The Note: Clinton Camp Sharpens Attack On Kevin McCarthy

— -- NOTABLES

--HILLARY VS. MCCARTHY: Hillary Clinton's campaign has released its first national television ad, set to hit airwaves today -- featuring comments made by Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-California, who is likely to be the next Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, about how the committee investigating Benghazi and her emails has led to a drop in her poll numbers. The 30-second spot, titled "Admit," is the latest move by Clinton's campaign to highlight McCarthy's remark, made last week on Fox News, which her team claims is proof that the Benghazi probe was set up to destroy Clinton's campaign. The ad uses McCarthy's comment to make the campaign's larger point that Republicans are on a mission to bring down Clinton, ABC's LIZ KREUTZ notes. "Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right, but we put together a Benghazi special committee," McCarthy can be heard saying. After a cut in the tape, the contender for House Speaker says: "What are her numbers today?" A voiceover then says: "Republicans have spent millions attacking Hillary because she's fighting for everything they oppose from affordable healthcare to equal pay." http://abcn.ws/1PfOHxQ

--NOTED: The Clinton campaign says this is a five-figure ad buy -- a relatively small sum. Since August, Clinton has aired several television ads across the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. This new ad will be the first one to air nationwide, according to a campaign official. It is expected to air on the cable news outlets, CNN and MSNBC.

--ANALYSIS -- ABC's RICK KLEIN: Hillary Clinton is a week away from debating her Democratic opponents -- a first for the campaign cycle, on several levels. It will, of course, be the first time she and the other Democrats running for president share a stage. It also figures to be the first time that Clinton clearly articulates a real disagreement with those other Democrats -- just maybe. The last few days have seen Clinton grow more aggressive, outlining her gun-control plan and placing a TV ad attacking the Benghazi committee as pure politics. So yes, she disagrees with Republicans. More occasionally -- as with Syria, and more recently immigration -- she's finding areas of disagreement with President Obama, who's not running for anything anymore. But -- as "Saturday Night Live" pointed out politely -- she remains slow in actually taking controversial positions, and she still doesn't have a position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership the Obama administration worked to secure. For Democrats who sense a lack of passion in Clinton's campaign -- and those who see Bernie Sanders as a more clean break with the status quo -- the question to be answered is when Clinton contrasts herself with what the people she's directly running against would do as president.

TODAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC's RYAN STRUYK: After Hillary Clinton made headlines yesterday in New Hampshire, the Democratic frontrunner will turn to the very first contest in the presidential race: Iowa. The former Secretary of State, who made news yesterday for her emotional comments on gun control and Benghazi, will hold a community forum in Davenport and another organizing event in Muscatine this afternoon. Her main competition, for now, Bernie Sanders, is in Washington today announcing a new bill to strengthen workers' bargaining rights. Martin O'Malley, now one week from the first Democratic debate, is in Nevada.

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has nothing scheduled today, but Jeb Bush will also take to the Hawkeye state today for a county GOP Reagan dinner tonight. Other lower tier candidates, like Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, as well as Bobby Jindal, who stretched up to 6 percent in Iowa in Sunday's NBC/WSJ poll, will also be in Iowa looking for a spark. Marco Rubio, also gaining steam in the polls, will be in New York City this morning before turning to New Hampshire tonight, where George Pataki will spend his day. John Kasich will be in Washington, D.C. with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce -- an event Trump backed out of last week.

THE BUZZ

with ABC's VERONICA STRACQUALURSI

HILLARY CLINTON TEARS UP WHILE UNVEILING GUN CONTROL PLAN. Less than one week after the deadly shooting at the Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., Hillary Clinton yesterday unveiled a series of gun control measures she would enact as president, including renewed calls for universal background checks and a crackdown on the sale of guns on the Internet. After rolling out her policies, the democratic presidential candidate invited the mother of a 6-year-old boy who was killed in the December 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting to join her on stage at Manchester Community College. ABC's LIZ KREUTZ has more. http://abcn.ws/1FOsVPM

CARLY FIORINA ON CLINTON'S PLAN: "When you go back and look at all the solutions Democrats propose, Hillary Clinton is out proposing something today ... It turns out they wouldn't have stopped many of these mass murders, so let's enforce the laws we have and let's uphold the rights and liberties that we have," Fiorina said. Fiorina made the comment in response to a question about whether she'll uphold second amendment rights as president, ABC's JORDYN PHELPS notes. She made the mention of Clinton's proposal within a broader response about how some current laws aren't being enforced and wrongful gun owners aren't being prosecuted, in making case for why another law isn't the answer to stopping mass shootings.

