Gloves are off as presidential debate on Sept. 10 nears

STORY OF THE WEEK: With the end of the Democratic National Convention, the stage is now set for a sprint to the high-stakes November election. Rhode Island’s delegation, like other Democrats at the DNC, appeared energized by Kamala Harris’ emergence as the party’s nominee. The convention gave Harris control over her public reintroduction as she made the case against Republican Donald Trump. Republicans countered by citing what they called a lack of substance at the DNC. GOP pollster John McLaughlin remains bullish on Trump’s chances, while Democrats have high hopes for Harris. Regardless of the view, the gloves will be off now that the conventions are over. One key date is a debate set for Sept. 10. If current trends hold, a relatively small number of votes in a handful of key battleground states will decide the November election.

VIEW FROM THE DNC: Tom Kane, chief of staff to RI Senate Majority Leader Ryan Pearson, was among the 35 delegates elected to represent the state at the DNC in Chicago. He shared this description of what he said was an incredible experience: “I am deeply grateful to the voters who entrusted me with this opportunity. The convention was an eye-opening journey, filled with moments I’ll never forget. One of the most unexpected highlights was the shuttle bus rides to and from the convention. It may sound mundane, but being packed into a bus with delegates from all across the country led to some of the most engaging conversations of the trip. I had the chance to meet people from every walk of life -- elected officials, former officeholders, passionate advocates, and everyday citizens who care deeply about our nation’s future. Listening to their stories, learning about the challenges they face in their home states, and sharing in the collective hope for a brighter future was truly inspiring. These conversations reaffirmed that despite our different backgrounds, we are all united by a common purpose: to make a difference and push for positive change. I return home with a renewed sense of purpose and excitement for what lies ahead, confident that together, we can continue building a better future for all Americans.”

WHO’S IN CHARGE?: Some pretty dramatic things -- the Hurricane of ‘38, a 1959 prison break and the 2007 “December Debacle” -- all happened when the governor was outside of Rhode Island. So who would have been responsible for responding if an emergency took place while Gov. Dan McKee, Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos, and House Speaker Joe Shekarchi were all in Chicago? Turns out that unlike in Massachusetts and due to a change in the Sundlun administration, the governor would still call the shots.

GINAWORLD: Gina Raimondo leaned on a familiar story -- about her father losing his job at the Bulova watch factory in Providence -- when she made her speaking appearance during the opening night of the DNC. The former RI governor made more news later in the week when she fumbled a question about revisions to employment numbers. And during a DNC week talk with Axios, an unusually unfiltered Raimondo surprised interviewer Hans Nichols (at about 10:30) by dropping a swear word while describing what most aggravates her about the GOP right now.

RI POLI-MEDIA PEOPLE ON THE MOVE: Karen Greco, who formerly did comms for Bryan University, is now the spokeswoman at the state Department of Administration … Justin Lake, a member of the West Greenwich School Committee, is the new vice chairman for the RI Young Republicans …. Olivia George, a Brown Daily Herald alum who reports for the Tampa Bay Times, was voted Florida’s outstanding young journalist by the state chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists …. Omar Mohammed is the newest report at Globe RI. 

ZONED OUT: Local zoning in Exeter -- one of the state’s most prosperous communities -- demands that three acres are necessary to build a house. That precludes the possibility of putting three to four houses on a three-acre parcel. “To have acreage that we felt we should be able to develop and couldn’t really is tough,” Colin Penney, executive director of South County Habitat for Humanity, told my colleague Alex Nunes. As Alex reports, as part of our ongoing series launched this week on how zoning complicates efforts to address Rhode Island’s housing crisis, nearly a third of the land in South County requires two acres of land for a single-family home.

INSIDE VIEW: Brenda Clement of HousingWorksRI, from an interview in our series: “A lot of what we like in Rhode Island, a lot of what we hold up as great examples in Rhode Island, [is] not replicable under existing zoning ordinances.”

MIGRANT MAILER: An Associated Press photo of Haitian migrants crossing a river in 2021 become an uncredited part of a mailer sent by Hopkins’ campaign this week. The mailer asserts that Fenton-Fung supports free college tuition for what it called “illegal immigrants.” As a state rep, Fenton-Fung voted for in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants and she notes that state policy requires undocumented students in the College Promise program (which she also supported) to apply for citizenship. Hopkins’ campaign defends the mailer, while Fenton-Fung called it “maliciously false.”

RI SENATE 28: Sen. Josh Miller (D-Cranston) tells me he will not be endorsing a potential successor among the five Democrats competing to succeed him in the Sept. 10 primary: “Too many good people.”

COMING UP: The Pell Center at Salve Regina University will feature a Sept. 5 forum on the global geostrategic and national security challenges and opportunities presented by climate change. The panel includes former Secretary of State John Kerry, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, authors Thomas Barnett and Sherri Goodman, U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, and U.S. Sen. Jack Reed is invited.

KICKER: URI economist Leonard Lardaro is known for his tart observations about Rhode Island’s economy. So it’s worth noting when Lardaro detects improvement. The 83 rating for his Current Conditions Index in June “is the highest in some time,” he said via email, adding his view that rising unemployment shouldn’t be a cause for concern. “At this point, it is safe to say that at long last, Rhode Island’s economy has definitely moved out of first gear,” Lardaro said in a statement.