, the ‘Corps of Discovery,’ featuring some two dozen men, left St. Louis for the American interior. … On September 23, 1806, after two and a half years, the expedition returned to the city, bringing back a wealth of information about the largely unexplored region, as well as valuable U.S. claims to Oregon Territory.”



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SCOREBOARD

DEMOCRATIC 2020 POWER RANKING

Biden: 28.2 points

Warren: 20.2 points

Sanders: 16 points

Harris: 6.6 points

Buttigieg: 5.4 points

[Averages include: Fox News, NBC News/WSJ, CNN, ABC News/WaPo and IBD.]



TRUMP JOB PERFORMANCE

Average approval: 43.6 percent

Average disapproval: 53.6 percent

Net Score: -10 percent

Change from one week ago: up 4.8 points

[Average includes: NBC News/WSJ: 45% approve - 53% disapprove; Fox News: 45% approve - 54% disapprove; Gallup: 43% approve - 54% disapprove; NPR/PBS/Marist: 43% approve - 53% disapprove; CNN: 42% approve - 54% disapprove.]



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IMPEACHMENT PRESSURE BUILDS AROUND TRUMP PHONE CALL

NYT: “President Trump acknowledged on Sunday that he raised corruption accusations against former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. during a phone call with Ukraine’s leader, a stunning admission as pressure mounted on Democrats to impeach Mr. Trump over allegations he leaned on a foreign government to help damage a political rival. In public and in private, many Democrats said the evidence that has emerged in recent days indicating that Mr. Trump pushed the Ukrainian government to investigate Mr. Biden, and his administration’s stonewalling of attempts by Congress to learn more, were changing their calculations about whether to charge him with articles of impeachment. … The fast-moving developments prompted Speaker Nancy Pelosi to level a warning of her own to the White House: Turn over the secret whistle-blower complaint by Thursday, or face a serious escalation from Congress. In a letter to House Democrats, Ms. Pelosi never mentioned the word ‘impeachment,’ but her message hinted at that possibility.”



Trump continues to defend his call about Biden - Politico: “President Donald Trump on Monday intensified his attempts to justify a phone call with Ukraine’s president in which he reportedly pushed for an investigation into one of his chief political rivals, maintaining that he’s merely concerned about stamping out corruption. He once again dismissed the accusations that he was using his position of power to pressure a foreign government into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and his son as a ‘witch hunt.’ For the first time, however, Trump appeared to connect the idea to the issue of foreign aid. ‘If we're supporting a country, we want to make sure that country is honest,’ Trump told reporters after arriving for the U.N. General Assembly. … Also at issue with critics of the president is $250 million in foreign aid meant for Ukraine that the White House mysteriously withheld before releasing under bipartisan pressure early this month. There is no evidence that Trump directly tied the release of foreign aid to an investigation into Biden and his son.”



Schumer insists on hearings over whistleblower complaint - Politico: “Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is requesting that the Republican Senate conduct hearings and issue a subpoena to the Trump administration in response to a whistleblower complaint about President Donald Trump's alleged request that Ukraine investigate one of his political opponents. In a letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday morning, the New York Democrat said the Senate should hold hearings regarding any connection between delayed aid to Ukraine and Trump's reported request that the country probe the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading Democratic contender in next year's presidential election. Schumer also asks McConnell to compel the Senate to issue a subpoena to bring the whistleblower complaint to Congress ‘as required by law.’”



Giuliani accuses Ukraine of laundering $3M to Hunter Biden - Fox News: “Rudy Giuliani channeled President Trump Monday with a wee-hours Twitter blitz aimed at turning the Ukraine story currently roiling Washington into a big problem for Democrats. Giuliani, the personal attorney for Trump and outspoken critic of presidential hopeful Joe Biden and his son’s relationship with Ukraine, accused Kiev of laundering $3 million to Hunter Biden, suggested that the Obama administration turned a blind eye, and made the prediction that the scandal is in its infancy. ‘If Dem party doesn’t call for an investigation of Bidens’ millions from Ukraine and billions from China, they will own it,’ he tweeted. ‘Bidens’ made big money selling public office. How could Obama have allowed this to happen? Will Dems continue to condone and enable this kind pay-for-play?’”



CONGRESS SET TO PASS STOPGAP SPENDING BILL THIS WEEK

Roll Call: “The Senate needs to act this week to clear a stopgap spending bill before recessing through the end of the government’s fiscal year, but that is really the only must-pass business for either chamber. The House passed the measure Thursday, 301-123, after resolving hangups that included a debate over assisting farmers who have seen demand for crops plummet thanks to the ongoing sparring over trade with China. … There is no expectation the Senate will have trouble reaching an agreement to clear the measure to keep the government funded through Nov. 21, but it is certainly not the only piece of business that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to advance. … Once the House is back Tuesday, Democrats will once again turn their attention to border politics as the chamber considers two measures designed to improve the Department of Homeland Security’s treatment of migrants.”



PLAY-BY-PLAY

Check this out: Inside Fox News’ polling ‘nerdquarium’ - LAT



Team Trump growing more concerned about Michigan - Politico



Rand Paul interfering with Liz Cheney Senate run - Politico



Alaska Republicans cancel 2020 presidential primary - Anchorage Daily News



AUDIBLE: *MIC DROP*

“So many people seem to think that judges are just like politicians with robes. Rubbish.” – Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch speaking at Brigham Young University per the Salt Lake Tribune.



Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.



LET’S GET THIS BREAD

UPI: “A raccoon went for a 16-mile ride on top of a Florida bread delivery truck that reached speeds of over 50 mph during the trip. The driver of the Wonder Bread truck said other drivers called his attention to the raccoon on top of his truck, and he had already traveled about 10 miles before calling 911 from the parking lot of a fast food restaurant. Police and the driver attempted to get the raccoon to safety by pulling the truck up to a convenient tree branch, but the animal refused to climb down. The driver said he eventually had to drive the final 6 miles of his journey with the raccoon still riding on the roof. He said the animal eventually apparently climbed down on its own once the truck was parked at his company's headquarters in North Fort Myers.”



AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…

“Over the past hundred years, Americans have elected 13 Republican Administrations and 12 Democratic ones. Power could not be more evenly divided. American presidential elections are essentially a flip of the coin. This time the coin landed on its edge.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in Time magazine on Nov. 20, 2000.



Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.