CHRIS CRUCIAL: Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania

PLUS: How would YOU change the debates?

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1. It’s all about PA

This chart — via Ad Impact — tells you everything you need to know about which states the two presidential campaigns believe they have to win.

Add up what’s already been spent and what’s been booked between now and November 5 and you get this:

1. PA: $312 million

2. MI: $226 million

3. GA: $162 million

As I’ve always said, the two ways to know where a campaign really thinks the race will be decided are a) where they spend the most money on ads and b) where they send the candidate and b)

So on “a” we know the answer. What about on “b”? This chart via NPR is super helpful:

So, yeah. It’s pretty damn clear from those two metrics that this race is ALL about Pennsylvania. Harris was in the state again today — and even taped an interview with one of the stations in Philadelphia.

As I have noted before, Nate Silver’s election model suggests that whichever candidate wins Pennsylvania has a better than 90% chance of winning the election.

Where does the race in the state stand? Um, it’s pretty close. This is from Nate’s PA polling average:

47.7 -47.5!!!!

Given a) the narrowness of the polling in the state and b) how critical Pennsylvania is to both candidates’ electoral math, I am still stunned that Harris didn’t name the popular Democratic governor of Pennsylvania as her running mate.

But that’s a debate for another day! And if she wins Pennsylvania , no one will care!

If I can give you one piece of advice as you follow this election in its final 7 weeks, it’s this: Watch Pennsylvania as closely as you can.

If you don’t already have Politics PA bookmarked, do it now. Ditto TribLive. And the Inquirer.

2. How would you make the debates better?

I asked “So What” readers last week for ideas on how to make this Friday edition work best — given that I am teaching my campaign journalism class at Georgetown all afternoon every Friday in the fall.

One suggestion: Tell us what you are talking to/teaching the kids about.

I LOVE that idea.

So, today we are talking about the debate, the moderators and the coverage of the coverage. And I am asking them to split into small groups and come up with 2-3 good ideas on how we could make future presidential debates better.

That could include making them shorter. Or longer. Or having a group of fact checkers on stage to do real-time fact checking. Or cutting off a candidate’s mic if they say something totally false. Or getting rid of the moderators entirely.

I thought I would put the same question to you all. What one big (or even small) change would YOU make to the presidential debates to make them better? Throw your ideas in the comments section. I may turn this into its own post depending on how engaged people get!

3. The post-debate livestream

The debate is over. And we may not get another. So what better thing to do than talk about it — and what it means for the election! I did just that over at my YouTube channel this afternoon!

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

“Laura Loomer is a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans. A DNC plant couldn't do a better job than she is doing to hurt President Trump's chances of winning re-election. Enough.” — North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis

ONE GOOD CHART

How much does it cost to achieve the American Dream? More than $4 million, according to Investopedia.

SONG OF THE DAY

Talib Kweli has long been one of my favorite hip hop artists. His new album “The Confidence of Knowing” doesn’t disappoint. Here’s the opening track: “Breath, Eyes, Memory.”

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