Obama delivers stinging critique of FBI: ‘We don’t operate on leaks’
Woman accusing Trump of raping her at 13 cancels plan to go public
Clinton in Arizona: an unusual show of confidence that she can win there
5.24am GMT
5.12am GMT
The Clinton camp are certainly on their Twitter game this evening (she was born in Chicago, to be fair):
Clinton watching the Cubs win —via @TODAYshow: pic.twitter.com/He9ABf41SM
5.07am GMT
And Clinton wins the Twitter race. Perhaps Trump is having an early night.
They did it! 108 years later and the drought is finally over. Way to make history, @Cubs. #FlyTheW -H
5.05am GMT
Hillary Clinton, soothsayer (note the date):
Hillary Clinton signs a man's custom Cubs jersey and notes that 2016 is the year both will win. cc: @SamRoecker pic.twitter.com/s7AJRPemk0
5.01am GMT
In the night’s other news, the Chicago Cubs won the world series. No tweets from either candidate yet – can they be far off? – but confirmation that at least one of them was watching:
If you're wondering, Clinton did indeed watch that. In her car in the motorcade in Tempe, on Philippe Reines' laptop.
4.44am GMT
Reports have said the Clinton crowd tonight topped 15,000, which is impressive given the competition for attention tonight. Will no one think of the journalists?
Clinton press corps watching #WorldSeries on the bus. (Photo via @kwelkernbc) pic.twitter.com/9DdYEpbT6i
4.20am GMT
Here’s FiveThirtyEight’s latest totting-up of the polls:
Our latest polls-only forecast gives Clinton a 68% chance to win the presidency: https://t.co/2uB2oqpXy4 pic.twitter.com/f4uc6sOH5i
Related: Clinton's 'October surprise' helps Trump in polls – but will it affect election day?
4.01am GMT
And with that Clinton is finished, giving her time to catch the end of the world series game, which is still going on:
Related: World Series 2016 Game 7: Chicago Cubs v Cleveland Indians – live!
3.59am GMT
“We are on the path to one of the biggest turnouts in history … let’s make that the story of this election,” she says.
“I don’t want any of us to wake up next week and think ohhhhhh.” (This is probably a sentiment shared by many people of whatever political stripes.)
3.57am GMT
“This state is in play for the first time in years!” Clinton tells the crowd.
The last Democrat to win here, she says, “was my husband in 1996 – one of the many reasons Bill and I love Arizona.”
We have a real chance to turn this state blue again.
3.51am GMT
Clinton swings back to climate change.
She says she has a plan to boost renewable energy and help communities prepare for the effects of climate change.
3.48am GMT
I think there was a brief mention of tackling climate change there. More than in the debates, I guess.
Just as controversially, Clinton claims making lists is “maybe a women’s thing”. (Not this woman: I’m more of a “random collection of Post-Its” person.)
3.41am GMT
Brief jab at #Trump on his taxes: "He contributes zero to our military, to our veterans, to our highways and everything else in our govt"
3.40am GMT
Clinton says she respects the choice of people who are voting for Trump. The election isn’t rigged. It’s a choice they make.
All I ask is that you really think about the kind of person he’s shown himself to be.
3.38am GMT
Tonight’s tactic? Focus on Trump’s digs, jibes and bigotry, it seems:
Trump doesn’t see Latinos as Americans, Clinton says.
He brags about doing things to women without their consent – just imagine what that could mean to girls and women … how it will affect our boys to have a president who talks and behaves like that?
3.31am GMT
Clinton is asking her supporters to imagine Trump taking the oath of office next January. They’re a bit reluctant. Perhaps they don’t think this is a fun game.
Does America want a president, she asks, who
praises adversaries like Vladimir Putin and picks fights with our allies and even insults the pope?
Heaven forbid, [he] might even start a real war instead of just a Twitter war.
3.28am GMT
Clinton wants to know if the crowd is ready to vote next Tuesday (at this stage, you’d have to hope so).
She says America deserves a candidate they can vote for, not just someone to vote against.
3.20am GMT
Clinton gives a shoutout to former Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords:
She turned an evil deed … into a clarion call for us to stand up against that kind of behaviour.
3.18am GMT
Clinton is on stage – she’s a bit (a lot) late.
