The Note: Pre-Debate Drama

— -- NOTABLES

--WHAT'S WORRYING CLINTON AND TRUMP'S CAMPAIGNS AHEAD OF THE DEBATE: While Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump prepare for their first debate on Monday, aides in both their campaigns are expressing concern over how it will all go down, ABC’s CECILIA VEGA, LIZ KREUTZ and CANDACE SMITH report. The Clinton camp’s biggest worry: that the Republican presidential nominee will be asked softer questions than Clinton. “My biggest concern continues to be a low bar set for him on expectations,” Clinton’s communications director Jennifer Palmieri told reporters during a flight to Orlando, Florida, today, referring to the debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, on Sept. 26 — the first of three face-offs between the two White House hopefuls. http://abcn.ws/2cqEFz2

--THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN’S MAJOR CONCERN: The candidate’s limited preparation. While Trump has boasted that he will win Monday’s debate, senior sources said he has not delved into policy or participated in mock debates. During his Sunday meetings in Bedminster, New Jersey — where he huddles with campaign chief Steve Bannon, campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, Roger Ailes and other advisers, including members of his family — the prep has become more of a discussion of topics and themes and not specific in nature. http://abcn.ws/2cqEFz2

--CLINTON BOLSTERED BY LATEST NATIONAL POLL: The latest national presidential poll has some encouraging news for Hillary Clinton, showing a 6-point lead over Donald Trump. Clinton received 43 percent support from the responses of likely voters in the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll compared to Trump's 37 percent. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson maintained his third position with 9 percent and Green Party nominee Jill Stein trailed with 3 percent. In a head-to-head matchup, Clinton's lead expands to 7 points over Trump, 48-41. The margin of error of the poll is 3.2 percent, reports ABC’s ADAM KELSEY. http://abcn.ws/2dbSgv7

--ANALYSIS -- ABC’s RICK KLEIN: Bringing home the Obama coalition would be easier for Hillary Clinton if they didn’t have other places to stay. Clinton’s weaknesses with critical demographics are well-documented, with complicated explanations. But they are being accentuated and exacerbated by the fact that Gary Johnson and Jill Stein are available as choices in the vast majority of states. The new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll finds Clinton leading among black voters over Donald Trump 76-5. That’s a blowout, but President Obama garnered numbers well into the 90s; Clinton isn’t coming close to that, primarily because Johnson and Stein are options. And younger voters of all races are thinking third party: Among those under 35, Johnson stands at 17 percent and Stein at 5 – nearly twice the shares of their overall support.

WHAT WE’RE READING -- FROM RUSSIA WITH TRUMP: A POLITICAL CONFLICT ZONE. Donald Trump and his children have for years promoted themselves and their real estate opportunities in Russia and other former Soviet states, and ethics experts say if he is elected President the get-tough U.S. sanctions against Russia could be in direct conflict with his business interests, according to ABC’s MATTHEW MOSK, BRIAN ROSS and PATRICK REEVELL. Trump has said he will not participate in decisions about his business if he is elected to the White House and that those decisions will be left to his children in what they have called a “blind trust.” But Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor who served as ethics advisor to Republican President George W. Bush, said the arrangement would not fit his definition of a blind trust, and appeared ripe for potential conflicts. “I don’t see how you have a blind trust when you know what’s in the blind trust,” Painter told ABC News. “The appearance is that a foreign government or other foreign organization has influence over the president of the United States through financial dealings with his family and that would be unacceptable.” http://abcn.ws/2d6uiRt

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

BILL CLINTON CALLS CLINTON GLOBAL INITIATIVE 'ONE OF THE GREAT HONORS OF MY LIFE' IN FINAL SPEECH. Former President Bill Clinton thumbed through the pages of a farewell address, which he had been working on moments before he addressed the Clinton Global Initiative one final time. “It’s been one of the great honors of my life,” Clinton said as he addressed crowd. “You are living proof that good people committed to creative cooperation have almost unlimited positive impact to help people today and give our kids better tomorrows. Now, I have spent the last 15 years of my life working to advance that idea.” Clinton shied away from engaging in the politics surrounding his foundation and instead used his platform as an attempt to change the negative narrative that has been seen as a liability to his wife’s presidential bid, according to ABC’s MATTHEW CLAIBORNE. http://abcn.ws/2cNvQQU

TRUMP CALLS FOR 'STOP-AND-FRISK' POLICY. As Donald Trump appeared to try and court African-American voters in Cleveland Wednesday at a town hall taped by Fox News, he expressed support for establishing the policing policy of "stop-and-frisk" on a national level. When asked by an audience member how he would stop violence in the black community, Trump responded, "I would do stop-and-frisk. I think you have to. We did it in New York, it worked incredibly well and you have to be proactive and, you know, you really help people sort of change their mind automatically.” ABC’s CANDACE SMITH has more: http://abcn.ws/2cn163c

NOTED: On Thursday morning, in an interview with Fox and Friends, Trump sought to clarify his position. "Now Chicago is out of control. I was referring to Chicago with stop and frisk," Trump said.

