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On the roster: Dems warm to Warren - GOP pulls out the win in North Carolina - Poll shows big slide for Trump since July - Shutdown threat gains - When someone says they miss feral hogs Twitter

DEMS WARM TO WARREN
NPR: “Elizabeth Warren is on the rise among Democratic voters, but she and other Democrats are less popular with the overall electorate, raising concerns about a bruising primary that could go on for the better part of the next year, a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds. The survey also finds President Trump continuing to struggle, with economic concerns seemingly starting to affect his standing, leaving a cloudy picture about the 2020 presidential election. Warren finds herself in a strong position with Democratic voters ahead of Thursday's Democratic presidential debate. Seventy-five percent of Democratic voters now say they have a favorable impression of Warren — that's up from 53% in January, a 22-point jump from the last time the poll asked the favorability of candidates or potential candidates. What's more, the percent of those saying they have a negative impression has gone down from 17% to 11%. ‘Elizabeth Warren seems to be on the verge of starting to make significant and serious inroads into this contest,’ said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which conducts the poll. He added, ‘Heading into the debate, she's very well-positioned.’”

High stakes for Harris - LAT: “In the nearly eight months since [Kamala Harris] formally launched her White House bid, California’s U.S. senator has fallen into a familiar pattern. Exhilarating highs — her artfully executed announcement, her Senate grilling of attorney general nominee William Barr, her standout performance in June’s first presidential debate — followed by extended doldrums that stalled her momentum and erased those gains. At the same time, her campaign has had to adjust its strategy to account for the strength of rivals Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren, placing greater emphasis on the Iowa caucuses and forcing Harris to scramble against opponents with a considerable head start courting activists and snapping up the state’s top political talent. Now mired well back in the crowded pack, Harris faces intense pressure for a standout performance in Thursday’s debate and, beyond that, greater facility at the up-close style of engaging voters that is worlds away from the TV-driven, media-centric campaigns she has grown accustomed to in California.”

Beto falls to fourth in his home state - Quinnipiac University: “One day before the next Democratic debate is held in Houston, former Vice President Joe Biden tops the field in the Texas Democratic primary with 28 percent of Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democratic. Sen. Elizabeth Warren follows with 18 percent, while both Sen. Bernie Sanders and former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke are at 12 percent. This compares to an early June Quinnipiac University Poll, in which Biden had 30 percent, O'Rourke had 16 percent, Sanders had 15 percent, and Warren had 11 percent. … In today's primary, there are a number of candidates in the mid to low single digits, with Sen. Kamala Harris at 5 percent, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former HUD Secretary Julian Castro at 3 percent, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar at 2 percent. There are three candidates at one percent, with nine additional candidates with less than one percent.”

California real estate billionaire to host Biden fundraiser - CNBC: “Billionaire and real estate magnate George Marcus is preparing to host former Vice President Joe Biden next month for a 2020 fundraising event. Marcus, a billionaire megadonor who bundled more than $100,000 for Hillary Clinton in 2016, is expected to be the lead host at a lunch for Biden’s return to San Francisco in the first week of October, according to people familiar with the matter. Biden’s allies have been prodding Marcus for months to open his doors to the campaign, these people added. Biden’s campaign announced the candidate will be traveling to California on Oct. 3, but the press release did not give further details.”

THE RULEBOOK: IT’S ALL GOOD
“But in a representative republic, where the executive magistracy is carefully limited; both in the extent and the duration of its power; and where the legislative power is exercised by an assembly, which is inspired, by a supposed influence over the people, with an intrepid confidence in its own strength… it is against the enterprising ambition of this department that the people ought to indulge all their jealousy and exhaust all their precautions.” – James Madison, Federalist No. 48

TIME OUT: THE LESSON OF 9/11
In light of the tremendous response we got from readers last year we are linking back to our musings from the previous anniversary of September 11th: “One of the most treasured and often repeated sayings about 9/11 is the line from the widow of Jason Dahl, the pilot of Flight 93, the doomed airliner that, perhaps thanks to the courage of passengers and crew, crashed in a former Pennsylvania coal mine rather than its intended target of the U.S. Capitol. A year later, Sandy Dahl retuned to the scene as part of her mission to build a fitting memorial for her husband and the 39 other Americans who died there. She said, ‘If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short and there is no time for hate.’ Her comments resonated because Dahl expressed what was so much on the hearts of Americans. The attacks came during an era of viscous political infighting. We had a failed impeachment two years before. And just 10 months before the attack, a presidential election had remained unresolved for 41 agonizing days. Cynicism abounded. We had been narrowly, bitterly divided. We had been hateful to each other. We had put party over country. But no longer, we said. Our new motto would be simple: United we stand.”

