ABOUT LAST NIGHT: A more focused, relaxed, and vicious Trump
From NBC’s Alex Seitz-Wald and Benjy Sarlin: "His campaign bleeding support, Donald Trump showed up to the second debate against Hillary Clinton looking more focused, more relaxed, and more vicious. With his presidential bid in a near death spiral following the release of a 2005 tape where he boasted of sexually assaulting women, Trump offered a morale boost for his base but did so while stepping well outside the bounds of American political norms.”
Leigh Ann Caldwell has six takeaways from the night that was.
From Jane Timm, here are 16 fact checks from the second presidential debate.
The New York Times debate lede: "Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton collided in an almost unremittingly hostile debate on Sunday night, a 90-minute spectacle of character attacks, tawdry allegations, and Mr. Trump’s startling accusation that Mrs. Clinton had “tremendous hate in her heart.”
And from the Washington Post: "The presidential campaign took a dark turn here Sunday night as Donald Trump leveled a stream of harsh charges at Hillary Clinton during their second debate, claiming she attacked women who accused her husband of sexual abuse and promising to send the former secretary of state to jail if he is president.”
The Wall Street Journal: "Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton delivered some of the presidential campaign's most acerbic attacks yet in a town-hall debate Sunday, with the Republican nominee accusing his Democratic opponent of having “hate in her heart” and her countering that her rival doesn’t tell the truth.”
From POLITICO: "Donald Trump may have stopped the hemorrhaging on Sunday night. The question, senior Republicans say, is whether he was able to reset a campaign he appears to be on his way to losing in decisive fashion. Most doubt he did."
Trump threw all the accusations at Clinton that he missed in the first debate. But to what end?
The New York Times writes that Clinton endured the attack and Trump fixed none of his problems despite turning in an improved performance.
POLITICO reports that Paul Ryan has discussed withdrawing his endorsement.
Swing state voters in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania gave Trump fairly positive reviews, per Jacob Rascon and Alex Jaffe.
More voters now say that Trump doesn’t respect women, according to the latest NBC News|SurveyMonkey poll.
From NBC’s Andrea Mitchell: "Donald Trump's campaign sought to intimidate Hillary Clinton by inviting women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual abuse to sit in the family area close to the center of Sunday night's presidential debate… The plan was first reported by the Washington Post but was later confirmed by NBC News. It was thwarted moments before the event went on-air when the Commission on Presidential Debates intervened to prevent it, even threatening to get security to block the women."
Sunday’s presidential debate was the most tweeted ever.
With the necessary caveats about overnight polls: CNN/ORC has 57 percent of debate watchers giving the win to Clinton.
Here’s Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway’s clarification of that “unless” comment from last night.