TRUMP 'TROUBLED' BY TULSA SHOOTING. Donald Trump said he is concerned by the recent fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a white police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “I’m very, very troubled by that and we have to be very, very careful. So these things are terrible. That was, in my opinion, that was a terrible situation,” Trump said at the New Spirit Revival church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, this morning when asked for his reaction, notes ABC’s VERONICA STRACQUALURSI. Forty-year-old Terence Crutcher was killed last Friday by police officer Betty Shelby. She is on paid leave pending an investigation of the shooting. http://abcn.ws/2cKONE2

NOTED: DON KING USES N-WORD WHILE INTRODUCING TRUMP. Boxing promoter Don King let the N-word slip while introducing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump today at a campaign event in Ohio. King spoke about the problems minorities face, using the term “Negro” in most of his remarks, writes ABC’s VERONICA STRACQUALURSI and ADAM KELSEY. He began by saying, “I told Michael Jackson, I said, if you’re poor, you are a poor Negro — I would use the N-word — But if you are rich, you are a rich Negro.  Then he said, “If you are a dancing and sliding and gliding n----- — I mean Negro — you are a dancing and sliding and gliding Negro. So dare not alienate, because you cannot assimilate.” http://abcn.ws/2cRC5iK

FED CHAIR JANET YELLEN DEFENSIVE AGAINST TRUMP ACCUSATIONS. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen yesterday defended the independence of the U.S. central bank, saying it does not play politics in response to charges from Donald Trump that she is manipulating financial markets to benefit President Obama, ABC’s MARGARET CHADBOURN notes. Trump earlier this month said that the Yellen-led Fed is keeping interest rates low in order to give a boost to the stock market in an effort to make Obama’s economic record look good. "In response to questions about Trump’s comments, Yellen was careful not to mention the GOP presidential campaign by name while making clear she was strongly dismissing his accusations."In order to insulate monetary policy from short-term political pressures and I can say, emphatically that partisan politics plays no role in our decisions about the appropriate stance of monetary policy," Yellen said at a news conference following a gathering of the Fed committee that determines interest rates. "We are trying to decide what the best policy is to foster price stability and maximum employment and to manage the variety of risks that we see is affecting the outlook. We do not discuss politics at our meetings and we do not take politics into account in our decisions." http://abcn.ws/2cRx7nM

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

CAN SANDERS HELP DELIVER THE YOUTH VOTE FOR HILLARY CLINTON? It remains to be seen whether Bernie Sanders, the choice candidate on many college campuses during the primary season, will be an effective surrogate for Hillary Clinton, who urgently needs the student and millennial vote. While stumping for Clinton at two universities in Ohio over the weekend, Sanders spent minimal time making a case for Clinton, but instead focused his remarks on why voters should reject her opponent. Sanders spoke passionately against Donald Trump. He accused the Republican Party nominee of rejecting science and trying to delegitimize Barack Obama’s presidency, ABC’s MARYALICE PARKS and RYAN STRUYK note. http://abcn.ws/2d8MnKC

IN THE NOTE’S INBOX

--MARCH FOR LIFE ACTION RELEASES NEW AD. A release from the group, March for Life Action: “March for Life Action will launch a major public awareness campaign highlighting the overwhelming pro-life consensus most Americans share on the issue of abortion. The campaign will be supported by a new ad, ‘Consensus,’ which is the first of its kind for March for Life Action and highlights the reality that pro-life policies are reflective of mainstream America, and are winning positions for candidates running for office. … The first phase of the campaign will run Thursday through Monday, leading into the Presidential debate, and will include digital and television outreach.” WATCH: https://youtu.be/4kbfkbWeAMc

--TEA PARTY PATRIOTS SUPER PAC ENDORSES TRUMP: The Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, the super PAC affiliated with the main group, today released a statement from Chairwoman Jenny Beth Martin: “On the question of whether to support Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund – the Super PAC affiliated with the largest tea party organization in the country – has made its choice. Hillary Clinton stands opposed to everything the Tea Party stands for, on the policy, political, and personal fronts. Donald Trump, on the other hand, has pledged to fight to uphold our core values. In making a choice between the two of them, there is really no choice at all – we choose Trump.”

WHO’S TWEETING?

@mj_lee: Here is what Clinton supporters think she should do -- and not do -- in her first debate against Trump: http://cnn.it/2d3tcTz  @CNNPolitics

@ByronYork: Jeff Sessions on GHWBush vote for Hillary, GWBush silence: 'Millions of Americans worked their hearts out for Bushes in 88/92/00/04…'

@Timodc: Was it not clear in each of those elections where the Bushes stood? Trumpism is antithesis. Did they change or did we?

@thehill: WATCH: Clinton gets awkward with Zach Galifianakis on 'Between Two Ferns': http://hill.cm/xAmbWvs 

@davidaxelrod: Could Ronald Reagan win @GOP nod today? Fmr. party chair @MichaelSteele says NO. #AxeFiles. http://podcast.cnn.com/the-axe-files-david-axelrod/episode/all/1GZJcomyr4aipD/y8b65a.1-1.html …