GOOD SUNDAY MORNING -- The new ABC tracking poll this morning has Hillary Clinton at 50 percent, up 12 points over Donald Trump who’s at 38 percent. Gary Johnson is at 5 percent, and Jill Stein at 2 percent. http://abcn.ws/2eW8IjM
16 DAYS until ELECTION DAY!
HUGE NEWS FOR D.C. -- “AT&T Reaches Deal to Buy Time Warner for $85.4 Billion: Wireless carrier agrees to pay $107.50 a share in half-cash, half-stock deal,” by WSJ’s Thomas Gryta, Keach Hagey, Dana Cimilluca and Amol Sharma: “The companies said they aim to be the first U.S. wireless company to compete nationwide with cable companies by providing an online-video bundle akin to a traditional pay-television package … A major question is whether regulators will be willing to bless another major consolidation in the media industry especially after misgivings from a prior deal between Comcast Corp. and General Electric Co.’s NBCUniversal. At the very least, former regulatory officials say there could be significant conditions placed on the combination.
“On a conference call Saturday night, AT&T’s Mr. Stephenson played down any regulatory roadblocks, arguing that AT&T isn’t eliminating a competitor, but rather is buying a supplier, a type of combination that isn’t blocked by regulators … The companies are reviewing whether any of Time Warner’s licenses will be transferred under the deal, requiring a review by the Federal Communications Commission. Competitors are likely to sound alarms about the scale of the combined company to possibly extract concessions during the review. Walt Disney Co. Chief Communications Officer Zenia Mucha said Saturday that ‘a transaction of this magnitude obviously warrants very close regulatory scrutiny.’” http://on.wsj.com/2euR3zJ
-- WHY D.C. SHOULD CARE -- AT&T is going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to push through this merger and will hire up an army of K Streeters with connections on key committees like Energy and Commerce, House and Senate Judiciary, to influence potential problem lawmakers and key agencies. Competitors will also be watching the deal closely and could look to try to cause problems for AT&T, working behind the scenes to push lawmakers to ask questions that could embarrass the company at hearings and work connections with outside groups to get them to oppose the deal. Outside watchdogs have already started to vocally oppose the merger. The process, which will likely take up to two years to be approved, will be a boon for business in Washington. The big question everyone will be watching: What lesson did AT&T learn after its failed merger with T-Mobile in 2011, when the company spent more than $11 million on lobbying to try to get that deal over the finish line?
SUNDAY BEST -- ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos, who asked Eric Trump: “So you don’t think you’re fighting from behind right now?” TRUMP: “Maybe -- listen, maybe, but I can tell you, when I’m on the ground, the amount of love out there is -- is incredible.” ... STEPHANOPOULOS: “Do you think you might be living ... in a bubble of your own support?” TRUMP: “No, I don’t -- I don’t think so at all.”
SCOOP -- OBAMA GOES ALL IN -- “Obama endorses all the way down ballot,” by Isaac Dovere: “President Barack Obama will make a late splash into races for state senate and assembly over the next week, endorsing roughly 150 candidates across 20 states. He’ll also back a candidate for Pennsylvania state supreme court. The endorsements—which will come along with a variety of robocalls, social media, mailers, photos of Obama with the candidates taken as he’s been traveling to campaign in recent weeks, and even a few radio ads—are Obama’s biggest investment in state races ever by far, and come as he gears up to make redistricting reform at the state level the political priority of his post-presidency. This is the beginning of that effort, an unprecedented engagement all the way down-ballot for any president.” http://politi.co/2f5aUo3
THE MAP -- “The battle for the Senate has narrowed to these 6 states:Donald Trump's October slump doesn’t appear to be expanding the map, yet Democrats still hold the pole position,” by Burgess Everett, with Elena Schneider in North Carolina, Kevin Robillard in Pennsylvania, Seung Min Kim in Indiana and Maggie Severns in Missouri: “After all the head fakes, the millions of dollars in ad reservations made and canceled and the pleas for help from underdogs to D.C. bosses, the battle for the Senate has winnowed to six races. The Senate will be won, insiders say, in a half-dozen states that could go either way on Election Day: The traditional swing states of Nevada, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, and the newly competitive states of North Carolina, Missouri and Indiana, which historically lean Republican.” http://politi.co/2dA8hpe
NEW POLL -- Hillary Clinton maintains a three-point lead over Donald Trump in Florida (46%-43%), while in Texas – a state that has voted Republican by wide margins in recent years – Trump leads by a mere three points (46%-43%), according to a new CBS Battleground Tracker poll.
