The Daily Digest: The gas tax walk back
Good morning!
In Minnesota
Gov. Mark Dayton is walking back some of his embrace of a higher gas tax. (MPR News)
Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson released a new television ad today that questions Dayton's competence. (MPR News)
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
The race for Secretary of State isn't getting as much attention so here's a look at it. (MinnPost)
A new analysis shows that Minnesota’s Senate race between Sen. Al Franken and Republican Mike McFadden is among the top 10 most expensive in the country in terms of advertising. (MPR News)
McFadden really wants Minnesotans to see him debate Franken so he's paying a TV station to re-air their Oct. 1 debate in its entirety this Saturday. (Star Tribune)
A Republican internal poll has Franken leading McFadden by seven points. (Roll Call)
7th District Democratic Congressman Collin Peterson has a nine point lead over Republican state Sen. Torrey Westrom. (KSTP)
5th District DFL Rep. Keith Ellison is campaigning hard even though he's got one of the safest seats in the country. Why? (Star Tribune)
Following complaints by dozens of Minnesotans, state election officials said they are working to fix a problem with their online system to request absentee ballots -- a problem that some users may not have been aware of. (Pioneer Press)
National Politics
The Supreme Court on Thursday evening stopped officials in Wisconsin from requiring voters there to provide photo identification before casting their ballots in the coming election. (New York Times)
Meanwhile, a federal judge in Texas likened Texas’ tough voter ID rules to a poll tax meant to suppress minority voters and blocked the state from enforcing it just weeks ahead of next month’s election. (AP via Dallas Morning News)
The South Dakota Senate race just got wild. (Politico)
Republicans had been feeling pretty confident about taking the Senate, but the past few weeks are making some in the GOP worried. (Washington Post)