3.07am GMT
So this is part of the crowd for Hillary in Arizona. It's...large. pic.twitter.com/aIARLVNEB6
2.51am GMT
Hillary Clinton has yet to take the stage in Arizona but has just tweeted her condemnation of an earlier arson attack on a historic black church in Mississippi:
The perpetrators who set the Hopewell M.B. Church in MS on fire must be brought to justice. This kind of hate has no place in America. -H
2.43am GMT
Associated Press reports that Mike Pence has defended an arrangement that sees his key aide continuing to earn $23,000 a month as Indiana’s sole lobbyist to Washington while also travelling with the vice-presidential nominee as a paid worker on his campaign during working hours:
The dual, simultaneous employment of Joshua Pitcock is unusual. Legal and ethics experts contacted by the Associated Press said the government lobbyist should be subject to the same ethics rules as rank-and-file state employees, which generally prohibit such double-dipping. A separate prohibition against moonlighting bans Indiana state employees from accepting outside employment or undertaking activities that are not compatible with their public duties, would impair their independence or judgment, or pose a likely conflict of interest.
The governor’s office said Pitcock is exempt from most such rules because the Pence administration treats Pitcock as an independent contractor. It considers his contract for “professional services” different than contracts for “personal” services, which treat contractors as employees.
2.28am GMT
Perhaps the Trump hotels are all booked out:
Trump campaign announces they'll hold "victory party" on election night at... A midtown Hilton. pic.twitter.com/AgVQeYUWB2
2.20am GMT
This is Claire Phipps picking up the live blog from Scott Bixby, just as Clinton’s plane touches down in Arizona, neatly enough.
Clinton is – rather later than expected – shortly to speak at Arizona State University in Tempe, in a state Democratic candidates don’t typically tend to view as a key target less than a week before election day.
Related: Clinton's rare visit to Arizona is unusual show of confidence for a Democrat
2.04am GMT
Watch: David Duke has a fiery exchange with a debate moderator.
1.52am GMT
For the first time there are as many millennials eligible to vote in the US election as there are baby boomers, and nearly half of them might vote for a third-party candidate. Paul Lewis and Tom Silverstone travel to Tucson, Arizona, to explore why large numbers of young people appear poised to sit out the election or vote for either Gary Johnson or Jill Stein.
1.39am GMT
David Duke’s version of post-debate relaxation:
This woman, Caroline Fayard, is a traitor of her people - she is a traitor of America. pic.twitter.com/3Iv2mVHaPk
1.15am GMT
We are going to win the White House. We’re gonna be nice and cool, nice and cool. Stay on point, Donald, stay on point. No sidetracks, Donald. Nice and easy. Niiice. Because I’ve been watching Hillary the last few days. She’s totally unhinged. We don’t want any of that.
12.56am GMT
In his closing statement, former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke declared that white Americans are “getting outnumbered and outvoted in our own nation” and decried his opponents’ connections with special interests.
“The best way to tell who’s an insider,” Duke said, “is look at their campaign’s bank account. I’m the only candidate on this stage that hasn’t taken a penny in Pac money, a penny in special interest money.”
12.49am GMT
I will be Donald Trump’s most loyal advocate... I hope he wins.
12.47am GMT
Outside the Dillard College auditorium in which the Louisiana senate debate is currently taking place, the anti-David Duke protest is getting heated.
12.39am GMT
Interrupting a line of questioning after another candidate called him a “white supremacist,” Republican US senate candidate and former imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan denied that he is a white supremacist.
“That’s a typical attack that I get by the media - I’m not a supremacist, I believe in equal rights for all!” Duke protested, saying that he was only against “special rights” for minorities. “We have a media that puts out hate propaganda against white people!”
12.33am GMT
In Louisiana, former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke was asked about an article on his website that made numerous and repeated references to “CNN Jews” in a story about a leaked video that showed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women.
“Well, lemme tell you something - we have to start talking openly about any subject,” Duke said, “and there is a problem in America with a very strong, powerful, tribal group that dominates our media and dominates our international banking.”
12.25am GMT
At the historically black college where the Louisiana senate debate is currently being held, white supremacist and former imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke lashed out at the moderator for asking him about his conviction for tax fraud.
