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On the roster: Wisconsin at heart of 2018 fight - Time Out: Babylon’s best - Minnesota Dems’ hopes for House gains hang on Tuesday - Audible: Well, if you insist… - Watch out, Tora!



WISCONSIN AT HEART OF 2018 FIGHT

NYT:“Wisconsin’s urgent struggle to define — or redefine — its political direction is part of a larger identity crisis that has rippled across the Upper Midwest since 2016. … Minnesota, which is also holding primary elections on Tuesday, stayed in the Democratic column in 2016, but Mr. Trump lost by a far slimmer margin than expected, setting off a flurry of re-examination there. … With essential elections this fall — in addition to Mr. [Scott Walker’s] re-election bid, Ms. [Tammy Baldwin] is in a tough race for a second term and House speaker Paul Ryan is vacating his seat — both parties are frantically battling to keep Wisconsin on a Trumpian path or pull it back toward the left. Republicans say Mr. Walker’s record, powerful state political operation and disciplined campaign style could help completely shut out Democrats in Wisconsin if the Republicans hold their current offices — and seize Ms. Baldwin’s Senate seat in November. Two Republicans are vying in Tuesday’s primary for the nomination to challenge Ms. Baldwin: Leah Vukmir, a state lawmaker with the party establishment’s backing, and Kevin Nicholson, a former Democrat and Marine who is running as an outsider willing to speak his mind.”



Walker warns he may start out behind in polls - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “GOP Gov. Scott Walker is warning supporters that he may be trailing at the outset of the general election campaign, no matter who wins Tuesday’s Democratic primary. ‘You could have Daffy Duck on the ballot for the Democrats, and they’ll start out with at least 48% of the vote,’ Walker said at a campaign stop in central Wisconsin Saturday. That joke was a stark commentary on how divided the governor believes this state is, and on the challenges he thinks he faces winning a third term. Walker has spent months working to fire up his political base, calling this his toughest race ever, warning of a possible ‘blue wave’ this fall. In recent days, he has told partisan crowds that whoever wins Tuesday’s eight-way Democratic primary for governor may well begin the general election campaign ahead of Walker. … Walker trailed his best-known Democratic opponent, state school superintendent Tony Evers, in two public polls last month. GOP strategists questioned those results, but the governor now seems to be bracing his supporters for the first batch of post-primary surveys.”



THE RULEBOOK: FUNNY THING…

“It is a matter both of wonder and regret, that those who raise so many objections against the new Constitution should never call to mind the defects of that which is to be exchanged for it.” – James Madison, Federalist No. 38



TIME OUT: BABYLON’S BEST

Smithsonian: “Archaeologists have long known beer was important in the ancient world, but mainly from writings and drawings—finding actual archaeological evidence of the fermented beverage has been a major challenge. But archaeologists have now employed a new technique to detect beer residues in nearly 2,500-year-old clay cups dug up in a site in northern Iraq. ‘What [Elsa Perruchini] has demonstrated is the chemical signature of fermentation in the vessels that also contains the chemical signatures consistent with barley,’ says Claudia Glatz, a senior lecturer in archaeology at the University of Glasgow and a coauthor of a study published recently in the Journal of Archaeological Science. ‘Putting those together is the interpretation that this is barley beer.’ The use of the technique will likely prove groundbreaking, giving archaeologists a chance to find beer at other excavations. But it is also helping Glatz and Perruchini, a PhD archaeology student at the university and the lead author of the study, understand more about the Babylonian Empire’s outer reaches during a period of cultural upheaval.”



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SCOREBOARD

Trump job performance

Average approval: 40.8 percent

Average disapproval: 53.4 percent

Net Score: -12.6 points

Change from one week ago: down 0.8 points

[Average includes: Gallup: 39% approve - 56% disapprove; IBD: 41% approve - 50% disapprove; NPR/PBS/Marist: 41% approve - 51% disapprove; Quinnipiac University: 38% approve - 58% disapprove; NBC/WSJ: 45% approve - 52% disapprove.]



Control of House

Republican average: 41.4 percent

Democratic average: 48 percent

Advantage: Democrats plus 6.6 points

Change from one week ago: Democratic advantage down 1.6 points

[Average includes: IBD: 45% Dems - 45% GOP; NPR/PBS/Marist: 47% Dems - 40% GOP; Quinnipiac University: 51% Dems - 39% GOP; NBC/WSJ: 49% Dems - 43% GOP; Fox News: 48% Dems - 40% GOP.]