-- “Buoyed by rising polls, Clinton shifts to a new target: the House and Senate,” by WaPo’s Phil Rucker, Ed O’Keefe and Mike DeBonis: “Hillary Clinton is pouring $1 million into Indiana and Missouri in the campaign’s final weeks — not because the Democratic presidential nominee thinks she can carry those reliably Republican states, but because she believes that, with an extra push, Democrats can win the Senate and governors’ races there.” http://wapo.st/2ecVcox
GOOD NEWS FOR EVERYONE! -- “Early Voting Data Shows Strengths for Trump and Clinton,” by AP’s Hope Yen: “Hillary Clinton appears to be displaying strength in the crucial battleground states of North Carolina and Florida among voters casting ballots before Election Day, and may also be building an early vote advantage in Arizona and Colorado.Donald Trump, meanwhile, appears to be holding ground in Ohio, Iowa and Georgia ... More than 5.3 million votes have been cast already, far outpacing the rate for this period in 2012.” http://abcn.ws/2eGsLNV
BEING THERE -- “Clinton looks past Trump,” by Shane Goldmacher in Pittsburgh: “Hillary Clinton is done with Donald Trump. Using her most dismissive language of the campaign — ‘I don’t even think about responding to him anymore’ — Clinton said Saturday she is now more focused on electing other Democrats in the final days of the 2016 campaign than her Republican opponent. ‘As we’re traveling in these last 17 days we’re going to be emphasizing the importance of electing Democrats down the ballot,’ Clinton told reporters aboard her campaign plane. It was the surest declaration of confidence yet from a candidate and a campaign that enters the home stretch in so commanding a position that they are redirecting cash and manpower to traditionally red states, including Arizona, Missouri, Indiana and Georgia.” http://politi.co/2dyAt0D
-- NYT A23, “Donald Trump Pledges to ‘Heal Divisions’ (and Sue His Accusers),” by Ashley Parker and Amy Chozick in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: “Donald J. Trump came to this historic battlefield town Saturday to offer his vision for America’s future, saying he hoped to ‘heal the divisions’ of the country as President Lincoln tried to do here seven score and 13 years ago. Yet in his own Gettysburg address, Mr. Trump, who has been sliding in the polls less than three weeks before Election Day, did not offer much in the way of race-changing oratory and did not seem to embrace Lincoln’s unifying ambition. Instead, the Republican nominee used the first third of what had been promoted as a ‘closing argument’ speech to nurse personal grievances, grumbling about ‘the rigging of this election’ and ‘the dishonest mainstream media,’ and threatening to sue the women who have come forward — an 11th woman did on Saturday — to accuse him of aggressive sexual advances.” http://nyti.ms/2e0Cr5Q
BUZZ -- DNC UPS SECURITY PROTOCOLS -- The Democratic National Committee wasn’t taking any chances after its embarrassing email hack. The party committee, which increased its computer security measures, stopped using any landlines in the building altogether, and is having staffers use cell phones instead. A source familiar with the DNC says that while they stopped using landlines right after the hack, there isn’t a ban in place.
HAPPENING TODAY -- DONALD TRUMP will be in Naples, Florida, for a 6 p.m. rally. HILLARY CLINTON is in Charlotte and Raleigh. Tim Kaine is in Gainesville, Miami and Orlando for rallies.
