Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden Campaign Attacks Stay Targeted On Trump's Pandemic Missteps
NBC News: Biden Tries To Keep Wisconsin Voters' Attention On Trump's Pandemic Response
Joe Biden on Monday visited the key battleground state of Wisconsin, where Covid-19 cases have surged recently, to bear down hard on his criticism of President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic, even as the president has turned his attention to the vacancy on the Supreme Court. Biden’s trip to an aluminum foundry in Manitowoc, about 70 miles north of Milwaukee, was his second to Wisconsin in recent weeks, underscoring the attention his campaign has begun devoting to the state. (Edelman, 9/21)
Stat: Biden Toes The Line On Covid-19 Vaccine Messaging
To Joe Biden and his campaign allies, it’s a straightforward distinction: They trust vaccines. They just don’t trust President Trump, who has undercut the expertise of U.S. scientific agencies since Covid-19 first arrived. But at least for the remainder of Trump’s first term, it can be difficult to pick apart the two, leaving Democrats in a precarious spot: Either they endorse any vaccine’s use regardless of Trump’s track record, in hopes of fostering crucial public buy-in, or they suggest any vaccine approval could be politically motivated — and risk doing further damage to Americans’ trust in immunizations, regardless of when they’re approved. (Facher, 9/22)
Politico: Wisconsin Campaign Memo: Biden Ignores SCOTUS, Slams Trump On Covid
As the Supreme Court debate raged in Washington, Joe Biden went to Wisconsin Monday and gave it nary a mention. Instead, the former vice president focused on Covid-19 and the economy. He highlighted the 200,000 deaths and counting on Trump's watch. "I worry we risk becoming numb to the toll it’s taken on us and our country and communities like this,” Biden said in a speech in Manitowoc, Wis., a small city in the Green Bay media market about 45 minutes from Packers HQ. Biden criticized Trump for downplaying the virus, which the president admitted he did to Bob Woodward, before later arguing that he didn't want the country to panic. (Korecki, 9/21)
In news from the Trump campaign —
NBC News: For Nursing Home Residents And Their Families, The Pandemic Has Made The 2020 Election Personal
The fallout from the virus is only one of the headline issues that voters are weighing. But the pandemic’s devastating effect on older Americans could make it harder for President Donald Trump to win re-election, according to new polling in swing states, which found that older voters are broadly worried about contracting the virus and more likely to trust Biden to manage the pandemic. In more than a dozen interviews conducted by NBC News, mostly with residents of swing states, voters across the political spectrum expressed concern about the effect of the virus on their personal health and their families, especially relatives in long-term care facilities. While many of these voters blamed Trump for mismanaging the pandemic, others said they thought state leaders were at fault for the deadly toll of the coronavirus on nursing homes and on the country at large. (Khimm, 9/22)
ABC News: Trump Calls His Handling Of Pandemic 'Phenomenal' As US Death Toll Nears 200K
President Donald Trump on Monday gave himself an "A+" grade on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying he and his administration had done a "phenomenal job" even as the death toll neared 200,000 Americans. At the same time, he gave himself a "D" on what he called "public relations." (Gittleson, 9/21)
In other election news —
AP: Supreme Court Vacancy Rattles Susan Collins' Senate Race
It’s so on brand for Sen. Susan Collins to be in a pressure cooker over how she’ll vote in a showdown riveting the nation. This time, it’s the battle over President Donald Trump’s effort to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. It comes six weeks from an Election Day when Trump might lose and Democrats could win Senate control, and it’s further complicating what could be the Maine Republican’s toughest reelection bid as she fights for a fifth term. Collins said Saturday — a day after Ginsburg, 87, succumbed to cancer — that Ginsburg’s replacement should be nominated “by the President who is elected on November 3rd.” She said the Senate shouldn’t vote until after the election. (Fram and Sharp, 9/22)