“You’re not even giving me a chance!” screamed Duke, when he attempted to avoid answering the question. “You’re not even giving me a chance!”
12.21am GMT
Back to Donald Trump in Pensacola:
“We’re all leaders - we’re all leading this together,” Trump said, concluding his address. “Just think about what we could accomplish in the first one hundred days of a Trump administration.”
12.10am GMT
As Donald Trump campaigns in Pensacola, former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and current Republican senate candidate David Duke is facing off against his opponents for Louisiana’s open US Senate seat.
Despite urging by the moderator for the debate to not devolve into a referendum on Duke’s candidacy, the white supremacist has already been attacked by multiple other candidates.
12.01am GMT
A woman who is suing Donald Trump for allegedly raping her as a child abandoned a plan to speak publicly this afternoon, citing death threats.
The woman, known by the pseudonym Jane Doe, hid from media who were invited to her lawyer’s Los Angeles office for a press conference in which she was expected to reveal her identity.
Related: Woman accusing Donald Trump of raping her at 13 cancels plan to go public
11.54pm GMT
We take a break from Donald Trump’s rally in Pensacola to fact-check him:
Donald Trump claims in Pensacola that the New York Times' earnings are "down 97%."
Fact-check: They are down 5.9%. pic.twitter.com/hfrg8Zyc1A
11.50pm GMT
Speaking in Pensacola, Florida, an unusually tieless Donald Trump - perhaps ready to cool his heels after his third campaign rally of the day - told the assembled audience of supporters and journalists that his campaign is a movement “about taking our government back.”
“You think Hillary’s gonna restore honesty to government? I don’t think so.”
11.43pm GMT
Watch it live here:
11.41pm GMT
We have apparently been transported to the land of Rand McNally, where they wear hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people, because Texas senator Ted Cruz has announced that he will campaign on Donald Trump’s behalf in the final week of the presidential campaign.
Tomorrow, Cruz will make appearances at two events on behalf of Trump, who called Cruz’s wife ugly and suggested that Cruz’s father conspired to assassinate John F. Kennedy. Cruz will join Mike Pence, Trump’s running mate, in Prole, Iowa, and in Portage, Michigan, tomorrow, news that Pence’s press secretary has called “exciting.”
Should be an exciting day Thursday as @tedcruz campaigns in Iowa and Michigan with Gov @mike_pence https://t.co/5KJk2Pl0cG
11.29pm GMT
The race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump appears to be getting even closer with just six days left before the election. An average of six different polls shows that Clinton is now just 1.7 percentage points ahead of Trump. But there’s still a lot of variation – one poll finds that Clinton is three points ahead, another finds that she is six points behind Trump. Both surveys were conducted after news that the justice department had obtained a warrant to investigate an aide to Clinton’s emails, before which her lead was already shrinking.
Related: Clinton's 'October surprise' helps Trump in polls – but will it affect election day?
10.23pm GMT
A white nationalist has apologized for robocalls in Utah calling independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin a “closet homosexual”.
10.05pm GMT
Lisa Bloom, the attorney who purports to represent an unnamed woman who is suing Donald Trump for allegedly raping her when she was 13 years old has cancelled a press conference scheduled this evening, declaring that the woman known as Jane Doe has “received numerous threats today” and that she has decided that she is “too afraid to show her face.”
“We’re going to have to reschedule,” Bloom said at the press conference in Los Angeles. “I apologize to all of you who came. I have nothing further.”
9.48pm GMT
The scene inside the conference room:
Haven't seen this many journos packed in one room in a long time. We're awaiting news conference w/ new #TrumpAccuser @KNX1070 pic.twitter.com/dTpILuXFWK
9.38pm GMT
Ahead of news from a California law firm that will hold a press conference at 6pm ET with a woman who is suing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for allegedly raping her when she was a child, here’s Jon Swaine on the lawsuit’s history:
Related: Rape lawsuits against Donald Trump linked to former TV producer
9.16pm GMT
Comedian Louis CK threw his support behind Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during an interview on Conan last night.
8.48pm GMT
In an interview with a New Hampshire radio station, New Hampshire senator Kelly Ayotte declared that she would not want her 12-year-old daughter in the same room as either Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump or former president Bill Clinton.
