memeorandum: Fearing Trump, Bar Association Stifles Report Calling Him a ‘Libel Bully’ (Adam Liptak/New York Times)

12:10 PM ET, October 25, 2016

Top Items:

Jennifer Duffy / The Cook Political Report:

Senate Democrats Poised to Pick Up 5-7 Seats — Senate Republicans had been doing a pretty solid job of maintaining their distance from GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump by running their own campaign that focused largely on more local issues or those issues that motivate their base.

Discussion: RedState, Talking Points Memo, Politico and Washington Post

Marc Caputo / Politico:

Florida spirals away from Trump — From polling to early voting trends to TV ad spending to ground game, Donald Trump's Florida fortunes are beginning to look so bleak that some Republicans are steeling themselves for what could be the equivalent of a “landslide” loss in the nation's biggest battleground state.

Discussion: McClatchy Washington Bureau, New York Magazine, Hullabaloo, The Week and Washington Post

Marc Caputo / Politico:

Florida Democrats poised to overtake Republicans in early votes — MIAMI — Fueled by a strong first day of in-person early voting, more than 1.6 million Floridians have cast pre-Election Day ballots as Democrats threaten to overtake Republicans in the number of votes banked before Nov. 8.

Discussion: steveschale.squarespace.com and Guardian

NBC News:

Poll: Republican Party Fractured As Hillary Clinton Maintains Solid Lead — Hillary Clinton's 5-point lead over Donald Trump remains virtually unchanged since last week—but after prolonged in-fighting among GOP party leaders, a majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters (57 percent) …

Discussion: The Hill, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Towleroad, Political Wire, AOL and CNBC

ABC News:

Stressed About the Election? If So, You've Got Company — For all their sharp differences, supporters of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have one thing in common: election-related stress. Nearly half of all likely voters in the ABC News tracking poll, 46 percent, describe the election …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Associated Press and New York Magazine

Patrick Svitek / The Texas Tribune:
Top Hispanic Republican in Texas says he will vote for Clinton

Discussion: Politicus USA

Michael Falcone / ABC News:
The Note: Warren Goes to War

Discussion: New York Magazine, twitchy.com and Associated Press

Hadas Gold / Politico:

Breitbart coordinated with liberal activist and organizer who disrupted GOP primary campaign events — A liberal activist and organizer coordinated with reporters from the conservative news site Breitbart during the primaries to cover his disruptions of events for candidates such as Sen. Marco Rubio.

Discussion: The Resurgent, RedState, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, Mediaite, New York Magazine, The Week, The Right Scoop, Raw Story and Project Veritas Action, more at Mediagazer »

Warren Henry / The Federalist:
Liberals Adored Trump When He Was Winning The GOP Primary

Discussion: Salon and Washington Post

Michael Gross / The Daily Beast:

Inside Donald Trump's One-Stop Parties: Attendees Recall Cocaine and Very Young Models — The morals of Donald J. Trump, as a longtime model lover and then a modeling agency owner, were forged in another era, one in which young girls were used as a sort of currency between men doing business with one another.

Discussion: alan.com, Raw Story, Occupy Democrats, The Right Scoop, RedState and Little Green Footballs

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

Reid: ‘I have set the Senate’ for nuclear option — (D-Nev.) is predicting a Democratic-majority Senate next year could break out the “nuclear option” to change the rules on Supreme Court nominations. — The outgoing Democratic leader told Talking Points Memo that he's paved …

Discussion: neo-neocon, Constitution Daily, New York Magazine, Daily Kos and Instapundit

Jeffrey Toobin / New Yorker:
Clarence Thomas's Twenty-Five Years Without Footprints

Discussion: Althouse

Jamelle Bouie / Slate:

The Most Astute Analysis of American Politics in 2016? SNL's “Black Jeopardy!” Sketch. — It had more to say about class and race than a thousand tenderly crafted portraits of the white working class. — For the past year, political journalists across the ideological spectrum have worked …

