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Michelle Obama Makes Play for Arizona
“First lady Michelle Obama didn’t even need to say the word ‘Arizona’ for the first 20 minutes of her rally here on Thursday to send shock waves across the state,” Politico reports.
“The very presence of the Democrats’ most coveted surrogate in the traditionally deep-red state was enough to send the message that Hillary Clinton is taking it seriously, and Obama’s appeal to local Democrats just hours after the final debate was designed to make the stakes clear.”
GOP In a Historic State of Turmoil
“A wave of apprehension and anguish swept the Republican Party on Thursday, with many GOP leaders alarmed by Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the outcome of the election and concluding that it is probably too late to salvage his flailing presidential campaign,” the Washington Post reports.
“As the Republican nominee reeled from a turbulent performance in the final debate here in Las Vegas, his party’s embattled senators and House members scrambled to protect their seats and preserve the GOP’s congressional majorities against what Republicans privately acknowledge could be a landslide victory for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.”
What If Trump Wasn’t a Nut?
Peggy Noonan: “The Republican Party will now begin the long process of redefining itself or continue its long national collapse. This is an epochal event. It happened because Donald Trump intuited where things were and are going.”
“Since I am more in accord with Mr. Trump’s stands than not, I am particularly sorry that as an individual human being he’s a nut.”
“Which gives rise to a question, for me a poignant one. What if there had been a Sane Donald Trump?”
“Oh my God, Sane Trump would have won in a landslide.”
Trump’s Political Director ‘Steps Back’ from Campaign
“Jim Murphy, Donald Trump’s national political director, is no longer playing an active role on the campaign, according to three sources briefed on the move – a troubling development for the Republican nominee coming just 19 days before the election,” Politico reports.
A 10th Woman Accuses Trump of Inappropriate Touching
The day after Donald Trump said accusations of inappropriate sexual contact with nine women were “totally false,” a new accuser came forward and described an encounter in which she said Trump grabbed her arm and fondled her breast, the New York Times reports.
Republicans In Tough Races Condemn Trump
“Prominent Republicans in tough reelection battles spent Thursday blasting Donald Trump for refusing to promise that he would respect the results of the presidential election if he loses,” the Washington Post reports.
“But as of midday, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) — whose own GOP majorities are at stake because of Trump’s unpopularity — had not commented on the latest statement from Trump about the election’s legitimacy.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“If you vote for Hillary Clinton, I will give you a blow job.”
— Madonna, quoted by The Hill, to an audience at Madison Square Garden.
State Poll Roundup: Thursday
Here are the latest state polls from the presidential race:
Ohio: Clinton 45%, Trump 45%, Johnson 2% (Suffolk)
Michigan: Clinton 51%, Trump 38%, Johnson 6% (Mitchell)
Arizona: Clinton 41%, Trump 41%, Johnson 5% (Data Orbital)
Gingrich Says Trump Right to Question Rigged System
Newt Gingrich defended Donald Trump’s unwillingness to say he’d accept defeat in the presidential election, CNN reports.
Said Gingrich: “I’d be a little bit cautious about automatically accepting that Hillary Clinton will be legitimately anything. We are in the worst cycle of corruption in American history, and in many ways, we resemble Venezuela and Argentina more than we resemble traditional America.”
Same Russian Hackers Got Into Podesta Email
“Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s Gmail account was hacked by the same Russian intelligence-linked hackers that breached the DNC and the DCCC,” Politico reports.
“Podesta unwittingly gave hackers access to his account by clicking a Bitly link that redirected him to a fake Google login page, where he entered his credentials.”
Broadsoft: What to do if you’ve been hacked
LePage Says Trump Made ‘Stupid Comment’ at Debate
“Even Paul LePage, the controversial governor of Maine who has drawn comparisons to Donald Trump for his loud rhetoric and habit of disparaging the press, is harping on the Republican nominee for his refusal to commit to conceding if he loses the November election,” Politico reports.
Said LePage: “Not accepting the results, I think, is just a stupid comment… I mean, c’mon. Get over yourself.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“This election is not rigged, and it’s irresponsible to say that it is. Faith in the democratic process is one of America’s greatest strengths, and it’s more important than the outcome of any election.”
— South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R), quoted by the Charleston Post and Courier.
Clinton Probably Won the Election Last Night
Nate Silver: “I’m not sure I need to tell you this, but Hillary Clinton is probably going to be the next president. It’s just a question of what ‘probably’ means.”
“There are less than three weeks left in the campaign, and there are no more guaranteed opportunities for Trump or Clinton to command a huge public audience, as they do at the conventions and the debates (although, they’ll get plenty of attention, of course). Millions of people have already voted. Trump has had a significant advertising deficit, and an even more significant deficit in terms of his turnout operation. He’ll probably spend a significant chunk of the remaining news cycles quarreling over his contention that the election is rigged, and with the numerous women who have accused him of sexual assault. He doesn’t have an obvious — or even a not-so-obvious — path to the presidency.”
Trump Says He’ll Accept Results – If He Wins
Donald Trump opened up a campaign rally by saying he’ll accept the results of the presidential election as long as he wins, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “I will totally accept the result of this great and historic presidential election.”
He then paused dramatically: “If I win.”
Quote of the Day
“It was horrifying what he said on the debate stage tonight. Our country has been around for 240 years and we are a country based on laws and we’ve had not contested elections going back to the very beginning. But one of our hallmarks has always been we accept the outcome of our elections.”
— Hillary Clinton, on her plane after last night’s debate.
It’s Over for Trump
Philip Klein: “People often don’t like to proclaim events over until they officially are. And it’s true that the race isn’t technically over, in the same way that a football game isn’t technically over until the clock runs out, even if the losing team is down two touchdowns with no timeouts, with 1 minute left, and the leading team is in possession of the ball with a first down, and the quarterback is taking the knee. But everybody knows which way that game is going to turn out.”
“The same is true here. Trump’s act, which worked on a Republican electorate in a crowded field of candidates, failed miserably among a broader electorate. He’s lost — and the fat lady has already started singing.”
Trump’s Self-Absorption Killed His Chances
James Hohmann: “Clinton has spent the past few months trying to frame the election as a referendum on him. She’s succeeded, in part, because Trump’s favorite thing to talk about is, well, Trump. And he takes everything personally. Trump started his answer on the Supreme Court vacancy, for example, by noting that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said nasty things about him and claiming that she was ‘forced to apologize.'”
Maureen Dowd: “In Trump’s warped fun-house mirror of a psyche, every rejection is a small death. That is why he harps on humiliation, that America is being humiliated on the world stage … He gets so easily distracted by belittling statements … that he could not focus to make points in areas where Hillary is vulnerable. In order to stop losing, he would have to stop losing it.”
