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The Daily Digest: Focus on turnout

Good morning!

In Minnesota

With just a few days before most of Minnesota's voters go to the polls, candidates for major statewide offices are shifting the focus of their campaigns. Topping the agenda late in the game are efforts to make sure core supporters cast ballots. (MPR News)

Candidates for the state House are making their final pitches to voters. (MPR News)

With days to go until the election, U.S. Sen. Al Franken on Wednesday said that a proposed travel ban to and from Ebola-stricken west African nations, should be extended to third-party countries for travelers not on direct flights, with special considerations for U.S. aid workers. (Star Tribune)

Neither Franken nor fellow U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar say they're interested in running the Senate Democrats' campaign arm in 2016 despite published reports to the contrary. (Star Tribune)

Safe driving advocates and Democrats are denouncing a Republican campaign mailing that criticizes Democrats for passing a law related to drunk driving. (MPR News)

Overall, Minnesota's congressional delegation and their opponents in the November election have paid more than $373,000 in campaign money to family members since 2007. (Pioneer Press)

The sea of cash being poured into a Minneapolis School Board race just officially became a tsunami. According to campaign finance disclosures filed Tuesday, spending in the blazing hot four-way race for two citywide seats likely has surpassed $500,000. (MinnPost)

The St. Paul branch of the NAACP has reversed course and will host an attorney general candidate forum this week after all. (MPR News)

National Politics

Republicans have the opportunity to take control of a record number of state legislative chambers across the country this year, as Democrats play defense in unfavorable terrain. (Washington Post)

In the final days before the election, Democrats in the closest Senate races across the South are turning to racially charged messages to jolt African-Americans into voting and stop a Republican takeover in Washington. (New York Times)

House Speaker John Boehner’s still-unfiled lawsuit against President Barack Obama for exceeding his constitutional power is in more trouble. For the second time in two months, a major law firm has backed out of an agreement to pursue the case. (Politico)

You think the campaign ads on TV are bad here? Be glad you don't live in North Carolina where spending on the U.S. Senate race there has now exceeded $100 million. (USA Today)