“Let’s fast forward four years and your daughter’s 16 years of age,” posed host Keith Hanson, according to CNN. “Would you have wanted your daughter to hear the conversation that Donald Trump had engaged in with a reporter from Access Hollywood on that bus?”
8.34pm GMT
Speaking in Orlando, Florida, to a sweltering audience, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump decried Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as “the candidate of yesterday,” calling himself and his supporters “the movement of the future.”
“Just think about what we could accomplish in the first 100 days of a Trump administration,” Trump said, to a weak “Trump! Trump! Trump!” chant.
8.30pm GMT
Watch it live here:
8.29pm GMT
Wrapping up his address to college-aged voters in North Carolina, President Barack Obama urged the audience that “Each of you could swing an entire precinct for Hillary if you vote” - or swing it for Donald Trump if they don’t
“If you don’t vote, then you’ve done the work of those who would surpass your vote without them having to lift a finger!” Obama said. “Come on!”
8.22pm GMT
Speaking in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, President Barack Obama told a young audience of Hillary Clinton supporters that they have the chance to “shape the arc of history” by helping elect Hillary Clinton and downballot Democrats.
“Nobody likes gridlock, but I wanna be clear about something: gridlock is not some kind of mysterious fog that just descends on Washington,” Obama said. “It’s not like a monster movie.”
8.15pm GMT
Speaking to a college-aged group of Hillary Clinton supporters in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, President Barack Obama told the crowd that “the most important office in America is the office of citizen.”
“America depends on you! You, all of you!” Obama said. “America has never been about what one person says he’ll do for us. I never said, ‘Yes, I can,’ I said, ‘Yes, we can.’”
8.09pm GMT
Hillary Clinton may not be “flashy,” President Obama said in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, but she knows her stuff:
She’s not flashy - she’s not going around spending all the time giving big stem-winders. And as a consequence, she’s under appreciated here at home,” Obama said. But, he continued, “she is tough, and when things don’t go her way, she doesn’t whine, and she doesn’t complain, and she doesn’t blame other suggesting everything is rigged.
8.03pm GMT
Speaking to Republicans who feel duty-bound to vote for Donald Trump, President Barack Obama said that partisanship should not obscure the duty to support a candidate who won’t break the country.
“We have to stop thinking that his behavior is normal, that it’s within the bounds of what has been, up to this point, the normal in our political discourse,” Obama said of Trump. “I have to tell you, this office, it’s about who you are and what you are and it doesn’t change after you occupy the office - it just magnifies it.”
7.57pm GMT
President Barack Obama, speaking in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, urged college-aged voters to look past “the noise” of a historically ugly campaign to focus on the task at hand.
“I want you to push away the noise for a second and just focus on the choice you face in this election,” Obama said. “If you push all that away, this choice actually could not be simpler. It could not be clearer. It really couldn’t.”
7.52pm GMT
President Barack Obama, speaking to a college-age audience in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, declared that “I love me some North Carolina!” to a raucous crowd. “Even the people who don’t vote for me are nice!”
After promising to hug the people shouting “I love you!” on the way out, Obama said that first, “we have to focus on some business.”
7.37pm GMT
Watch it live here:
7.18pm GMT
A California law firm has announced in a press release that a woman who is suing Donald Trump for child rape will speak later today.
The Guardian’s Jon Swaine has reported on the accusation:
Lawsuits accusing Donald Trump of sexually assaulting a child in the 1990s appear to have been orchestrated by an eccentric anti-Trump campaigner with a record of making outlandish claims about celebrities.
Norm Lubow, a former producer on the Jerry Springer TV show, has previously been involved with disputed allegations that OJ Simpson bought illegal drugs on the day Simpson’s wife was murdered, and that Kurt Cobain’s widow had the Nirvana frontman killed.
