PRESENTED BY VIRTUS SOLUTIONS

1. Gordon goes North.

3. New Woodward book causes stir.

• Bob Woodward has written a book about the Trump White House.
• This is a thing he does. After his best-selling “All the President’s Men” and “The Final Days” chronicling the Nixon White House, Woodward has written books on the Supreme Court, the Clinton, Bush and Obama White Houses, among other topics.
• As you can imagine, “Fear,” is not a generous take on President Trump. The excerpts paint a picture of White House aides constantly intervening to stop Trump from doing damage to himself or the country.
• Read most of the publicly-available excerpts from The Washington Post HERE.
• The White House immediately fired back at the assertions made. Statements from President Trump, Chief of Staff John Kelly, and Secretary of Defense James Mattis all vigorously deny having said the things they are quoted as saying.
• Woodward says he has tapes of the interviews. Boy, wouldn’t we like to hear those.
• More dogging Sessions
  • One book excerpt President Trump himself is categorically denying is the passage on comments Trump allegedly made about Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
  • “This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner… He couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama,” Trump is quoted as saying.
  • Honestly, it’s plausible, especially coming just a few days after Politico reported Trump mocking Sessions’ southern accent and education from Huntingdon COLLEGE.
  • Sen. Richard Shelby was quick to defend his longtime colleague, and the South really.
  • “I think that’s strong words. I think Sessions is a very smart man and a man of integrity. I would disagree with the president on that,” Shelby told The Washington Post.
  • “Well, I’m sure I’ve got that accent, wouldn’t you think?”
  • “I guess the president, he says what he thinks . . . I think the president’s probably got a lot of respect for the South, I hope so. He did well there. Without the South he wouldn’t be the president of the United States.”
  [I’d be eager to hear what other Alabama politicians and politicos think about all this. So hit me up via reply. All off the record, of course.]

4. Races to watch.

• Brian Lyman of The Montgomery Advertiser has a new election preview story out.
• But instead of the top-of-the-ticket races we’ve all heard and read so much about, Brian gets into races for legislative seats.
• He has several races to watch for the House and Senate, from open seats to incumbent challenges.
• Give his piece a read HERE.
• With Labor Day signaling the end of summer and the beginning of campaign season, there will be a lot more to talk about in the coming weeks as far as campaigns go. I’d appreciate any tips you can pass along, and so would Caroline and Will.

5. Issues to watch.

News Briefs.

• The Nike/Colin Kaepernick fallout continues today.
• Nike’s stock dropped 2.6 cents or 3.16% yesterday in the wake of its decision to hire Kaepernick as a spokesman.
• Facebook and Twitter are full of folks trashing or burning their Nike gear, or at least vowing never to buy it again.
• That puts people in this state in a moral conundrum, given that Nike holds the apparel rights for the University of Alabama.
• Kyle Whitmire gets at that in his latest column. He argues that choosing products based on politics ultimately leads to “growing your own food and sewing your own clothes.”
• “Or worse. Rooting for Auburn.”

• Gov. Kay Ivey raised nearly $500,000 for her campaign last month, finance records show.
• Democratic challenger Walt Maddox will report $338,000 raised in the same period, his campaign says.
• That puts Ivey clearly ahead, but Maddox not that far behind.
• Look for campaign fundraising to increase as the season kicks into gear.

• Congressman Bradley Byrne is the featured speaker at the House Republican Leadership’s weekly press conference today.
• This is the first day back for Congress after recess. Most Members hit the road during August to touch as many constituents as possible.
• Byrne, who is known for hosting lots of town halls, had another significant tour of events this August.
• Joining the Speaker and Majority Leader for the weekly press conference gets you a lot of attention, but it also puts you front and center for media questions. I’m sure questions about Woodward’s book will be fun.
• Watch the press conference live starting at 9:00 Central Time HERE.

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