memeorandum: Clinton-Trump Race Narrows on the Doorstep of the Debates (POLL) (Gary Langer/ABC News)

5:15 PM ET, September 25, 2016

Top Items:

‘This Week’ Transcript: Kellyanne Conway, Robby Mook, and Gary Johnson — THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT FOR ‘THIS WEEK’ on September 25, 2016 and it will be updated. — STEPHANOPOULOSTEPHANOPOULOS: And we are joined now by Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook. Robby, thanks for coming in —

Discussion: Associated Press, Mediaite, Politico, Politicus USA, Althouse, Infowars, The Week, The Huffington Post and BuzzFeed

Nicholas Kristof / New York Times:

How to Cover a Charlatan Like Trump — WITH presidential debates approaching, we in journalism are locked in a fierce dispute: How should we report on a duplicitous demagogue? — Traditionally, American reporters respond to a controversy by quoting people on each side and letting the public decide.

Fawn Johnson / Morning Consult:

Trump Edges Above Clinton Ahead of First Debate — Donald Trump leads Hillary Clinton by 1 percentage point among likely voters who were polled a few days ahead of the much-anticipated debate between the two presidential candidates. The debate will take place Monday evening.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Hot Air and Guardian

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

Poll: Clinton, Trump in virtual dead heat on eve of first debate — Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will meet Monday night for their first debate in a virtual dead heat in the race for the White House, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, with the Democratic nominee's August advantage erased …

Discussion: Hot Air, Business Insider, Althouse and twitchy.com

Gary Langer / ABC News:

Clinton-Trump Race Narrows on the Doorstep of the Debates (POLL) — The race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump has narrowed to essentially a dead heat nationally in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, raising the stakes dramatically for the first presidential debate Monday night.

Discussion: Mediaite and alan.com

Jill Disis / CNNMoney:

Debate commission chief: Candidates should fact-check each other — The head of the Commission on Presidential Debates has some advice for debate moderators this fall: leave the fact-checking to the candidates. — Janet Brown, executive director of the commission, told CNN's Brian Stelter …

Discussion: ABC News, Joe.My.God., New York Times and Balloon Juice

Samantha Page / ThinkProgress:

Trump campaign says media should not be ‘fact-checkers’ — On the eve of the first presidential debate, a Trump spokesperson says Trump should not be challenged by the media or moderators. — Hours after the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times published separate stories outlining …

Discussion: ABC News, New York Times, Politicus USA, Media Matters for America, Daily Kos, Lawyers, Guns & Money, alan.com, twitchy.com and Mother Jones

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:
Debate Commission Official Wary of Moderators Fact-Checking: Shouldn't Be ‘Encyclopedia’

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Conway calls Trump ‘the Babe Ruth of debating’

Discussion: The Hill, Instapundit and Weasel Zippers

Margaret Chadbourn / ABC News: Trump Campaign in Change of Tone Calls Debate Moderator ‘Brilliant’

Morning Call:
Trump makes big gains in latest Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll of Pa. voters

Discussion: Washington Post and Politico

Aleister / The Gateway Pundit: Roger Stone: Hillary Will Draw First Debate Blood at Her Own Peril (VIDEO)

Washington Post:
Clinton and Trump in virtual dead heat before first debate

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Politico, The Week and Instapundit

The Seattle Times:

Suspect in mall shooting arrested; community mourns victims — Families of five people killed during a shooting rampage at a Burlington mall Friday night were mourning Saturday, as police arrested a suspect in Oak Harbor. — BURLINGTON, Skagit County — Tips and surveillance video led …

Lynn Jacobson / The Seattle Times:

Police mistakenly describe Cascade Mall shooting suspect as ‘Hispanic’; protests erupt on Twitter — A controversy began brewing Friday night when Mount Vernon police described the suspect in the Cascade Mall shooting as a Hispanic male in his late teens to mid-20s with a close-shaved haircut.

Discussion: Jihad Watch

CNN:
Suspect charged in Washington mall shooting

Discussion: Hot Air, MichelleMalkin.com, Liberty Unyielding and Clayton Cramer

New York Times:
Man, 20, in Custody After Fatal Shooting of 5 People at Mall Outside Seattle

Discussion: AOL and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Nickarama / Weasel Zippers:
BREAKING: Caught: Cascade Mall Suspect Taken Into Custody, Arcan Cetin...UPDATE: Women Who Knew Him Give Him Thumbs Down

Discussion: twitchy.com

Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard:

Virginia Slim: The Race Tightens — Trump on the rise in the Old Dominion. — Photo credit: Evan Vucci / AP — Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Wash-ing-ton, addressed a local group in Fred-ericksburg, Virginia, last week and talked about Donald Trump's chances of winning the state.

CBS News:
Poll: Clinton, Trump in tossup Colorado race; Clinton holds lead in Virginia

Discussion: The Hill

William Jordan / YouGov US Opinion Center News: Race tightens in Virginia; Trump down by 1 in Colorado, up by 9 in Missouri

Brent Griffiths / Politico:

Donald Trump's Week of Misrepresentations, Exaggerations and Half-Truths — As August ended, a new Donald Trump emerged. Coached by his third campaign management team, he stayed on message, read from a teleprompter and focused on policy. It lasted about a month.

Discussion: New Century Times

Caitlin Yilek / The Hill:

Don King defends using N-word at Trump event — Boxing promoter Don King is defending his use of the N-word while introducing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump — at a campaign event in Ohio last week. — King, an African-American, let the N-word slip when he argued why black people “cannot assimilate.”

John R. Schindler / The New York Observer:

The FBI Investigation of EmailGate Was a Sham — NSA Analyst: We now have incontrovertible proof the Bureau never had any intention of prosecuting Hillary Clinton — From the moment the EmailGate scandal went public more than a year ago, it was obvious that the Federal Bureau …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Infowars and New York Post

Matthew Watkins / The Texas Tribune:

One Day After Endorsement, Cruz Refuses to Say Trump is Fit for the Presidency … Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout. — One day after endorsing Donald Trump for president, Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz refused Saturday to say whether he thinks the Republican nominee is fit to lead the country.

Discussion: Independent Journal Review and RedState

Bob Owens / Bearing Arms:

BREAKING: Ankle Holster Clearly Visible As Police Release Keith Scott Shooting Video — Charlotte police are releasing body camera and dash camera video of the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, a convicted felon who was shot and killed by Officer Brentley Vinson after Scott was told by police to drop his handgun 11 times in 45 seconds.

Discussion: Hot Air and Townhall.com