LATE-NIGHT BEST – “Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton Third Debate Cold Open” with Tom Hanks playing Chris Wallace: About women’s issues – “Hillary Clinton” (Kate McKinnon): “Listen Chris, I’m glad you raised this topic because what two better people to talk about women’s issues. Me, a woman who has had a child and has taken birth control and him, a man who is a child and whose face is birth control.”
On immigration -- “Donald Trump” (Alec Baldwin): “I have a fantastic relationship with Mexico, OK? I have personally met with the Mexican president. I forget his name. I think it was something like Mr. Guacamole, I’m sorry, excuse me, Senor Guacamole. I also met his beautiful wife, Taquito and their twin children, chips and salsa.” http://bit.ly/2exfc5F
--“Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks” playing a white Trump supporter named Doug http://bit.ly/2eWfshj
HALLIE JACKSON -- on “Sunday Today” this morning with a segment on “Selling the Candidate” with cameos by Bully Pulpit Interactive’s Andrew Bleeker, Tim Lim and Ben Coffey Clark. For the story, BPI created a funny fake ad campaign for a Hallie Jackson candidacy. 6-min. video http://on.today.com/2eu62bD
GOP AUTOPSY UPDATE -- “GOP vowed to do better with women. So what happened?,” by Boston Globe’s Victoria McGrane: “Trump’s candidacy is doing more than turning women away from the top of the ticket. He is alienating scores of them from the GOP more broadly, including some of the party’s most dedicated foot soldiers. It’s a dynamic that some, but not all, Republicans fear will inflict lasting damage on the party’s ability to attract female voters, a key constituency they already struggled with before the improbable rise of Trump. Trump’s woman problem has become the Republican Party’s woman problem, and it could hurt the GOP in national and state elections beyond 2016, analysts as well as some Republicans say.” http://bit.ly/2ec4vFf
-- @danmericaCNN: “Robby Mook asked by @jaketapper if any of Trump’s accusers have had contact with the Clinton campaign. ‘Not that I’m aware of,’ he said.”
DEPT. OF YA CAN’T MAKE IT UP -- “Lobbyist-bashing Trump was once a lobbyist,” by Ben Schreckinger: “Trump was a registered lobbyist in Rhode Island from April 2006 through the end of that year, according to state records reviewed by POLITICO. The businessman was registered to lobby on behalf of Trump Entertainment Resorts Holdings, the casino operator in which he was then a minority shareholder, and received $4,000 per month for the work ... At the time, Trump was promoting a proposed casino in the town of Johnston, according to a brief item in the April 25, 2006, edition of the Providence Journal. The journal reported, ‘One of Trump’s operatives filed an application and paid the $5 registration fee that entitles him to walk the State House corridors, with a lobbyist badge on his jacket.’” http://politi.co/2eVV5kx
-- “Trump advisers went to strip club with members of media,” by Page Six’s Emily Smith and Carlos Greer: “Page Six has exclusively learned that a trio of senior Trump advisers was fixated on a different type of ‘pole’ the night before Trump’s final debate with Clinton this past week in Las Vegas. The excursions been the talk of the campaign trail. Sources said that Trump campaign senior communications adviser Jason Miller — along with female colleagues including senior adviser and surrogate A.J. Delgado and deputy communications director Jessica Ditto — went with several members of the media from networks, including CNN, NBC and ABC, to Sapphire Las Vegas Strip Club before the big night.” http://pge.sx/2etKHAM
N.Y. POST cover, “LAST STAND -- Battle of Gettysburg -- Trump makes his ‘closing arguments’ -- Says he plans to sue grope accusers” http://nyp.st/2ewnHMX
