The Note: Top Political Stories of the Day
— -- COUNTDOWN TO ELECTION DAY: 18 days
Clinton Leads Trump in ABC News' Electoral Ratings Before Tough Battleground Contests. Hillary Clinton is maintaining a decided advantage in the Electoral College this November, strengthening her grip around states tipping her way while forcing Republican nominee Donald Trump to defend a handful of typical GOP strongholds. But a narrow path still exists for Trump. Toss-ups in North Carolina and Ohio -- as well as optimism that states like Pennsylvania, Virginia and Florida might tip back into play -- leave supporters hopeful. ABC News’ puts Clinton at 307 electoral votes and Trump at 180, when including both solid and leaning states, which would give Clinton enough states right now in the solid and lean blue columns to hand her the White House. Fifty-one electoral votes are in toss-up states. ABC’s JOHN KRUZEL and RYAN STRUYK have more. http://abcn.ws/1U7c52f
Trump Calls Washington Leadership 'Losers' and 'Babies.’ After a lighthearted evening in which he traded barbs with Hillary Clinton at a charity dinner, Donald Trump was back on the attack today, calling out Washington leadership and condemning the Obamas for campaigning for Clinton. “We have a bunch of babies running our country, folks,” said Trump at a campaign rally in Fletcher, North Carolina. “We have a bunch of losers, they’re losers, they’re babies.” ABC’s ADAM KELSEY and CANDACE SMITH have more: http://abcn.ws/2dvAayJ
Trump Will Lose but Won't End the GOP, Boehner's Former Press Secretary Says. John Boehner's former press secretary, Michael Steel, has joined the club of Republicans denouncing Donald Trump. In a Time Magazine op-ed today, he wrote that the GOP presidential nominee is "not a Republican," notes ABC’s MELINA DELKIC. Trump should be considered a one-time fluke, according to Steel, a Georgetown Institute of Politics fellow who served as Boehner's press secretary in the House and a senior advisor to Jeb Bush's presidential campaign. http://abcn.ws/2ePQqjT
The Longshot Path for Trump to Win 270 Electoral Votes. Donald Trump’s path to the White House is fading fast. With national polls showing Hillary Clinton growing her lead and Trump losing his grip on traditionally red states, Clinton looks likely to prevail on Election Day. Clinton can afford to lose classic battlegrounds like Ohio and Florida as long as she holds onto light blue states like Pennsylvania and Colorado. An ABC News analysis out today estimates Clinton is already poised to win at least 300 electoral votes –- even if Donald Trump wins every toss-up state. ABC’s RYAN STRUYK has more: http://abcn.ws/2eBTQTK
TALES FROM THE TRAIL
ABC’s MARYALICE PARKS: Vice President Joe Biden took GOP candidate Donald Trump to task over comments he made bragging about his ability to grope women, saying he wished he were in high school so "I could take him behind the gym." During a campaign stop in Pennsylvania Friday, Biden sounded outraged as he talked about Trump’s sexually explicit comments and the allegations from women that Trump assaulted them. Trump has vehemently denied the sex assault allegations. “Press always ask me, ‘Don’t I wish I were debating him?’” Biden said talking about Trump. “No, I wish we were in high school and I could take him behind the gym.” http://abcn.ws/2eewhC5
ABC’s JESSICA HOPPER: At Tim Kaine's rally at Penn State today, he talked about Clinton's uptick in the polls and explained how Trump had contributed to their gains: "Well, by the Friday of the audio tape explosion, we’ve built a lead up and then that has helped, and then Donald Trump has done some additional things that have been kind of odd, and so there. There-- you know, deciding in the middle of a presidential campaign, this week I want to spend my time talking about Miss Universe, I mean, I have never known a presidential candidate to make that decision but, you know sometimes your best friend is your opponent's behavior," Kaine said.
ABC’s MATTHEW CLAIBORNE: Bill Clinton spoke a bit about the final debate while campaigning in Jacksonville, Florida, taking on his now popular Donald Trump mocking tone. He criticized Trump for saying that Hillary Clinton has 30 years of experience but hasn’t accomplished anything. He seemed very irritated by those comments. "I almost fell out of my chair listening to that debate,” he said. He then stumped about her accomplishments from First Lady of Arkansas to Sec of State. "I mean, it was amazing, I looked at this debate saying, this sounds great, you’ve been here 30 years and what have done. She wasn’t a dictator,” he said.
ABC’s INES DE LA CUETARA: Mike Pence this afternoon spoke to a group of about 100 students at the Nashua Christian Academy in New Hampshire. Pence mostly encouraged students to follow their dreams, work hard, and have faith. He said the two heroes of his youth were MLK and JFK, and that both inspired him to work in public service. Funny moment when Pence said he figured if JFK had done it, he could do it too. “And I was right!” he exclaimed. Pence paused but the crowd remained silent, causing Pence to echo Jeb Bush’s “please clap” moment by asking, “Can I get a round of applause about that?"
AD ROUNDUP with ABC’s SHUSHANNAH WALSHE
New Clinton TV Ad features Khizr Khan. The Clinton campaign released a new TV ad today featuring Khizr Khan, who was outspoken against Trump at the Democratic National Convention. In a moving and powerful one minute spot, Khan recounts the death of his son, Muslim American and Army Cpt. Humayun, and says: "I want to ask Mr. Trump, would my son have a place in your America?” The ad will air as part of an already existing ad buy in Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. WATCH: http://bit.ly/2erfLMH
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“We will shock the world. This is going to be Brexit plus and a lot of people know it. They say, we can’t poll this thing.” -- Donald Trump
HAPPENING TONIGHT (all times Eastern):
--6:30 PM - Mike Pence participates in a town hall in Exeter, New Hampshire.
--7:30 PM - Donald Trump heads to Newtown, Pennsylvania for a campaign rally.
--10 PM - Donald Trump will be interviewed on Fox News.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEKEND:
This Week on ‘This Week’: The Powerhouse Roundtable debates the week in politics, with ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd, Republican strategist and CNBC contributor Sara Fagen, National Review senior editor Jonah Goldberg, Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, and editor and publisher of The Nation Katrina vanden Heuvel.
WHO’S TWEETING?
@karentravers: Clinton has a deep bench helping her on the trail. Donald Trump, not so much. Our piece on impact of surrogates http://abcn.ws/2erBILV
@ryanstruyk: NEW: @ABC has changed ARIZONA and UTAH to TOSSUP in presidential race. Clinton estimated at 300+ electoral votes. http://abcn.ws/1U7c52f
@mviser: Jan Brewer doesn't think there will be a wave of Hispanic voters. "Nah," she told me. "They don't get out and vote." http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/10/21/hillary-clinton-looks-expand-political-map/MexXdjQtXdjB5l8B6SeFIM/story.html
@kenvogel: Clinton's team worried about her over-exuberant laughter. Podesta: "Laughing too hard is her authentic weirdness." https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/24257 …
@joshrogin: Curt Schilling asks @jaketapper how Jews can support Democrats. Tapper: "I don't speak for Jews." @TheLeadCNN