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First Read's Morning Clips: How female candidates are blowing up the political playbook

A roundup of the most important political news stories of the day.
Image: Democratic candidate for Congress Amy McGrath speaks with supporters
Democratic candidate for Congress Amy McGrath, left, speaks with supporters Claire Skubik-Peplaski, center, and mother Camille Skubik-Peplaski at a Labor Day picnic hosted by the Bluegrass Central Labor Council at Masterson Station Park in Lexington, Kentucky, on Sept. 3, 2018.Jessica Tezak / for NBC News

MIDTERM MADNESS: How female candidates are blowing up the political playbook

Female candidates are blowing up the campaign playbook, NBC's Jane Timm and Alex Seitz-Wald report.

Steve Kornacki takes a look at why Democratic leaders are shying away from the word "impeach."

Former intel officials are running for office in an effort to push back on Trump.

Barack Obama is pushing back on Trump's claims of a great economy built only by him.

The chairwoman of the RNC says Trump is a "great asset" for GOP candidates.

CA: Barack Obama stumped in California over the weekend, urging voters to "restore some sanity" to politics.

FL-GOV: Ron DeSantis "spoke four times at conferences organized by a conservative activist who has said that African Americans owe their freedom to white people and that the country’s “only serious race war” is against whites," reports the Washington Post.

TN-SEN: Marsha Blackburn isn't talking about abortion in her Senate race, writes the New York Times.

TX-SEN: The GOP is on a rescue mission for Ted Cruz, POLITICO writes. (FYI: If Republicans lose in Texas – where they haven’t trailed in a single poll – they’re going to lose almost everywhere in 2018.)

TRUMP AGENDA: North Korea is still making nuclear weapons

“As President Donald Trump issues a steady stream of praise for Kim Jong Un in interviews and on Twitter, a steady stream of evidence that North Korea is still making nuclear weapons has pushed his administration to take a much more aggressive stance toward Pyongyang,” NBC’s Courtney Kube and Carol Lee write

George Papadopoulos says Trump officials were "fully aware" of his efforts to set up a Russia meeting.

The jobs boom has reached blue-collar workers. But will it last?

Trump and Michael Cohen do not plan to enforce Stormy Daniels' nondisclosure agreement.

Liberal groups are pushing for a perjury probe of Kavanaugh.