ENDORSEMENT WATCH -- “Log Cabin Republicans board votes against endorsing Trump,” by Sarah Wheaton: “The board of the nation’s largest group of LGBT Republicans has voted to not endorse Donald Trump, in a contentious decision that did not reflect the preference of many of its chapters. ... The move reflects struggles throughout the Republican coalition, though for LGBT conservatives it’s been particularly wrenching. Trump’s rhetoric, they say, has been more pro-gay than any presidential nominee in history.” http://politi.co/2ejzQaq
SHOCKER – “The New Yorker Endorses Hillary Clinton” in a special 5-page “Talk of the Town” column entirely devoted to the race: “The election of Hillary Clinton is an event that we will welcome for its immense historical importance, and greet with indescribable relief. It will be especially gratifying to have a woman as commander-in-chief after such a sickeningly sexist and racist campaign, one that exposed so starkly how far our society has to go. The vileness of her opponent’s rhetoric and his record has been so widely aired that we can only hope she will be able to use her office and her impressive resolve to battle prejudice wherever it may be found.” http://bit.ly/2f56zkR
--Adelson-owned Las Vegas Review-Journal endorses Trump: http://bit.ly/2ejX8gi
FRANK SERPICO in Politico Magazine, “Penetrating the Police Brotherhood”: “[W]hen Terrence M. Cunningham, the chief of police in Wellesley, Mass., and president of America’s largest police management organization, issued a formal apology earlier this week to the nation’s minority population “for the actions of the past and the role that our profession has played in society’s historical mistreatment of communities of color,” he was making a long-overdue gesture. He was acknowledging, in effect, on behalf of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, that too many police in recent decades have been shooting first and asking questions later.” http://politi.co/2eVVIut
BONUS GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:
--“There’s magic in mess: Why you should embrace a disorderly desk,”by Tim Harford: “[W]hen researchers from the office design company Herman Miller looked at high-performing office workers, they found that they tended to be pilers. They let documents accumulate on their desks, used their physical presence as a reminder to do work, and relied on subtle cues — physical alignment, dog-ears, or a stray Post-it note — to orient themselves.” http://bit.ly/2eev5yE (h/t TheBrowser.com)
--“The white flight of Derek Black,” by WaPo’s Eli Saslow: “Years before Donald Trump launched a presidential campaign based in part on the politics of race and division, a group of avowed white nationalists was working to make his rise possible by pushing its ideology from the radical fringes ever closer to the far conservative right.” http://wapo.st/2eC2VvS (h/t Longreads.com)
--“Eyes Aloft,” by Rose Lichter-Marck in VQR: “The Sublime Obsession of Plane Spotting.” http://bit.ly/2dug9gI (h/t Longform.org)
--“The Scientists Who Make Apps Addictive,” by Ian Leslie in the Oct./Nov. Issue of 1843 Magazine: “Tech companies use the insights of behaviour design to keep us returning to their products. But some of the psychologists who developed the science of persuasion are worried about how it is being used.” http://bit.ly/2erW5sr
--“The Case of O.J. Simpson,” by Lorrie Moore in the N.Y. Review of Books, reviewing “O.J.: Made in America,” a five-part ESPN documentary directed by Ezra Edelman: “[L]est Americans have forgotten, or weren’t born yet, or have had their young imaginations muddled by the docudrama ... a new, sober, and intelligent documentary, produced and directed by Ezra Edelman, the Emmy-winning son of the activist Marian Wright Edelman, has emerged from the unlikely source of ESPN to look closely at Simpson’s entire life and times and to see him as the complicated construction that he is.” http://bit.ly/2eoVtGI ... Trailer http://bit.ly/2f568Hr
--“The Afterlife of a Ballerina,” by Alice Robb in Elle: “At age 16, Alexandra Ansanelli was anointed a prodigy. By 22, she was a principal for the New York City Ballet. At 26, she was a principal for the Royal Ballet. By 28, she had given it all up.” http://bit.ly/2dVIskB
