Businessman stares down GOP rift while Clinton draws big crowd in Ohio
Trump marches on amid spiraling disaster of Republican party desertion
5.29pm BST
Senator Marco Rubio, who looks good in his reelection bid in Florida, has announced that he is standing by his endorsement of Trump, saying that he disagrees with Trump “on many things, but I disagree with his opponent on virtually everything”:
Marco Rubio statement standing by his endorsement of Donald Trump: pic.twitter.com/r34wIOas4f
5.15pm BST
Bill Clinton is about to appear at a get-out-the-vote event in Belle Glade, Florida. Here’s a live video stream:
Ground game asymmetry. In FL last month:
-Rep party submitted 117 voter reg applications
-Dem party submitted 6,920 https://t.co/wVBG3pvJHd
Hillary's strength in registering and recruiting voters early in FL and NC could make this election a done deal soon https://t.co/iKScWUNoOo
The first wave of data from states like Florida and North Carolina shows preliminary signs that Mrs. Clinton was building a slight edge even before the revelation that Donald J. Trump had bragged about sexual assaultroiled the race.
Democrats are requesting more absentee ballots in Florida than they were at this point in 2012, with increases of 50 percent in the heavily Hispanic areas around Miami and Orlando. In North Carolina, where Mitt Romney built enough of a lead in early voting four years ago to edge out a victory over President Obama, Democrats are requesting mail-in ballots in larger numbers than in 2012, while Republicans’ participation is declining.
5.04pm BST
With voter registration deadlines falling today in numerous states, the Guardian interactive team has taken a look at voter turnout in each state.
Can you guess/ do you know the rate of voter turnout in your state? Click through below.
Related: What is the voter turnout in your state? An election quiz
4.54pm BST
Former Fox talker Glenn Beck, an erstwhile Ted Cruz friend who has ranted about Barack Obama being a racist and compared Al Gore to Hitler, has written on Facebook that Hillary Clinton is the “moral, ethical” choice in this election.
“It is not acceptable to ask a moral, dignified man to cast his vote to help elect an immoral man who is absent decency or dignity,” Beck writes. “If the consequence of standing against Trump and for principles is indeed the election of Hillary Clinton, so be it. At least it is a moral, ethical choice.
If she is elected, the world does not end.... Once elected, Hillary can be fought...
The alternative does not offer a moral person the same opportunity. If one helps to elect an immoral man to the highest office, then one is merely validating his immorality, lewdness, and depravity.
Apparently they’re serving ice cream in Hell todayhttps://t.co/icBAtVqhBm
4.41pm BST
Both campaigns have released new ads out today. The Trump campaign argues that Clinton is not the right leader for these dangerous times, while the Clinton campaign uses people reading from her book “It takes a village” to appeal to Mormon voters to give her a look.
First the Trump ad. It adds a twist to the world-is-scary campaign video trope by mixing in video of Clinton stumbling getting into her van, coughing and being helped on a staircase.
"She doesn’t quit. She doesn’t give up...She’s a fighter." -- Donald Trump TWO DAYS AGO https://t.co/8i7Vo8ML01
4.34pm BST
Ohio governor John Kasich, who’s not #nevertrump but who’s never been for Trump, and who sat out his party’s national convention in his home state, is encouraging Ohio voters not to miss today’s registration deadline:
Ohio's voter registration deadline is TODAY. Register or update your registration at https://t.co/WBMIHeVJf5
Today’s the deadline to register to vote in OH, PA, MI, NM, TX, GA, IN, KY, LA, TN, SC and DC - https://t.co/gBL8EReh7T
4.24pm BST
Trump or Dylan?
"I've been double-crossed now for the very last time and now I'm finally free"
— who said it?
4.19pm BST
A phone and a remote control. At least no football?
Trump is at Trump Tower, per a person close to him. Watching TV, tweeting. With Bannon & others who encourage his anti-estab R sentiment...
@costareports Imagine it's the oval office. ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!
4.15pm BST
There has been no shortage this election cycle of stories about how Paul Ryan, the top elected Republican, might un-endorse Donald Trump.
It’s now 11 October – 28 days out – and Trump is attacking Ryan highly publicly as “very weak and ineffective” and Trump appears to be trying to crush, Stephen Bannon-style, the rest of the Republican party which is essential to Ryan’s life work if anything is.
Paul Ryan may not be done yet.
As thoroughly as the House speaker shocked the national political establishment Monday by saying he’s done with Donald Trump and it’s time to focus on his House majority, there’s a distinct possibility Ryan will go a step further and completely yank his endorsement, sources close to him told POLITICO.