MINNESOTA DEMS’ HOPES FOR HOUSE GAINS HANG ON TUESDAY

Roll Call: “Looking at a map of potential Democratic takeover opportunities, Republicans’ see their bright spot in Minnesota’s 8th District. Just how bright it is, however, could largely depend on the outcome of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party primary on Tuesday. There are few House districts that have attracted more outside spending during the previous two cycles than Minnesota’s 8th… [Businessman Stewart Mills] isn’t running this year. Republicans recruited Pete Stauber, a retired Duluth police officer and hockey player, who’s already been the beneficiary of a Trump rally earlier this summer and a fundraiser with Vice President Mike Pence last week. He easily earned the endorsement of the district GOP and is expected to cruise to victory in Tuesday’s primary. [DFL Rep. Rick Nolan] isn’t running again either. … While Republicans have long been united around their candidate, the jockeying to replace Nolan as the DFL nominee has been messier. The 8th District DFL did not endorse a candidate at its April convention since no one received the requisite 60 percent of the vote, giving way to the Aug. 14 primary. That’s left five candidates running for the nomination of a party that’s trying to figure out where it stands on the critical mining issue in the 8th District, which stretches from the Twin Cities’ exurbs to the Canadian border and is home to the mining region known as the Iron Range.”



An unlikely battleground, Connecticut emerges on 2018 map - WSJ: “Connecticut’s gubernatorial candidates are crisscrossing the state and hitting the senior centers, parades and ice-cream socials to glad-hand voters as they gear up for Tuesday’s primary. On the Republican side, the race is wide open for the pack of five candidates. Among Democrats, Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont, who made a name for himself when he beat then- Sen. Joe Lieberman in the 2006 Democratic primary for Senate, is the front-runner. He faces Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, a popular six-term mayor who was convicted in 2003 for extortion and taking bribes. The eventual party nominees are expected to face a tough general election, with Cook Political Report rating the race a toss up. Republicans have a good chance to pick up a governor’s seat in Connecticut after eight years of Democratic rule, thanks in part to the low popularity of current Gov. Dannel Malloy. … The Republican Party endorsed Mark Boughton, the longtime mayor of Danbury. The other candidate who has held elected office is former Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst. Both received grants of $1.35 million through the state’s public-finance program.”



Donnelly tries flying under the radar - Politico: “Privately referred to by some colleagues as the ‘accidental senator’ because of his good fortune in drawing a deeply flawed GOP opponent in 2012, the first-term Indiana senator's presence is often barely noticed in the Capitol. His heads-down style distinguishes him among a quintet of centrist Democrats scrapping to survive this fall. [Joe Donnelly] rarely gives news conferences and stays away from cable news. For years, he assiduously avoided reporters who blanket the Capitol hallways. Now, the burly 62-year-old is running for reelection like a city council candidate, highlighting small-bore accomplishments and projecting an agreeable demeanor that contrasts sharply with what comes out of the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue most days. It's a risky strategy to break through in this political environment, but it's what Donnelly is comfortable with. He believes his conservative state is looking for someone who’s willing to occasionally tell President Donald Trump no, but otherwise keeps his mouth shut in D.C. and diligently sticks to the basics.”



Republicans line up to replace Collins - Roll Call: “Rep. Chris Collins’ decision to suspend his re-election campaign following his recent indictment on insider trading charges has upended the race for his Western New York seat, and Republicans in the area are scrambling to determine their next steps. … Those interested in the race so far include: Erie County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw; state Assemblymen David DiPietro, Stephen Hawley and Ray Walter; state Sen. Pat Gallivan, a former Erie County sheriff; and David Bellavia, an Iraq War veteran and local radio host. And the list of potential GOP hopefuls was expected to grow. Buffalo businessman and former gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino, an early Trump supporter who claimed to have gotten Collins on board with Trump in 2016, tweeted on Saturday afternoon that he’s ‘all in’ for the 27th District race.”



House campaigns flunk data security stress tests - Reuters: “Three of every 10 candidates running for the U.S. House of Representatives have significant security problems with their websites, according to a new study by independent researchers that underscores the threat hackers pose to the November elections. The research was due to be unveiled on Sunday at the annual Def Con security conference in Las Vegas, where some attendees have spent three days hacking into voting machines to highlight vulnerabilities in technology running polling operations. A team of four independent researchers led by former National Institutes for Standards and Technology security expert Joshua Franklin concluded that the websites of nearly one-third of U.S. House candidates, Democrats and Republicans alike, are vulnerable to attacks. NIST is a U.S. Commerce Department laboratory that provides advice on technical issues, including cyber security.”



Dems increasingly embrace socialism over capitalism - Gallup: “For the first time in Gallup's measurement over the past decade, Democrats have a more positive image of socialism than they do of capitalism. Attitudes toward socialism among Democrats have not changed materially since 2010, with 57% today having a positive view. The major change among Democrats has been a less upbeat attitude toward capitalism, dropping to 47% positive this year -- lower than in any of the three previous measures. Republicans remain much more positive about capitalism than about socialism, with little sustained change in their views of either since 2010. These results are from Gallup interviewing conducted July 30-Aug. 5. Views of socialism among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are particularly important in the current political environment because many observers have claimed the Democratic Party is turning in more of a socialist direction. Socialist Bernie Sanders competitively challenged Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, and more recently, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez… Several candidates with socialist leanings lost their primary bids in Aug. 7 voting, however, raising doubts about the depth of Democrats' embrace of socialism.”



