New York Times: “Routine falsehoods, unfounded claims and inflammatory language have long been staples of Mr. Trump’s anything-goes campaign. But as the polls tighten and November nears, his behavior, and the implications for the country should he become president, are alarming veteran political observers — and leaving them deeply worried about the precedent being set, regardless of who wins the White House.”

Said former GOP congressman Vin Weber: “It’s frightening. Our politics, because of him, is descending to the level of a third-world country. There’s just nothing beneath him. And I don’t know why we would think he would change if he became president. That’s what’s really scary.”

“An election analysis conducted in the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project shows that the race has tightened considerably over the past few weeks.”

“If the election were held today, the project estimates that Clinton has a 60 percent chance of winning by 18 electoral votes. Last week, the project estimated that Clinton had a 83 percent chance of winning the election.”

In a separate national Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll, Clinton continues to lead Trump by 4 percentage points, 42% to 38%.

New York Times: “For both parties, every election can feel like the most vital of a lifetime, the one day standing between a still-proud nation and its imminent demise. Among liberals, there is an especially rich tradition of bed-wetting, as even some practitioners call it, at the faintest sign of shakiness from their candidate.”

“But as Hillary Clinton lurches toward Election Day, her supporters at times seem overwhelmed by a tsunami of unease, exacerbated by Mrs. Clinton’s bout of pneumonia and a slow-footed acknowledgment of the illness. They are confronting a question they had assumed, just a few weeks ago, they would not need to consider in a race against the most unpopular presidential nominee in modern times: Could Mrs. Clinton actually blow this?”

Nate Silver: Democrats should panic… if the polls still look like this in a week.

Here are the latest state polls from the presidential race:

Ohio: Trump 42%, Clinton 42% (OnMessage)

Florida: Clinton 46%, Trump 43% (Global Strategy Group)

Gary Johnson and Jill Stein have missed the cut for the first presidential debate, The Hill reports.

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are the only presidential candidates who will participate in the first debates.

Matt Taibbi: “No doubt about it, the country is in a brutal spot right now. We are less than two months from the possibility of one of the dumbest people on the planet winning the White House. And it seems that all anyone’s talked about this week, whether around the water cooler or on TV news, Twitter or Facebook, is the lung capacity of Hillary Clinton.”

“That sucks. But it’s not all the media’s fault. This is classic horse-race stuff, and if you’re getting it, it’s at least in part because you spent decades asking for it.”

“The campaign has devolved over time into an entertainment program, a degrading and vicious show where the contestants win the nuclear launch codes instead of a date with a millionaire. Under the rules of this reality series which media consumers turn into a gigantic hit every four years, collapsing in front of a cell-phone camera at a 9/11 memorial service is more important than a dozen position papers.”

“It just is. You proved it when you clicked on that video of the episode last weekend and didn’t read a compare-and-contrast piece on, for instance, the candidates’ banking policies.”

The Washington Post‘s David Fahrenthold sent this to Donald Trump’s campaign:

I noted that today Mr. Trump said he believes President Obama’s Hawaiian birth certificate is legitimate. That makes this a story for me now: Can you provide details of where and when he will donate the $5 million Mr. Trump promise to give to charity?