Ryan is still endorsing Trump. https://t.co/L30EZvUbm0
Some context: the person closest to Trump right now -- Bannon -- published this story about Ryan in July https://t.co/ktEjVbLV28
3.55pm BST
Instead of embedding each new Trump tweet in its own block, we’ll do periodic roundups (if he keeps going). Here’s volume one, including his new tweet, for posterity:
Disloyal R's are far more difficult than Crooked Hillary. They come at you from all sides. They don’t know how to win - I will teach them!
With the exception of cheating Bernie out of the nom the Dems have always proven to be far more loyal to each other than the Republicans!
It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to.
THE PARTY DECIDES: Republicans won't pick Trump because no party could fuck up a nomination that badly.
REPUBLICANS: Oh yeah? Just watch us.
3.53pm BST
Maybe this is Trump’s strategy: get the headlines away from the debate his surrogates are pushing about whether unwanted genital-touching constitutes sexual assault. It’s a distraction technique?
Just a thought about Trump's tweets this morning: A war with Washington and "establishment" is a better headline than the lewd tape
New fires has been how he has put out old fires his whole campaign (and career) -->https://t.co/SBS5wb0ZuX
3.43pm BST
What’s Trump’s game here?
With the exception of cheating Bernie out of the nom the Dems have always proven to be far more loyal to each other than the Republicans!
13 states have voter registration deadlines TODAY: FL, OH, PA, MI, GA, TX, NM, IN, LA, TN, AR, KY, SC.
Register: https://t.co/9oSr60oP8H
Ooof pic.twitter.com/c70BViTOUc
This election is like a bad made-for-TV movie about a presidential nominee who goes nuts. The only question: is he is also a Russian agent?
3.35pm BST
Speaking of Tipper Gore, who founded and led the anti-expression group showcased in the previous block’s video – former vice president Al Gore, from whom Tipper separated in 2010, is scheduled to campaign with Hillary Clinton in Miami, Florida, this afternoon.
3.30pm BST
This blog has not made it common practice to showcase the thinking of Katrina Pierson, the Trump surrogate whose controversial statements often seem to play out over in the corner while the campaign action is at midfield.
However in this case, Pierson gives voice to an argument heard elsewhere in the last 24 hours from the mouths of other prominent Trump supporters: it’s hypocritical to find fault with Trump’s hot mic statement about grabbing genitalia without consent because, hip-hop.
But I do quite [sic] find it rich that we have Democrats and the left talking about rape culture, when they’re the ones backed fully by Hollywood. This rape culture is purported [sic] by none other than the entertainment industry, none other than hip-hop music, which you can hear on local radio stations.
Trump surrogates going all in on "but rap lyrics tho" defense pic.twitter.com/GNViErCcni
3.14pm BST
Where’s your Tuesday at?
https://t.co/oU9SM3I18L pic.twitter.com/B9LaYYdWHE
3.07pm BST
Donald Trump tweets that “the shackles have been taken off.”
He seems to mean that to this point, he had been toning it down out of deference to the guidance or demands of elected Republicans, but that’s over.
It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to.
Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty.
4 out of 10 families look to women as the sole breadwinners. @RepMcSally is leading a working group to find solutions to their challenges. pic.twitter.com/pxOIhGwmkR
Warning to GOP candidates
If you #DumpTrump, many of Trump's supporters will dump you.
A fellow who used to work for former Sen. Lugar, a moderate R, just stopped me to say, "I don't have a party any more." Sad.
1.26pm BST
Hello and welcome to our live-wire coverage of the 2016 race for the White House.
Republican officials have been tying themselves in tightening knots in an attempt to argue that touching women’s genitalia without consent, as described by Donald Trump, does not constitute sexual assault.
While I was asked question about a matter of law, it is never appropriate to touch anyone in an unwelcome manner. https://t.co/uSEaDC78aY
I think the GOP just had its Todd Akin "legitimate rape" moment of 2016.... https://t.co/QcQ7NSmZf5
That's not fair to Todd Akin. No comparison. This much worse. https://t.co/3a9EYqkoKT
Related: Is grabbing women's genitals sexual assault? Trump backers suggest it's not
Desite winning the second debate in a landslide (every poll), it is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support!
Politico poll too finds Hillary won the debate.
Politico - Clinton 42 / Trump 28
CNN - Clinton 57 / Trump 24
YouGov - Clinton 47 / Trump 42
Related: Trump marches on amid spiraling disaster of Republican party desertion
.@HillaryClinton on the campus of The Ohio State University. pic.twitter.com/gRpPGuZwDk
THIS. REALLY. JUST. HAPPENED. pic.twitter.com/LiTbQnMYrL
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