With 13 days to Election Day 2020, here's the news that you'll want to know:

(1) Biden's lead in key states Ohio and Pennsylvania is "halved" while he runs behind Hillary Clinton's 2016 polling

(2) Biden campaign takes down video that featured struggling small business owner who's reportedly actually a "wealthy tech investor"

(3) Biden supports muted mics for tomorrow night's debate

On the campaign trail today

President Trump will hold a campaign rally in North Carolina today, where as many as 30,000 attendees are expected. Joe Biden is still off the campaign trail until the next presidential debate tomorrow night.

Biden's lead in Pennsylvania and Ohio is "halved," as he runs behind Hillary Clinton's 2016 polling.

"Biden’s leads in Florida and Pennsylvania have been effectively halved over the past week, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average. The former vice president led Trump by 3.7 points in Florida and 7 points in Pennsylvania on Oct. 13. Wednesday’s figures show Biden leading Trump by just 1.6 points in Florida and 3.7 in Pennsylvania." (Daily Caller)

• What's happening: Although many Democrats are all but celebrating in the end zone already, new polls show Biden's lead has been "halved" in the key states of Pennsylvania and Florida. 

In addition, National Review showed that Biden is running behind Hillary Clinton's 2016 polling from late October in five swing states.

• What's at stake: The 2020 election, of course.

First, as the Daily Wire explains: "While the national polls can be helpful in trying to gauge widespread public sentiment and momentum, the election, of course, isn’t decided by the popular vote — the data that matters most comes from the states."

That means, despite Biden's 12-point national lead last week, the state polls show a tighter race than many might expect.

As the Washington Examiner lays out: "Trump is closer in the polls today than he was four years ago at this same point. If Trump has a late surge of 2 points in swing states, and he outperforms the polls by 2 points in the swing states, he will win the right to stay in the White House."

Second, the 2016 election showed that both pollsters and the media can make mistakes, as they'd seemed to call the election for Hillary Clinton days in advance -- yet President Trump won big on election night.

(Here's one piece from October 28, 2016 titled "Done Deal" that begins: "It's all over but the voting. Barring a historic failure of polling or an epic game-changing, deus ex machina event -- and 11 days is long enough to make that possible but short enough to make it very hard -- Hillary Clinton will be elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8.")

The tightening of the polling in this race shows that the 2020 election isn't a "done deal" for Biden.

Even Biden's campaign manager seemed to agree, tweeting last week: "Millions of voters have already cast their ballots. But there is still a long way to go in this campaign, and we think this race is far closer than folks on this website [Twitter] think. Like a lot closer."

Biden campaign takes down video that featured struggling small business owner who's reportedly a "wealthy tech investor."

"The ad was set to private on the Biden campaign’s YouTube channel sometime between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. [...] The ad had been hailed by California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell as the 'Best ad of 2020' on Monday." (Daily Caller)

• What's happening: The Biden campaign took down a video that featured a small business owner criticizing President Trump's COVID-19 response -- and saying "my only hope for my family, this business [...] is that Joe Biden win this election."

The problem: the small business owner is actually a "wealthy tech investor," as the Daily Caller reported, who donated $5,000 to the Biden campaign in July.

• What's at stake: First, the Biden campaign made the right call in pulling the video.

But second, and more concerning, the Biden campaign clearly heard the criticism since the video was taken down ... but won't comment on it. As we write this, the Biden campaign reportedly hasn't returned requests for comment from the Daily Caller or the Washington Free Beacon.

Biden supports muted mics for tomorrow night's debate.

"Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden praised the Commission on Presidential Debates's decision to mute the candidates' microphones while the other is speaking at the upcoming debate in Nashville, Tenn., saying the forums need more limitations. 

'I think it's a good idea,' Biden told Milwaukee's ABC affiliate WISN on Tuesday. 'I think there should be more limitations on us not interrupting one another.'" (The Hill)

• What's happening: The presidential debate commission announced each candidate would be muted for the first two minutes that the other spoke at the final debate tomorrow night.

Joe Biden expressed his support and went even further: "I think there should be more limitations on us not interrupting one another."

• What's at stake: There has been nearly as much debate about the presidential debate series as there has been during them.

President Trump and his campaign have complained about the commission's unilateral decisions, including the cancelation of last week's scheduled debate -- which just led to "rival" televised townhalls last Thursday night instead.

And President Trump's campaign manager released a sharp letter, reading in part: "Sadly, this is not the first time the Commission has ceded to the wishes of the Biden campaign. Despite the obvious fact that millions of Americans began casting votes early this year, the Commission steadfastly refused to move the debate schedule earlier or add another event, simply because the Biden campaign objected. In this example, the Commission hid behind Biden’s unwillingness to be flexible with the schedule but has not hesitated to act unilaterally in other cases. As the most egregious example, the abrupt decision to switch the scheduled second debate on October 15 in Miami to a virtual setting was done without consultation with our campaign at all."