--“America’s Assad Quandary,” by Robert D. Kaplan in National Interest: “An excruciating fact confronts us: it does not necessarily follow that Bashar al-Assad’s departure would improve the situation in Syria.” http://bit.ly/2e8mHzA
--“The Slot Machine in Your Pocket,” by Tristan Harris in Der Spiegel: “Smartphone apps are addictive -- by design. They take advantage of human weaknesses to ensure your constant attention. But there is another way.” http://bit.ly/2dvSmrL
--“The Corleones of Kabul,” by Jonah Blank in Rand.org, reviewing “A Kingdom of Their Own: The Family Karzai and the Afghan Disaster,” by Josh Partlow: “From the American perspective, Karzai began as a heroic figure. Rugged and handsome, he seemed to many Westerners exotic enough to represent the authentic voice of his people, yet spoke English with a reassuring fluency and an appealing British inflection.” http://bit.ly/2erdbrV... $18.14 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2dlBCcI
--“The Soviet InterNyet,” by Benjamin Peters in Aeon Magazine: “Soviet scientists tried for decades to network their nation. What stalemated them is now fracturing the global internet.” http://bit.ly/2eu0rjj
--“A Stranger in the World: The Memoir of a Musician on Tour,” by Franz Nicolay in an excerpt of “The Humorless Ladies of Border Control: Touring the Punk Underground from Belgrade to Ulaanbaatar”: “You don’t travel for comfort; you travel to justify the daily discomfort, … the nagging doubt, sadness, weariness, the sense of being a stranger in a world.” http://bit.ly/2dVLYeA ... $17.88 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2ewf4lw
--“Surviving the Fall of ISIS,” by James Verini in NatGeo: “As Iraqi and coalition forces invade Mosul, the last ISIS stronghold in Iraq, the grim details of the extremist group’s rule come to light.” http://bit.ly/2eZXOIO
SEN. AL FRANKEN in WashPost, “My 10 favorite ‘Saturday Night Live’ political sketches”: “Bush-Dukakis debate (1988) ... Bush-Gore debate (2000) ... Nixon’s final days (1976) ... Ask President Carter (1977) ... Ronald Reagan, mastermind (1986) ... Bush cold openings (1988-92) ... ‘The Amazing Colossal President’ (also known as ‘The Pepsi Syndrome’) (1979) ... Clarence Thomas hearings (1991) ... Ross Perot for president (1992) ... Bush-Clinton-Perot debate (1992).” http://wapo.st/2euG4pN
SPOTTED: Sen. Cory Booker at a Stanford reunion yesterday … Sen. Al Franken on Acela #2253 heading back to DC … Ed Henry at the parking ticket machine at Union Station.
WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- “Meaghan Carrigan, Nicholas Barnicle” -- Times: “Ms. Carrigan, 31 ... is a creative producer in New York for the fashion designer Tory Burch. She handles the company’s website and other social media as well as its in-store events. ... Mr. Barnicle, 32, is a documentary filmmaker and a founder of Prospect Productions, a television and film production company that produced two documentaries that aired on ESPN: ‘Holy Grail: The T206 Honus Wagner,’ about the rare baseball card, which aired in 2013, and ‘The Deal,’ a 2014 film about the botched deal that was to send Alex Rodriguez from the Texas Rangers to the Boston Red Sox.He graduated from Georgetown. His mother [Anne Finucane], who works in New York and Boston, is the vice chairwoman at Bank of America. His father [Mike] is a journalist and television commentator at MSNBC. The couple met in February 2014 at an alumni dinner for the Georgetown baseball team, for which the groom and the bride’s father once played.” Bradley Cooper, making a state visit to DC for President Obama’s final White House concert, called “Love and Happiness,” joined the newlyweds at a family luncheon at Cafe Milano. With pic http://nyti.ms/2eGVZxu ... Wedding pic http://bit.ly/2e0hBDQ
--“Robert Joachim, Daniel Hewitt”: “Mr. Joachim, 36, is a division director in the headquarters budget office in Washington of United States Customs and Border Protection, and he is a staff member of the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. ... Mr. Hewitt, 40, is the vice president for media relations and event management at the Entertainment Software Association, a trade association in Washington for the video game industry. ... The couple met in 2007 while two-stepping at a country and western bar in Washington.” With pic http://nyti.ms/2f53fq7 ...Wedding pic http://bit.ly/2euT26W
