The Note: Trump and Carson Fight For Frontrunner Status
— -- NOTABLES
--'THE MEDIA, THEY ARE THE WORST': Donald Trump told a crowd in Atkinson, NH this morning that the media is badgering him over "one poll in Iowa," ABC's BRAD MIELKE reports. "The media, they are the worst," he said, reminding his fans that he was winning nearly every other poll across the country. He didn't waste a second going after Iowa's new frontrunner, though. Asked about Ben Carson in the country club lobby, he said "he had one better poll in Iowa, but I don't believe those polls, actually, because I've seen the response from the people in Iowa." Asked a second time about the polling, Trump frowned. "He is certainly not doing well in New Hampshire, I can tell you that." New polling from CBS shows Trump with a healthy lead over 2nd-place Carson, 38-12. "By the way, Carson is lower energy than Bush," he said. "I don't get it!"
--CARSON SAYS TRUMP'S ATTACKS NOT 'EVEN WORTH MY TIME': Despite Trump's attacks on Carson regarding his surge in the polls in Iowa, the retired neurosurgeon says the comments are not "worth my time." Carson does not intend to attack the real-estate mogul. Well, at least not yet. "I don't pay attention to that type of stuff, I really don't. I really got beyond the mudslinging, the mud pit and fighting and calling each other names," Carson said at a town hall at a fraternity house in Iowa over the weekend, ABC's KATHERINE FAULDERS notes. "I got over that so long ago." http://abcn.ws/1Mcc7P5
--JEB BUSH HOPES FOR RESET THROUGH NEW TOUR, E-BOOK: In the wake of widespread campaign cuts and tumbling poll numbers, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush is attempting to take control of his own narrative, quite literally, by releasing it online. His e-book, "Reply All," a tome of his email from two terms as governor of Florida, will be released next Monday. According to ABC's CANDACE SMITH, the same week, Bush will also try to bolster a faltering campaign by launching a "Jeb Can Fix It" tour, all an effort to focus on his record as governor, an overarching principle of his campaign. The tour begins in Tampa, Florida, next Monday with remarks from Bush on how he can "fix" Washington. The tour then moves to Orlando and Jacksonville that day. While in Florida, he'll talk about the work he did with people with disabilities, as well as highlight his economic record. Next, Bush moves onto crucial early primary states South Carolina and New Hampshire. While in New Hampshire, Bush will launch the first bus tour of his campaign, touring the state for two days. http://abcn.ws/1P0Kaiq
--ANALYSIS -- ABC's RICK KLEIN: The Democratic primary race is either already over, or it is only just beginning. On the over side of the ledger, Hillary Clinton comes into her birthday having lost two of her opponents plus a third who loomed large. She bested the Benghazi committee, celebrated with Katy Perry, and helped erase memories of a not-so-long-ago dinner in Iowa over the weekend. And yet... it was a feisty and direct Bernie Sanders on display at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner. He had some of his sharpest lines yet attacking Clinton (though not by name) on gay marriage, trade, and environmental issues. And he may get more serious fast: Sanders, who has derided poll-tested politicians, has hired a campaign pollster, The New York Times' Maggie Haberman reports. Sanders, though, needs to pick things up at the very moment that Clinton has never looked stronger, coming off the same J-J dinner that famously jolted Barack Obama's campaign eight years ago. "The event felt like Democrats have concluded the race is over," veteran Iowa political writer David Yepsen told The Des Moines Register.
THE BUZZ
JOE BIDEN SAYS HE 'COULDN'T WIN' 2016 RACE. Vice President Joe Biden said he decided not to run for president this week when he realized he "couldn't win" the 2016 race. "I'll be very blunt," Biden said on CBS' "60 Minutes." "If I thought we could've put together the campaign that, that our supporters deserve and our contributors deserved...I would have gone ahead and done it." Biden announced Wednesday that he would not launch a third bid for the White House, after months of weighing whether his family had the emotional energy to run following the death of his son Beau in May. In the interview, the vice president disputed a story that his son asked him to run for president on his deathbed. ABC's ARLETTE SAENZ has more. http://abcn.ws/1Xstrra
HOW A LIFELONG POLITICIAN IS REPACKAGING HIMSELF IN THE YEAR OF THE OUTSIDER. If you've never worked in government, then 2016 is your year if you want to win the Republican presidential nomination. Businessman Donald Trump and neurosurgeon Ben Carson repeatedly top polls, and another candidate with roots in the business world, Carly Fiorina, is popular, too, as GOP voters seem ready to reject the classic presidential candidate drawn from the halls of Congress or a governor's mansion. Enter John Kasich, the Ohio Republican who was first elected to state government when he was 26, served in Congress for 18 years and is now in his second term as Ohio governor. He and his supporters kicked off his campaign emphasizing his leadership and executive experience, but as he flails in the polls while the "outsiders" soar, his campaign has pivoted to repackage him as part of that popular group. ABC's BEN GITTLESON highlights four ways a longtime elected official like Kasich can present himself as an "outsider" in this cycle's race for the White House. http://abcn.ws/1N26QPi
