OFF TO THE RACES: Clinton up nine points in NBC/WSJ poll
Our latest post-debate poll is here, showing Clinton with a nine-point overall lead including interviews from before and after Sunday night.
From NBC’s Leigh Ann Caldwell: “Two big-money donors who have given or raised tens of thousands of dollars to Donald Trump are livid at the Republican presidential nominee and are asking for their money back, according to emails obtained by NBC News from a bundler raising money for Trump.”
From Tom Winter and Jane Timm: “Hillary Clinton aide Brian Fallon was in touch with the Department of Justice during litigation involving Clinton emails to be released to the public, according to emails released by WikiLeaks purportedly from her campaign chairman John Podesta's Gmail account.”
Hecklers shouting “Bill Clinton is a rapist” interrupted both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at rallies after a pro-Trump radio host offered people cash to pull off the stunt.
Mike Pence discouraged a rally-goer for calling for a “revolution” if Clinton wins.
And Pence told NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell that he disagrees with Paul Ryan’s “focus” in the campaign.
John Boehner says that Trump “is barely a Republican.”
From the Wall Street Journal: “Donald Trump, faced with opposition inside and outside his party, plans to renew the nationalist themes that built his base and amplify his no-holds-barred attacks against Hillary Clinton to try to depress Democratic voter turnout, his advisers said. Following the release of a tape-recording of his lewd comments about women and several high-profile Republican defections over the weekend, Mr. Trump has effectively given up the conventional wisdom of trying to reach voters far outside his core of support, one high-level Republican supporter said.”
From the New York Times: “Donald J. Trump’s intensifying battle with his own party is tearing open the nation’s political map, pulling Republicans across the country into a self-destructive feud that could imperil dozens of lawmakers in Congress and potentially throw conservative-leaning states into Hillary Clinton’s column. Democrats are moving swiftly to exploit Mr. Trump’s crumbling position in the presidential race, aiming to run up a big margin of victory for Mrs. Clinton and extend their political advantage into the congressional elections next month.”
And from the Washington Post: “Donald Trump declared war on the Republican establishment Tuesday, lashing out at House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and other GOP elected officials as his supporters geared up to join the fight amid extraordinary turmoil within the party just four weeks before Election Day.”
POLITICO: “With just weeks to go until Election Day, it’s as close as it gets to a nightmare scenario for battleground state Republicans. Pro-Trump loyalists have declared war on those who have renounced their presidential nominee, candidates can’t get their message out because of the din, and Democrats are milking it for all it’s worth, with some even rethinking shifting resources to down-ballot contests that previously looked out of reach. And it's all due to Trump's meltdown.”
Die-hard fans don’t believe that Trump’s poll numbers have fallen.
Paul Ryan immediately came under fire from Trump. But where’s Mitch McConnell? POLITICO takes a look.
Voters say that Clinton won the second presidential debate, according to a new NBC News|SurveyMonkey poll.
Is Utah in play? A new poll shows that it well might be.
The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent writes how Clinton can help Democratic downballot candidates.
Yahoo: “A super-PAC devoted to defeating Donald Trump is targeting young evangelical Christians in North Carolina with a new campaign ad launching Wednesday, in hopes of peeling off support for the Republican presidential nominee in that key battleground state. Not Who We Are PAC is launching an ad campaign featuring Christian musician William Matthews, who has been associated with Bethel Music, a group of musicians with roots in North Carolina.” Here is the TV ad:
From Buzzfeed: “Four women who competed in the 1997 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant said Donald Trump walked into the dressing room while contestants — some as young as 15 — were changing.”