The Note: ‘Limping’ Toward Nov. 8

— -- NOTABLES

--TRUMP’S GLIMPSE OF THE NEXT 28 DAYS: At a campaign event in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania last night, Donald Trump previewed the next month on the campaign trail: “We’re working very hard. We have 28 days -- November 8th is the big day. We’re going to get out. We’re going to win. I’m going to make three, four, five stops a day. I may be limping across that finish line, but we’re going to get across that finish line.” After shunning the establishment throughout much of his campaign, Trump this morning also seemed to cast blame on the highest ranking Republican in Congress, House Speaker Paul Ryan, saying that although he considers himself the winner of Sunday’s debate, “it is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support!” ABC’s CANDACE SMITH has more: http://abcn.ws/2dQwQAi

--CLINTON SAYS TRUMP ‘SHOULD HAVE BEEN APOLOGIZING’: Hillary Clinton criticized Donald Trump's performance, saying during a campaign rally the GOP nominee "spent his time attacking when he should have been apologizing." Clinton wasted no time talking about Sunday’s town hall-style debate, telling 4,000 supporters at Wayne State University in Detroit that "you never saw anything like that before," report ABC’s ADAM KELSEY and JOSH HASKELL. "When he was pressed about how he behaves,” said Clinton, “he just doubled down on his excuse that it's just locker room banter." http://abcn.ws/2e9lHhj

--RYAN TELLS HOUSE GOP 'DO WHAT'S BEST FOR YOU’: House Speaker Paul Ryan is not rescinding his endorsement of Donald Trump but told fellow House Republicans in a conference call yesterday that they should handle Trump however they think it will most benefit their own races. “You all need to do what’s best for you in your district,” he told the representatives, according to a person on the call. He also said he would not defend Trump or campaign with him for the next 30 days. ABC’s ALI ROGIN and BENJAMIN SIEGEL have more: http://abcn.ws/2dqQ8e3

--ANALYSIS -- ABC’s RICK KLEIN: What is Donald Trump afraid of? Subtlety is rarely his thing, so this is what we heard from the Republican nominee Monday night. “If they want to release more tapes saying inappropriate things, we’ll continue to talk about Bill and Hillary Clinton doing inappropriate things,” Trump said. “They” is a broad term – encompassing, one would presume, the Clinton campaign, any number of Democratic-aligned groups, and the news media. The tapes “saying inappropriate things” would be of those capturing Trump’s own words, it would appear. As for the vow that “we’ll continue to talk” about the Clintons’ “inappropriate things,” Trump is already going there, with his debate stunt as well as an army of surrogates who’ve been accusing the Clintons of all manner of misconduct for months or years. Leaving aside the hollowness of the threat to do what he’s already doing, the fact that he’s threatening to do it more if the public hears more of what Trump himself said is just one of the reasons that the GOP establishment is cutting its losses. This is not the final weeks of campaigning they want to see, and it’s not a threat they think would or should have any impact. MORE POST-DEBATE ANALYSIS: http://abcn.ws/2dOOnJ6

YESTERDAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC’s ADAM KELSEY and VERONICA STRACQUALURSI

TRUMP PROMISES TO CONTINUE ATTACKS ON CLINTONS 'IF THEY RELEASE MORE TAPES.’ After an evening in which he invited women who accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual assault to join him at the second presidential debate, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump threatened to continue personal attacks against the Clintons if additional private recordings of himself are made public, ABC’s ADAM KELSEY notes. “If they want to release more tapes saying inappropriate things, we’ll continue to talk about Bill and Hillary Clinton doing inappropriate things,” said Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

PENCE DISMISSES REPORTS HE WAS CONTEMPLATING LEAVING TRUMP CAMPAIGN. Donald Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, decried reports that he was thinking about leaving the campaign as "absolutely false." "That was absolutely false ... These rumors just furl around presidential campaigns," Pence said on Fox News Monday morning.  The Indiana governor then said he was "proud" of his running mate's performance during last night's presidential debate and that he is "looking forward to being on the campaign trail today,” notes ABC’s VERONICA STRACQUALURSI. http://abcn.ws/2e0qSk3

OBAMA TWEETS PRAISE FOR CLINTON'S DEBATE PERFORMANCE. The day after the second presidential debate, President Barack Obama took to Twitter to express his support for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, notes ABC’s JORDYN PHELPS. The president borrowed a line from his wife, Michelle Obama, whose use of the phrase "When they go low, we go high" has become a Democratic motto in the 2016 presidential election. The time stamp on the tweet indicates that Obama was on his way to golf on Monday, Columbus Day, when he posted it. http://abcn.ws/2e1iwbW

PENCE BLAMES POLICY DISAGREEMENT WITH DONALD TRUMP ON DEBATE MODERATOR. In an attempt to dismiss an apparent policy disagreement between the two men at the top of the Republican ticket, vice-presidential nominee Gov. Mike Pence accused ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, the co-moderator of last night’s presidential debate, of mischaracterizing his position on solving the crisis in Syria in a question to Donald Trump. In an interview on MSNBC Monday morning, Pence said Raddatz got her question “wrong” and challenged viewers to analyze the transcripts. ABC News has subsequently reviewed the transcripts in question. ABC’s JUSTIN FISHEL has more: http://abcn.ws/2dfHZMa

WARREN BUFFETT HITS BACK AT TRUMP OVER TAX COMMENTS. Billionaire Warren Buffett has hit back at Donald Trump over comments that the Republican nominee made during the debate on Sunday night, telling the candidate to offer “some tax facts” and blasting for not releasing his own returns. “I have been audited by the IRS multiple times and am currently being audited,” Buffett said in a one-page document sent to the press. “I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump — at least he would have no legal problem,” notes ABC’s PAUL BLAKE. http://abcn.ws/2d7V5aM

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

IF ELECTED, TRUMP MAY NOT BE ABLE TO FULFILL BIG DEBATE PROMISE. Federal law may prevent Donald Trump, if elected, from fulfilling a big promise he made at Sunday night's debate, according to former U.S. Justice Department chiefs from both political parties. "If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into [Hillary Clinton]," the Republican nominee vowed, citing Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state. "We’re going to have a special prosecutor." But former attorneys general under Republican and Democratic administrations said presidents don't get to decide on the appointment of a special prosecutor, write ABC’s MIKE LEVINE and JACK DATE. http://abcn.ws/2dRVSkJ

WHO’S TWEETING?

@anniekarni: Hillary and Al's change of climate http://politi.co/2dMM1vf

@jaketapper: "...Rudy Giuliani coolly said that Trump 'will remember' who was with him and who was not..." http://wapo.st/2dIuc3E

@brianefallon: If you are going to write about materials issued by @wikileaks, you should at least state they are product of illegal hack by a foreign govt

@bpolitics: Will Trump sink Republican chances of maintaining control of the Senate and House? http://bloom.bg/2d4JXR6 

@AnnieLinskey: The irony of the leaked HRC speech transcripts is *she* was the one who insisted on having transcripts made in the first place.