DONALD TRUMP WON'T APOLOGIZE TO BEN CARSON OVER RELIGION COMMENTS. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump won't apologize to Ben Carson for comments he made about his religion. Trump, who trails Carson in two polls released in Iowa last week, said he "just didn't know" about Seventh-Day Adventists while speaking in Florida on Saturday, ABC's ALI DUKAKIS reports. Some conservatives claim Seventh-Day Adventists -- a Protestant sect that believes Christ's return to Earth is imminent and observe Sabbath on Saturdays -- are not Christian. "I know nothing about it really - I'm a Presbyterian and I had mentioned that, and I did say I don't know about it, and in fact those are my exact word, so I just really don't know about the Seventh-Day Adventists, and that's what I said," Trump told George Stephanopoulos on "This Week" Sunday. Trump suggested he wouldn't apologize to Carson over the comments. http://abcn.ws/1GAr950
DONALD TRUMP: 'IT'S POSSIBLE' MEDICARE COULD BE REPLACED BY HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNT. Donald Trump says he agrees with fellow Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson, who has suggested that Health Care Savings Accounts (HSA) could render Medicare unnecessary. "Well, it's possible," Trump told ABC's GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS on "This Week" Sunday. "You're going to have to look at that, but I'll tell you what, the Health Savings Accounts, I've been talking about it also. I think it's a very good idea and it's an idea whose probably time has come," Trump said. According to ABC's ALI DUKAKIS, he Republican presidential frontrunner has echoed his closest competitor's call for reforming health care using the accounts, which would shift funds from Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care programs to individual health savings accounts. http://abcn.ws/1kFmftH
JOHN PODESTA: FOR HILLARY CLINTON, A MATCHUP WITH DONALD TRUMP 'WORKS VERY WELL.' Hillary Clinton's campaign chair says he's confident she will win the Democratic nomination for president, and welcomes the possibility she could face Republican Donald Trump in the general election. "Moving forward, if he's the nominee of the Republican Party, I think that's a matchup that works very well for us," he said on "This Week." "She's out listening to the American people, offering real solutions, talking about the fight she'll fight for them, and he's out, you know, hurling insults." "We feel very good about where we are today in terms of winning the nomination," said Podesta, who served as chief of staff to former President Bill Clinton and as an adviser to President Barack Obama. ABC's HAYLEY WALKER has more. http://abcn.ws/1jIQQGz
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
BERNIE SANDERS BLASTS CLINTON RECORD ON GAY RIGHTS, KEYSTONE, FREE TRADE. Bernie Sanders delivered his sharpest criticism to date of Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton Saturday at the Iowa Democratic Party's historic Jefferson-Jackson dinner. The Vermont senator did not say the word "Clinton" once, but he implicitly drew contrast between his voting record and the political careers of both Hillary Clinton and her husband former President Bill Clinton. He focused in on gay rights, free trade, the Keystone pipeline and the Iraq War specifically, ABC's MARYALICE PARKS notes. http://abcn.ws/1GAa77d
NOTED: HOW CLINTON, SANDERS AND O'MALLEY TRIED TO DIFFERENTIATE THEMSELVES IN IOWA. If there was ever a question about what differentiated the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, both candidates and their supporters made it loud and clear Saturday night in Iowa. The sporting event atmosphere at Hy-Vee Hall included supporters of all the three Democrats left in the presidential race: Clinton, Sanders, and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley. Supporters of Clinton and Sanders dominated the gymnasium-style bleachers, waving glow sticks, pounding on the floor, and chanting. According to ABC's JOSH HASKELL and MARYALICE PARKS, on one half of the space, the Clinton fans looked organized and polished. They wore matching, glow-in-the-dark, blue t-shirts that read, "I'm fighting for her." They held battery-operated foam lights that shone brightly when the lights dimmed and doubled as noise-makers. Sanders' fans had glow sticks, too, the kind that glow after being snapped. While many of his fans wore Bernie 2016 t-shirts, they were mismatched and different colors. http://abcn.ws/1GAa77d
WHO'S TWEETING?
@MarkHalperin: .@HillaryClinton will spend her birthday today as the most likely next president. My new story explains why: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-10-26/the-most-likely-next-president-is-hillary-clinton ...
@emilyrs: There are Slam Poets for Hillary, Kayakers for Hillary, Yogis for Hillary ... and many more. My story: http://www.nationaljournal.com/s/91249/clinton-targeting-special-interests?mref=issue ...
@wpjenna: Despite what Donald Trump tweeted, Ford is still building a massive plant in Mexico: http://wapo.st/1i89upP
@GeraldFSeib: The lines between presidential candidates and supposedly independent super PACs are getting ever more blurry. http://on.wsj.com/1RvXURl
@etchaStech: http://ELLE.com has the exclusive on our new Hillary video - a must-watch! http://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/news/a31453/exclusive-emilys-list-new-campaign-video-is-feminist-propaganda-and-we-love-it/ ... @ELLEmagazine @mattiekahn