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SCOREBOARD
DEMOCRATIC 2020 POWER RANKING
Biden: 28 points
Warren: 18.2 points
Sanders: 14.8 points
Harris: 6.4 points
Buttigieg: 5 points
[Averages include: ABC News/WaPo, IBD, Quinnipiac University, USA Today/Suffolk University and Monmouth University.]

TRUMP JOB PERFORMANCE
Average approval: 40 percent
Average disapproval: 54.8 percent
Net Score: -14.8 percent
Change from one week ago: down 1.8 points
[Average includes: NPR/PBS/Marist: 41% approve - 54% disapprove; CNN: 42% approve - 54% disapprove; ABC News/WaPo: 40% approve - 55% disapprove; IBD: 39% approve - 55% disapprove; Quinnipiac University: 38% approve - 56% disapprove.]

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GOP PULLS OUT THE WIN IN NORTH CAROLINA
FiveThirtyEight: “On Tuesday, North Carolina played host to the most closely watched election since the 2018 midterms. On paper, it was Republicans who emerged victorious, going 2-for-2 in two separate congressional elections. But there was also a silver lining for Democrats — their final vote margin in the night’s marquee race was much bluer than the district’s baseline partisanship. … The results also represent a continuation of the mini-realignment we’ve seen in the Trump era of suburbs getting bluer and rural areas moving even more toward the GOP. For instance, [Dan] McCready lost the district even as he won suburban Mecklenburg County by 13 percentage points, an improvement on the 2018 results, when he won Mecklenburg by 10 points. … McCready did worse than his 2018 performance in every other county, most of which are sparsely populated.”

Senate Dems vow to support Markey over Kennedy - Politico: “Senate Democrats’ campaign committee is siding with incumbent Sen. Ed Markey over potential insurgent challenger Rep. Joe Kennedy III, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto said in an interview on Tuesday. The Nevada senator, who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said the DSCC ‘will be there’ for Markey if Kennedy launches a challenge. ‘That’s why we were created, to support our incumbents. And Ed Markey is not only an incumbent but he knows the issues that are important to Massachusetts. He’s been out front on so many issues, including climate change,’ Cortez Masto said. … It’s unclear whether Kennedy is serious about running against Markey in a primary or is trying to scare the senator into retirement. Kennedy also could be trying to increase visibility in case Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wins the presidency and the state holds a special election for her seat. Warren has endorsed Markey.”

Sasse receives surprise Trump endorsement - WaPo: “President Trump offered an unexpected endorsement Tuesday night of Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), a prominent member of the ‘Never Trump’ faction in 2016 who has since mused about leaving the Republican Party and faces a primary challenge next year. ‘Senator Ben Sasse has done a wonderful job representing the people of Nebraska,’ Trump said in a tweet. ‘He is great with our Vets, the Military, and your very important Second Amendment. Strong on Crime and the Border, Ben has my Complete and Total Endorsement!’ Ending months of speculation about his plans, Sasse, 47, announced a bid for a second Senate term last week. … Sasse’s campaign seemed surprised by Trump’s endorsement. ‘Ben’s grateful for the President’s kind words,’ Sasse spokesman James Wegmann said in a statement.”

POLL SHOWS BIG SLIDE FOR TRUMP SINCE JULY
WaPo: “The new Post-ABC poll is much more in line with other early general election polls… There are signs not just that Trump is trailing, but also that he might actually be regressing — at least slightly. The Post-ABC poll shows his approval dropping from 47 percent in July — what was then a high for his presidency — to 40 percent today. … But even if you accept that not much has fundamentally changed, the new poll is bad for Trump. It accounts for [Joe] Biden’s second-largest lead (15 points) over Trump since launching his campaign. And his biggest lead (16 points) came just two weeks ago in a Quinnipiac University poll. Trump’s nine-point deficit against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) (52-43) is tied for his second-highest in high-quality national polls. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) seven-point lead (51-44) is tied for her second-biggest, too. And Sen. Kamala D. Harris’s (D-Calif.) seven-point lead is her third-biggest.”