BREAKING: woman who sued Donald Trump for child rape breaks her silence today. https://t.co/ecbzZ6jxSU pic.twitter.com/kdCRsG7wIm
Related: Rape lawsuits against Donald Trump linked to former TV producer
Related: Trump lawyers given court date over lawsuit alleging rape of 13-year-old
7.11pm GMT
Here’s Jon Stewart talking about doing Twitter battles with Donald Trump, in a clip from a standup set flagged by Vulture:
7.08pm GMT
Four new Quinnipiac University polls of battleground states, now:
7.00pm GMT
We’ve had a bit of trouble with that Obama live stream – currently a James Taylor live stream. “Shower the people you love with love.” Try this one:
6.45pm GMT
Here’s an unexpected guest at Barack Obama’s North Carolina event: James Taylor. He’s singing, of course, Carolina in my Mind:
6.43pm GMT
Game 7 of the World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians will happen tonight. Many people will watch the game on TV. And both the Trump and Clinton campaigns will be appealing to those people with televised ads, CNN reports:
The Trump campaign has booked three commercial spots on the nationwide broadcast of Wednesday night’s Cubs-Indians matchup, a campaign spokesman said.
And Clinton’s campaign has booked four spots, according to a source at Fox, the network broadcasting the game.
Reminder: Cubs will win the World Series and, in exchange, President Trump will be elected 8 days later. https://t.co/lej7TXnnju
6.33pm GMT
Deborah Ross, the Democratic senate candidate in North Carolina, is introducing Barack Obama in Chapel Hill:
6.14pm GMT
What we wouldn’t pay for a glimpse at the Clinton campaign’s model battlefield. They’ve moved the POTUS figurine from Florida to Ohio yesterday to North Carolina today – and for the grand finale, the night before the election, they’ve got him going to New Hampshire, the Clinton campaign has just announced.
Maybe because New Hampshire doesn’t have no-excuse early / absentee voting? Meaning people vote there on Election Day itself. The president has been taking care of the early voting states meanwhile.
6.10pm GMT
More polling crack (craic?) is on its way. Whatta Wednesday:
Yo @QuinnipiacPoll, we're waiting. pic.twitter.com/NC8EYcHAxo
6.07pm GMT
Comedian Louis CK told Conan O’Brien he would take Hillary Clinton “over anybody.” He says he’s sold on Clinton. And in part not because she’s a woman so much as because she’s a mom.
“I have no problem anybody votes for Trump,” says CK (?). But.. “what’s more important in the president than that you can shit all over them? ... This guy, every time he gets criticized, everything stops and he makes everybody pay...
Thanks, Louis C.K.—but it's "Madam" Tough Mother. https://t.co/LlfFFJBedh
5.50pm GMT
More map talk...
In our model (before the WI was put in), Clinton won in 84% of simulations when she won Wisconsin.
There is *still* a map for Trump if he loses in WI and PA. He needs to win NC/FL plus NV/NH.
Bottom line: The next three days are huge, starting with today when Hillary Clinton comes to try to juice the early vote in Vegas. Remember the last day (Friday) is always the biggest. If the Dems can add 10,000 votes to their lead, they will feel pretty good. If they add 20,000, which would bring it to the same number as the end of 2012, it’s big trouble for Trump and Senate hopeful Joe Heck, and we can start talking about a mini-wave at least.
5.43pm GMT
Marquette U law school also polled the senate race in Wisconsin, long thought to be one of the easiest Democratic pickups, as popular former senator Russ Feingold, the only US senator to vote against the original USA Patriot Act, appeared to be shellacking Republican incumbent Ron Johnson.
HuffPost Pollster’s average has Feingold up by five points. Marquette sees a one-point race:
US Senate race in WI: New Marquette Law School Poll finds 45% for Russ Feingold, 44% for Ron Johnson. #mulawpoll
5.34pm GMT
The Guardian’s Dan Roberts points out that the poll evenly straddled the release of Comey’s letter Friday:
this will come as a *big* relief to Democrats even though half of those polled were asked before Comey's letter on Friday. https://t.co/vFHxL3oy9C
5.26pm GMT
Good night. https://t.co/eK7h3XD8td
Democratic bedsheets status: DRY https://t.co/zo7KKcT7BR
There it is. Clinton up 6% in Wisconsin. Dems can take a deep breath - for now. https://t.co/05QGoNbFHZ
That whooshing sound you hear is Democrats exhaling.
Why is Marquette announcing this poll like it’s a reality television show?