WHAT ANN ROMNEY THINKS ABOUT 2016. While promoting her new memoir "In This Together: My Story," in Washington, DC last night, Ann Romney weighed in on the state of the 2016 presidential campaign, ABC's ALI DUKAKIS reports. Though she shied away from directly answering a question about the pool of contenders -- particularly Donald Trump -- she said that "while I think we've all been entertained by the candidates, I hope better angels will take hold." Of her own husband's flirtation with entering the race for the White House for a third time, Romney said she and Mitt "took a 20-second dip into the discussion," and cited her children's reluctance (and not Jeb Bush's candidacy) as the one of the biggest reasons the Romneys decided against jumping in. The full interview will air Friday at 3 PM Eastern on "The Press Pool with Julie Mason" on SiriusXM's POTUS channel.

CRUZ ON SYRIAN REFUGEE CRISIS: 'NOTHING SHORT OF CRAZY' WHAT OBAMA SUGGESTS. At a rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan this morning, Cruz was asked about the Syrian refugee crisis and defeating ISIS. He called Pres. Obama's proposed plan on how to handle the Syrian refugee crisis, "nothing short of crazy." "What President Obama is proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian Muslims to America is nothing short of crazy," Cruz said. "It would be the height of foolishness to bring in tens of thousands of people including jihadists that are coming here to murder innocent Americans. Now this refugee crisis is a crisis in significant part of Pres. Obama's making. The people they are fleeing are the lunatics who have risen to power in the face of American weakness." Appealing to Christian voters, Cruz argued that the Obama administration is leaving behind Christian refugees, ABC's JESSICA HOPPER reports.

HAPPENING ON THE HILL -- REP. JASON CHAFFETZ: 'I'M PROBABLY GOING TO LOSE' HOUSE SPEAKER BID. "I'm probably going to lose, but I'm okay with that." That's a pretty surprising admission from someone who just announced they were running for House Speaker. But House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz said that kind of uncertainty is exactly why he thinks he could also become the replacement for John Boehner. In an interview with ABC News, Chaffetz acknowledged that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is the leader going into Thursday's closed-door speaker elections, which are conducted in secret. But the real test, Chaffetz said, ABC's ALI WEINBERG notes, is when McCarthy's speakership is put to the entire House floor, where he needs 218 votes to win. Chaffetz said there are at least 50 conservatives who told him they won't vote for McCarthy because they think McCarthy won't represent their interests. http://abcn.ws/1QV2Qiq

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

CLINTON SAYS SHE SINGS TO HER GRANDDAUGHTER, ADMITS SHE'S TERRIBLE. At an early childhood education conference in Manchester yesterday, Clinton spend a lot of time on the importance of talking -- and singing -- to your children. At one point, she talked about her granddaughter, tying it to her appearance on Saturday Night Live: "She's a little over 1, so we've got a long way to go. She's so over-stimulated it's embarrassing. But we read to her, and sing to her. [Moderator: Really] Yes, as you can see from SNL, I'm an enthusiastic, terrible singer...sometimes she says, no no, don't sing." She went on to say that Spanish speaking parents should still speak and sing to their child in their native language, and encourage a bilingual child, according to ABC's BRAD MIELKE. "I mean, I'm barely monolingual," she said.

WHO'S TWEETING?

@cparsons: How Kevin McCarthy could lose the race for House speaker. @LisaMascaro reports: http://lat.ms/1FUzL6f

@blakehounshell: Ben Carson on Oregon attack: "I would not just stand there and let him shoot me" http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/ben-carson-slam-obama-oregon-shooting-visit-214464 ...

@ajconwashington: .@FrankLuntz takes shots at @realDonaldTrump at GAGOP fundraiser http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2015/10/06/donald-trump-snags-his-first-gold-dome-supporter/ ... #gapol

@Schultz44: Washington Post: Deal reached on Pacific Rim trade pact in boost for Obama economic agenda http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/deal-reached-on-pacific-rim-trade-pact/2015/10/05/7c567f00-6b56-11e5-b31c-d80d62b53e28_story.html ... via @DavidNakamura

@ZekeJMiller: .@RandPaul is running an ad contest, pledging to put $ behind winning submission. https://randpaul.com/ad-contest