PLAY-BY-PLAY

FBI fires Peter Strzok, over anti-Trump texts - Fox News



Omarosa has more tapes - AP



About those non-disclosure agreements... - Weekly Standard



Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., accused of domestic abuse days before primary vote - MPR News



Senate ready to return for August session - Roll Call



John Wood Jr.: ‘The Problem with ‘Facts Not Feelings’’ - Quillete



AUDIBLE: WELL, IF YOU INSIST…

“That would be a cool … If you wanted to put that in your article, like as a headline, I would not be mad about that.” – Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, when asked by Politico if he considered himself a “younger version” of Joe Biden.



FROM THE BLEACHERS

“Hey Chris, As a young classical liberal who leans libertarian, I struggle with how to engage my fellow Trump friendly, older millennials, and my elders, who are generally inclined to give Trump the benefit of the doubt because the limited sources and limited time they put into their information gathering. My question is twofold: 1) in a 24/7 short attention span world what’s the best way to convey a point on something you find important, while holding the limited time you have to impress upon others before they move on (I’m thinking of tariffs explicitly as am baffled by several fellow Millennial small business owners who fail to understand that tariffs cost them, and I money in their products, raise prices, push inflation, and cause rate increases which decreases their ability to borrow for housing etc. when wage growth doesn’t out pace them. 2) As a person of faith who isn’t involved in politics for a living, how do I convey to my older Protestant friends that, while we are called to be in this world and not of it, being aware of falsehoods and conflicting stories & from questionable political candidates we may/may not have supported and how we approach them, is important, especially in how it relates to our call to bear witness to our faith to fellow believers and non-believers alike.- maybe the 2nd question is better suited for the podcast, but regardless, I’d appreciate your thoughts.” – Jason Schout, Hudsonville, Mich.



[Ed. note: I had a great pastor who was fond of the old adage “Preach the Gospel constantly, using words if absolutely necessary.” I generally tend to think that with our friends and loved ones, persuasion is more apt to occur though example than it is through argument. Now, I love a good jawboning session and think talk means a lot. But I would generally counsel you away from trying to change people’s minds through your words. We have no idea what thins will look like in 2020 and how your friends – or your – will be inclined to vote and what the motivating factors will be. For now, it’s probably just enough to love them and keep politics in its proper place.]



“Hi Chris, I know you and Dana, especially Dana, are fascinated by dogs. About a year ago I finally agreed to get a dog for my daughter but ended up getting a Chihuahua instead. We puzzled for a while about what to call it and finally agreed to name it Congress. This seemed appropriate since it spends most of the day either sleeping or running around in circles making a lot of noise but accomplishing nothing. He generally does not play well with others but will try to get intimate with anybody who gets close enough. Keep up the good work with your writings and podcasts.” – George Fuller, St. Louis



[Ed. note: Now see, that’s funny right there.]



“Hiya Brianna and Chris - Some unrelated thoughts - first ‘yummy things to eat.’ I can't wait to try ‘tube steak’ with coleslaw! Secondly, if you haven't, try pulled pork with coleslaw. Third, Chris, please tell us more about those wonderful West VA pepperoni rolls - I want to make them! And, finally, a comment about our DC insanity - as Robert Burns so aptly put it: ‘Oh wad some powr' the giftie gie us to see ourselves as ithers see us.’ Reminds me of the old saw: ‘And the wind blew, and the poo flew’ and there stood our politicians!” – Ernie Weaver, North Port, Fla.



[Ed. note: There are as many ways to make a pepperoni roll as there are hollers in North-Central West Virginia. Some like stick pepperoni, some like sliced. Some prefer a big honker of a roll, while other prefer just a couple of bites per unit. There’s really only one rule: There are only two components – the pepperoni and the roll. Cheese, sauce or whatever else has no place here. The recipe I have long used relies on a healthy portion of sugar and powdered milk for the dough and uses sliced pepperoni. But I would encourage you to experiment and see which holler you’d like to call home.]



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WATCH OUT, TORA!

WCMH: “A family in Colorado is in mourning after a visit from an unwanted houseguest ended in bloodshed. Kayla Slaughter said her roommate returned home Thursday night around 10:30pm to find a mountain lion in the living room of the house they share. Slaughter said the mountain lion looked right at her roommate and licked its lips. The roommate took off and called police. ‘Yeah, he [the roommate] said it was terrifying,’ Slaughter told KDVR. Slaughter believes the mountain lion snuck in through a screen in an open window. Luckily, no humans were inside the home at the time, but their house cat, Klondike, was trapped inside. ‘I do have a picture of the mountain lion playing on the couch,’ Slaughter said. ‘[It] looks like it’s watching TV.’ … Shortly after, the roommate discovered the mountain lion had eaten Klondike. … When wildlife officers arrived, they had trouble getting the uninvited guest out of the house. They shot beanbags at the windows attempting to drive the mountain lion out for hours. … Hours later, the mountain lion walked right out the front door, walked down the street and back into the wild.”



AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…

“Liberal internationalists count on globalization, neoconservatives on democratization to get us to the sunny uplands of international harmony. But what unites them is the belief that such uplands exist and are achievable. Both believe in the perfectibility, if not of man, then of the international system. Both believe in the arrow of history.” – Charles Krauthammer writing in the Washington Post, May 26, 2016.



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.