The Blue Wall holds, so far. https://t.co/FTOsLLchut
Marquette: Clinton +6
HuffPost Pollster average, w/o Marquette: Clinton +5https://t.co/qrR7KVA0vI
NOW WILL YOU ALL TAKE A DEEP BREATH
5.24pm GMT
A new edition of the respected Marquette University law school poll of Wisconsin likely voters finds that Hillary Clinton leads by six points among likely voters in the state.
Poll was conducted Oct. 26-31. Margin of error is +/-3.3 percentage points for the full sample. #mulawpoll
1,255 out of 1,401 people said they were certain to vote, which we call likely voters. Margin of error for them is +/-3.5 points. #mulawpoll
541 likely voters interviewed Weds and Thurs, 157 on Friday, 557 Sat, Sun and Mon. #mulawpoll
Margin of error is larger for results pegged to specific days of polling, Franklin says. #mulawpoll
New Marquette Law School Poll finds Clinton leading Trump among likely voters in WI 46% to 40%. #mulawpoll
5.12pm GMT
With 8 November just around the corner – and early voting already underway – we want to hear from the volunteers who will give up their election day to help America vote.
Are you acting as a poll worker for the US presidential election? Tell us about your experiences, using the form below:
Related: Are you a poll worker for the US election? Share your experiences
5.09pm GMT
“For those millions who continue to believe women should have the right to make their own healthcare decisions, Hillary Clinton is the best – and only – choice,” writes Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards in a new first-person piece for the Guardian:
During the third debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump a couple weeks ago, Clinton gave the most powerful defense of reproductive rights ever from a presidential candidate.
“I will defend Planned Parenthood, I will defend Roe v Wade, and I will defend women’s rights to make their own healthcare decisions … I do not think the United States government should be stepping in and making those most personal of decisions,” she said.
Related: Hillary Clinton is the only choice for voters who care about women's health | Cecile Richards
4.58pm GMT
Here comes that new Marquette poll of Wisconsin... (set to release at 1.15pm ET). FiveThirtyEight’s Harry Enten predicts Clinton by two points):
Setting the line at Clinton +2 in Marquette... Are you taking the under or the over?
4.53pm GMT
New Jersey-born rocker Jon Bon Jovi will perform at a get-out-the-vote event for Hillary Clinton in Florida on Saturday, the campaign advises.
4.37pm GMT
The president has delivered backhanded criticism of the FBI for its conduct of various inquiries into the email hygiene of Clinton and those around her.
“We don’t operate on incomplete information,” Obama said in an interview with NowThis News, written up in the New York Times. “We don’t operate on leaks. We operate based on concrete decisions that are made.”
When this was investigated thoroughly the last time, the conclusion of the F.B.I., the conclusion of the Justice Department, the conclusion of repeated congressional investigations was that she had made some mistakes but that there wasn’t anything there that was prosecutable.”
4.35pm GMT
Trump tells his supporters to “pretend we’re down”:
Trump tells backers at rally in FL to ignore the polls showing him ahead - "Pretend we're down!"
Trump: “I think we’re doing great in Pennsylvania, from what I hear.”
PA poll from Susquehanna: Clinton +2 https://t.co/JGVGaqeeWb They had Clinton +4 earlier this month.
4.25pm GMT
It’s getting Biblical out there:
Man shouts at press for selling out "for a few shekels" at Trump rally in Miami pic.twitter.com/f4MApeMgxa
4.22pm GMT
“I love that sign, ‘Blacks for Trump,’ I love that sign,” Trump begins.
He predicts victory in Florida.
4.21pm GMT
That was fast. Here’s Trump now onstage in Miami. Scroll back a block for a live video stream.
4.20pm GMT
Here now in Miami is RNC chairman Reince Priebus in Miami introducing Trump.
“Who here wants four more years of a Barack Obama-style government?” Priebus asks.
3.15pm GMT
Have you taken your Florida medicine yet today? Here’s the start of longtime Democratic operative Steve Schale’s update for Wednesday morning:
So one more thing I keep getting asked, so, Steve, what is the secret to winning Florida? I am going to let you in on a little secret to quote one of my favorite GOP operatives, Kevin Sweeny, the secret is, there is no secret. Florida is a collection of lots of pockets of voters. It is all about managing the margins in those places, expanding the electorate where it helps you, and playing defense. This is not the kind of place where you can say definitively, if X happens, candidate Y will win or lose. It is more like building a mosaic with many different colored tiles.
