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“He’s not Lyin’ Ted anymore. He’s Beautiful Ted.”
— President Trump, saying he has buried the hatchet with his 2016 presidential rival Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) ahead of a campaign rally for the Republican senator in Houston, The Hill reports.
$4.85 million
“Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for porn actress Stormy Daniels, was hit with a personal judgment of $4.85 million Monday for his failure to pay a debt to a former colleague at his longtime Newport Beach firm,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“I’ve been the leading supporter along with John McCain of the U.S.-Saudi relationship. I feel completely betrayed.”
— Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), quoted by CNN.
12 points and 5 points
A new CNN/SRSS poll in Florida finds Andrew Gillum (D) holds a wide 12-point edge over Rep. Ron DeSantis (R) in the race for governor, 54% to 42%. In the U.S. Senate race, Sen. Bill Nelson (D) leads Gov. Rick Scott (R) by five points, 50% to 45%.
“He’s the president. I work with the president in delivering on our promises. What I told the president the week after the election, I said, ‘Mr. President, I want to do everything humanly possible to roll up my sleeves and lead the fight in the Senate to deliver on our promises.’”
— Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), declining to say whether he views President Trump as a friend or a foe, describing him as simply “the president,” the Washington Post reports.
50% to 41%
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds Democrats hold a 9-point lead among likely voters over Republicans in congressional preference, 50% to 41%. However, the same poll also shows President Trump at his highest job rating yet as president, 47% to 49%.
“He’s easily dislikable. I don’t think anybody could spend a lot of time with him and walk away feeling inspired or encouraged or believe that he in some way knows what it means to to live their life. They realize they can’t package him in that way.”
— Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum (D), telling the Tampa Bay Times that rival Ron DeSantis (R) is “a uniquely unlikeable candidate.”
“Is there anything that qualifies Jared Kushner to be dealing with any of these issues? He’s an unsuccessful real estate developer who inherited millions of dollars and married the president’s daughter. He’s completely unqualified. This is gross nepotism and it’s just an embarrassment that he has any power at all.”
— Jeffrey Toobin, quoted by The Hill.
$1.06 billion
“Democratic candidates running for Congress this year collectively raised more than $1?billion for their campaigns — a record-shattering sum that highlights the party’s zeal to retake the House and Senate and underscores the enormous amount of money flowing into the midterm races,” the Washington Post reports. “The $1.06?billion raised through the end of September surpasses the nearly $900?million collected by Republican candidates for Congress in 2012 — previously the largest haul registered by a single party by this point in the election cycle.”
5%
President Trump “said he will ask all cabinet departments to cut their budgets by 5 percent next year, after the federal budget deficit swelled to its highest level since 2012 during the first full fiscal year of his presidency,” Bloomberg reports.