Early state GOPers won’t cave on cancelling contests - AP: “Republicans in Iowa and New Hampshire are vowing to hold a caucus and primary next year, even as party leaders in a handful of other states have canceled their contests to help smooth President Donald Trump’s path to reelection. ‘Under no circumstances will the New Hampshire primary ever be canceled, whether there’s token opposition or a serious contest,’ Steve Duprey, New Hampshire’s national Republican committeeman, said in an interview. ‘It was never even up for discussion,’ echoed Iowa GOP National Committeeman Steve Scheffler in a separate interview. ‘We’re not going to shut the door on anyone’ …Trump allies on the ground in South Carolina, Nevada, Arizona and Kansas moved in recent days to cancel their 2020 primary contests altogether to eliminate the possibility of trouble. Some said the cancellations were simply a cost-cutting measure, yet they follow aggressive steps by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee in recent months to strengthen Trump’s reelection chances.”

Long-shot GOP primary challengers to have their own debate - Fox News: “The three long-shot challengers taking on President Trump in the 2020 primaries are expected to face-off in their own debate later this month. Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, former South Carolina governor and congressman Mark Sanford and former Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois have been invited by Business Insider to participate in a debate Sept. 24. Weld and Walsh’s campaigns told Fox News they would be attending the debate. Sanford’s campaign was optimistic its candidate would also take the stage as long as a scheduling conflict was resolved. Business Insider told Fox News that the debate will be streamed live on Business Insider Today, their daily news show on Facebook Watch. They added that the president -- who has derided his primary opponents as the ‘Three Stooges’ -- was invited to participate but has not responded.”

SHUTDOWN THREAT GAINS
Politico: “Senate appropriators had barely begun work on Tuesday before the process blew up, mired in disagreements over abortion-related ‘poison pills,’ funding for domestic programs and President Donald Trump’s border wall. The squabbling reinforces the likelihood that a stopgap spending bill will be needed through mid-November or early December, which House and Senate leaders are mulling as they face another government shutdown at the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Democrats are trying to ‘wiggle out’ of a handshake agreement included in the budget deal signed by Trump last month, which was aimed at ensuring both sides avoid overly partisan policy provisions that could tank appropriations bills. … But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said poison pills aren’t the problem. Republicans want to increase funding for the wall by $12 billion, taking as much as $5 billion from domestic programs and pilfering more military construction funds, he said.”

PLAY-BY-PLAY
The race is on to be Trump’s fourth national security adviser - NYT

Trump orders federal efforts to address homeless camps in California - WaPo

Trump admin wants Congress to pass North American trade deal in the next two months - Politico

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., to replace Rep. Mark Meadows as Freedom Caucus chair - The Hill

AUDIBLE: HOW FAR WE’VE COME
“It’s very hard to do anything as a loner, but if you get together with like-minded people, you can create a force for change. And if you look at things over the long haul, we have come a long way from how it was.” – Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaking at the University of Chicago on Monday.

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WHEN SOMEONE SAYS THEY MISS FERAL HOGS TWITTER
CTV News: “Wildlife officials say feral hogs from Canada encroaching on Montana's northern border are a serious concern for farmers and others. Daily Inter Lake reported Sunday that the U.S. agriculture department's Wildlife Services division says there have been multiple reports of feral hogs near the border. An official says eight mature pigs were discovered in Canada directly above Montana's Lincoln County this summer. Wildlife Services, the Montana Invasive Species Council, the National Feral Swine Program, and the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks department say the pigs could do widespread damage. Officials say the pigs are ‘rototillers’ that root for food and wallow in farms, fields and forests, leaving terrain unrecognizable. The pigs may also spread diseases impacting livestock and other animals. Various state groups are working on prevention and management measures.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“In the end: 10 years, no second attack (which everyone assumed would come within months). That testifies to the other great achievement of the decade: the defensive anti-terror apparatus hastily constructed from scratch after 9/11 by President Bush, and then continued by President Obama. Continued why? Because it worked. It kept us safe — the warrantless wiretaps, the Patriot Act, extraordinary rendition, preventive detention and, yes, Guantanamo.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in the Washington Post on Sept. 8, 2011.

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.