I’ll address the issue that popped up yesterday with African American turnout later, but keep the above in mind when we get to it.
3.08pm GMT
What is that thing for?
Here is the machine media uses to equate Trump's total unfitness for office to Clinton's emails. You just input any two things at the top. pic.twitter.com/2BgMLkm6U7
2.59pm GMT
Hillary Clinton has released a new video ad calling on Latinos to vote big on November 8. The ad, titled 27 Million Strong, is narrated by veteran actor Jimmy Smits (who played the president on the West Wing).
Personally, I think it’s one of the best campaign ads by the Clinton campaign so far, as it adds more fuel to the Latino fire.
2.52pm GMT
A new poll of Michigan voters by the Institute for public policy and social research at Michigan state university has Clinton... up by 20 points in a head-to-head race with Trump. The state is not much polled; HuffPost Pollster’s average has Clinton up by about six points there
Twenty points is a lot. The Clinton camp announced late Tuesday that the candidate would hold a rally in Detroit Friday night, leading to speculation that the campaign saw signs of needing to shore up support in Michigan.
This was actually one of the better polls during the Michigan prez primary... It has Clinton over Trump by a lot https://t.co/Im1MStahJw
2.36pm GMT
By the time Hillary Clinton arrived at her final rally of one of her longest days on the trail, it was already after dark.
“This is so much fun,” she said, taking the stage in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at 10pm, the crowd of nearly 4,000 vibrating with energy. “It’s really late. I could be here all night.”
2.30pm GMT
Bill Clinton and vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine have canceled an event in Des Moines, Iowa, at which they were to appear today with musician Ben Harper, the Clinton campaign has announced.
Clinton has two additional events in Iowa today, while Kaine has one.
Related: Suspect identified in 'ambush-style' killings of Des Moines police officers
2.24pm GMT
David Fahrenthold, the Washington Post reporter who has exposed questionable conduct by Donald Trump’s foundation, points readers to a thread in which tax professor Philip Hackney notes that Trump may have violated laws against self-dealing and may owe taxes on certain transactions related to his foundation:
Great thread by an actual tax expert (unlike me) about @realDonaldTrump's foundation. https://t.co/lbR2DvMx4p
. Quick tutorial in 10 tweets on @realDonaldTrump Fdn. This is 1. Once money in charitable organization it is no longer donor's, its public
6) @realDonaldTrump @Fahrenthold PF cannot pay compensation even to founder or his family
10) @realDonaldTrump @Fahrenthold Would you let your charity buy a painting for its founder's private business? I don't think so. The End
1.40pm GMT
A key confidante of Donald Trump has provided new details about the “mutual friend” of Julian Assange who served as a back channel to give him broad tips in advance about WikiLeaks’ releases of emails to and from key allies of Hillary Clinton.
Roger Stone, a longtime unofficial adviser to the Republican presidential nominee, was briefed in general terms in advance about the sensitive and embarrassing leaked Democratic emails by an American libertarian who works in the media on the “opinion side”, he told the Guardian in an interview.
Related: Trump adviser reveals how Assange ally warned him about leaked Clinton emails
12.49pm GMT
Hello, and welcome to our live-wire coverage of the 2016 race for the White House, which, in any case, is almost over. Hillary Clinton has rallies in Arizona and New Mexico today, while Donald Trump is making three Florida stops.
Barack Obama heads back out on the trail again today on Clinton’s behalf, with a rally planned in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Tim Kaine, Bill Clinton and the musician Ben Harper are scheduled to appear together at a rally in Des Moines, where two police officers were shot dead overnight (see further below). The National is playing a concert on Clinton’s behalf in Cincinnati.
The most anticipated poll release since the last poll I waited for https://t.co/rdtz6wyKGS But seriously, it's a big one.
New Bloomberg poll, all post-Comey, finds Clinton leading Trump among independents by four points https://t.co/yAAziVN3rv
Related: 'Don’t get distracted, don’t get diverted': Hillary Clinton pulls out all the stops in Florida
Related: Clinton's rare visit to Arizona is unusual show of confidence that she'll win there
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7am in Washington. pic.twitter.com/vaOXDxFV1C
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