**Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.**On the roster: Feds to loosen school corona rules under pressure from Trump — Texas…
**Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.**On the roster: Feds to loosen school corona rules under pressure from Trump — Texas deaths, hospitalizations soar — SupCo curbs ObamaCare mandate on birth control — Kennedy wins chance to take on turncoat Van Drew — Eligible receiver downfieldFEDS TO LOOSEN SCHOOL CORONA RULES UNDER PRESSURE FROM TRUMPUSA Today: “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is revising its guidance on reopening schools after President Donald Trump tweeted his disagreement with them, Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday. ‘The president said today we just don’t want the guidance to be too tough,’ Pence said at a news conference at the U. S. Department of Education. ‘That’s the reason why, next week, CDC is going to be issuing a new set of tools, five different documents that will be giving even more clarity on the guidance going forward.’ Trump tweeted Wednesday that he disagrees with the CDC’s ‘very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools’ as the coronavirus pandemic continues… He also threatened to withhold funding from schools that don’t populate their classrooms this fall. Asked about that threat, Pence said the administration wants to include ‘incentives for states to go forward’ in the next federal stimulus package. ‘And as we work with Congress on the next round of state support, we’re going to be looking for ways to give states a strong incentive and encouragement to get kids back to school,’ said Pence, the head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.”Convention plans still in flux as Florida woes grow — Politico: “President Donald Trump redirected the Republican National Convention to Florida after North Carolina’s Democratic governor couldn’t ‘guarantee’ a full venue in August because of the coronavirus pandemic. But with coronavirus cases skyrocketing in Florida as Trump’s poll numbers drop in his must-win battleground state, it looks like the president won’t get his full-blown festivities there, either. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a close Trump ally, refused to say on Tuesday whether he would lift a rule mandating that indoor gatherings stay under 50 percent capacity — which would hold the Jacksonville convention to 7,500 people. Two octogenarian GOP senators, Lamar Alexander and Chuck Grassley, announced they wouldn’t attend the convention amid the pandemic, which has hit the elderly the hardest.”Trump says election ‘a much closer situation’ — RealClearPolitics: “‘If the Republicans don’t toughen up and get smart and get strong and protect our heritage and protect our country,’ he explained, ‘I think they’re going to have a very tough election.’… Trump has hit on the message he believes will carry him to a second term. He is not unaware of the spate of polling that shows [Joe] Biden expanding his lead, numbers he takes seriously. But Trump spoke longingly on Tuesday of a kind of campaign that is no longer possible amid a pandemic. ‘This was going to be a blowout, and then China hit us with the ‘China virus,’ and all of a sudden, it discombobulated this country and the entire world. Now, it’s a much closer situation,’ he said. ‘We were sailing to an easy victory. Now, I have to fight for the victory, but I’ve been fighting all my life. That’s what I do. I fight for victory.’”Cook slides key states into Dem column — Cook Political Report: “This election is looking more like a Democratic tsunami than simply a Blue wave. President Trump, mired in some of the lowest job approval ratings of his presidency, is trailing Biden by significant margins in key battleground states like Pennsylvania (8 points), Michigan (9 points), and Wisconsin (9 points). He’s even running behind Biden in his firewall states of Florida and North Carolina. We’ve made changes to our Electoral College ratings to reflect this reality. Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Nebraska’s 2nd district move from Toss Up to Lean Democrat. Maine, once in Lean Democrat, moves to the safer Likely Democratic category. Georgia has joined Arizona, North Carolina and Florida in the Toss Up column, although, at this point, Biden would be slightly favored to win at least Arizona and Florida.… These moves alone push Biden over the 270 electoral vote threshold (to 279).”THE RULEBOOK: MADE FOR EACH OTHER “This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of Providence, that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren, united to each other by the strongest ties, should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous, and alien sovereignties.” – John Jay, Federalist No. 2TIME OUT: ALL IT’S CRACKED UP TO BEHistory: “On July 8,1776, a 2,000-pound copper-and-tin bell now known as the ‘Liberty Bell’ rings out from the tower of the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, summoning citizens to the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. Four days earlier, the historic document had been adopted by delegates to the Continental Congress, but the bell did not ring to announce the issuing of the document until the Declaration of Independence returned from the printer on July 8. In 1751, to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of Pennsylvania’s original constitution, the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly ordered the bell to be constructed. After being cracked during a test, and then recast twice, the bell was hung from the State House steeple in June 1753. Rung to call the Pennsylvania Assembly together and to summon people for special announcements and events, it was also rung on important occasions, such as King George III’s 1761 ascension to the British throne and, in 1765, to call the people together to discuss Parliament’s controversial Stamp Act.”Flag on the play? — Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS. COM with your tips, comments or questions. SCOREBOARDNATIONAL HEAD-TO-HEAD AVERAGETrump: 41.4 percentBiden: 51 percentSize of lead: Biden by 9.6 pointsChange from one week ago: Biden ↑ 0.4 points; Trump ↑ 2 points[Average includes: IBD: Trump 40% — Biden 48%; Monmouth: Trump 41% — Biden 53%; CNBC: Trump 41% — Biden 49%; USA Today/Suffolk: Trump 41% — Biden 53%; NPR/PBS/Marist: Trump 44% — Biden 52%.]BATTLEGROUND POWER RANKINGS(270 electoral votes needed to win)Toss-up: (109 electoral votes): Wisconsin (10), Ohio (18), Florida (29), Arizona (11), Pennsylvania (20), North Carolina (15), Iowa (6)Lean R/Likely R: (180 electoral votes)Lean D/Likely D: (249 electoral votes)[Full rankings here.