SPOTTED: Amy Dacey, Summer Mersinger, Val Baldwin, (kilted) Alex Slater, Stuart Spencer, Paul Smith, DeVere Kutscher, Duane Pozza, Melissa Roy, Rich Taylor, Amy Isbell, Julie Lowe -- Pic of Dacey, Slater, Spencer and Roy http://bit.ly/2ejKtKa
--“Elizabeth Bennett, Stephen Parker”: “Mrs. Parker, 31, founded Fruitcycle, a company in Alexandria, Va., that makes healthful snacks and provides jobs for women who have been incarcerated or homeless. ... Mr. Parker, 30, is a legislative director for the National Governors Association in Washington, where he oversees relationships between governors and the federal government and leads education and work-force policies.” With pic http://nyti.ms/2etStsD
WELCOME TO THE WORLD – WSJ reporter Heather Haddon emails friends and family: “We are thrilled to welcome into the world our first child and son, Sebastian Gilbert Haddon Twilley. He may have blown deadline by two weeks and a day, but this boy is the complete article, friends. Landing at 7:27 a.m. on Saturday, October 22, and weighing in at 8 lbs., 13 oz., Sebastian arrived in our newly adopted home of Chicago after countless plot twists and considerable labor—31 hours worthy of the intriguing tale of his conception. ... With much love, Heather & Stephen & Sebastian.” Pic http://bit.ly/2euFgBp
BIRTHWEEK (was Tuesday): BuzzFeed’s Darren Sands
BIRTHDAYS: Simon Rosenberg, founder of New Democrat Network and the pride of Wilton, Conn., is 53 … former U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez is 7-0 … CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta is 47 ... ABC’s Brian Ross is 68 ... Linda Thomas, director and editor-in-chief of Starbucks Digital News … community activist Martin Luther King III is 59 ... former U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), Baseball Hall of Famer, is 85 ... Pele is 76 ... Allison Preiss, director for media relations at Center for American Progress; former Hill press secretary for Dodd, Brown and the HELP Committee; and a spin instructor (h/t Caren Auchman) ... Lauren Morello, Nature U.S. news editor and chief of correspondents (h/t Dan Berman) ... Carole Brand ... Karen Hobert Flynn, President at Common Cause (h/ts Jon Haber) ... NBC News’ Jason Neal, proud new father of Jasper (h/t Olivia Petersen) … Gannett and AP alum Malia Rulon Herman ... Politico’s Ellen Mitchell and Jackie Heinz ... Politico alum James Kotecki … Rachel Shabad, digital coordinator at DSCC ... R Street’s Caroline Kitchens ... Ani Chkhikvadze ... Sarah Smith ... Sally Rey Parkinson ... Kellyn Blossom, an Obama alum, now West Coast public policy at Uber ... Kinsey Casey, an Obama W.H. and DHS alum, now deputy chief of staff at the University of Pittsburgh ...
… Anne Filipic, president of Enroll America and an alum of the Obama W.H., DNC and HHS … Vikrum Aiyer ... NYT television reporter John Koblin ... Jennifer Paolino Romano, the best mama around (h/t Leo Romano)... Peter Benton-Sullivan, senior associate on the financial services team at The Glover Park Group ... Conrad Lucas, chairman of the West Virginia Republican Party ... NAPEO president and CEO Pat Cleary ... National Law Journal’s Ryan Barber ... NBCUniversal’s Darcy Spencer ... Leif Noren, chairman of CRC Public Relations … Joe Hansard … Ken Kurson, editor of N.Y. Observer … Rod Cory … Bob Flemming … Janie Enright … Carmela Isabella … Benjamin Gold (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ... Jessica Hoy, account director at Sunshine Sachs … Sheena Tahilramani, co-founder of SVN PR and founder of Banter & Bliss ... Ekmel Gecer ... Moe Vela ... Saim Saeed … Jesus Martinez ... Halli Casser-Jayne … Annika Lichtenbaum ... movie director Ang Lee is 62 ... “Weird Al” Yankovic is 57 ... Emilia Clarke is 3-0 (h/ts AP)