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Fearing Trump, Bar Association Stifles Report Calling Him a ‘Libel Bully’ — WASHINGTON — Alarmed by Donald J. Trump's record of filing lawsuits to punish and silence his critics, a committee of media lawyers at the American Bar Association commissioned a report on Mr. Trump's litigation history.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Times, Hit & Run, BillMoyers.com, New York Magazine, The Week, Mediaite and ThinkProgress

Sarah Ferris / The Hill:

Feds: Most states to see steep ObamaCare rate hikes — The price of the most popular plan under ObamaCare will increase by an average of 25 percent on the federal marketplace next year, according to data released Monday. — This year's increase — which is more than triple that of last year's …

Discussion: kff.org, The Daily Caller, Washington Free Beacon and The Daily Signal

Tami Luhby / CNNMoney:
Obamacare premiums to soar 22%

Discussion: The Federalist, Townhall.com, Scared Monkeys, RedState, Power Line, The Resurgent, Daily Wire, Hot Air and ASPE

Alexandra Jaffe / NBC News:

Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey Still Won't Answer Trump Question — Democrats push hard for a win in Pennsylvania 6:33 — Sen. Pat Toomey again refused to say whether he would vote for Donald Trump, making him the only vulnerable Republican senator to keep his constituents in the dark on where he stands on the issue.

Discussion: NBC News, alan.com and Political Wire

Danielle Keeton-Olsen / Talking Points Memo:

Clinton Leads By Eight Points In Siena/NYT Upshot North Carolina Poll — Hillary Clinton sits eight points ahead of Donald Trump in North Carolina following the final presidential debate, according to a new poll from Siena College/New York Times Upshot. — Clinton leads the poll …

Discussion: The New Civil Rights Movement

Betta Stothart / Washington Post:

How angry does Donald Trump make me? Angry enough to steal 40 Trump signs. — How a middle-aged mom became a political vandal. … Donald Trump campaigns in Bangor, Maine, on Oct. 15. (Photo by Sarah Rice/Getty Images) — FALMOUTH, Maine — I committed a crime this month, along with two of my friends.

Discussion: Althouse and Central Maine

Kent Justice / WJXT-TV:

Trump quieter, but makes similar points in one-on-one interview — GOP presidential nominee gives interview, meets with first responders — ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - Speaking with Donald Trump before he took the stage at the St. Augustine Amphitheater Monday afternoon, the Republican nominee …

Discussion: CNBC and Business Insider

Brian Beutler / New Republic:

Obama Was Right About Republican Extremism All Along — They should've listened to his warnings about the dangers of right-wing rhetoric. Now they're going to pay for it. — It has been a long time since a popular, term-limited president has campaigned vigorously on behalf of his presumptive heir.

Discussion: Business Insider

Giovanni Russonello / New York Times:

Voters Fear Their Ballot Won't Count, Poll Shows — Fewer than half of Americans are very confident that their vote for president will be counted correctly — and most say their ballot will not matter anyway because the political process is so dominated by corporate interests.

Discussion: PRRI

Melissa Leon / The Daily Beast:

‘The Walking Dead’ Just Isn't Fun Anymore — Torture porn is what most people call bloody, meaningless images of sadistic cruelty on a TV screen. The Walking Dead, unsurprisingly, calls it prime-time entertainment. Me, I call it exhausting. When real life already seems a few calamitous steps away …

Discussion: Shakesville and USA Today

Issie Lapowsky / Wired:

Trump's Campaign Is Launching a Nightly News Show on Facebook — Welcome to the Donald Trump show! — Tonight, the Trump campaign is kicking off a show that will air on the candidate's Facebook page every night at 6:30 pm ET via Facebook Live from the campaign war room at Trump Tower.

Discussion: CNNMoney, Donald J. Trump, Business Insider, AOL, New York Magazine, Media Matters for America, Engadget, Politicus USA and RedState, more at Mediagazer »

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

The lap dogs of democracy who didn't bark at Trump — Donald Trump's closing argument has been to blame his fall on the dishonest, corrupt, horrible, poisonous and biased media. — Trump is correct that there has been something wrong with the coverage. But the problem is the media …

Josh Israel / ThinkProgress:

James O'Keefe quietly employs convicted felon who tried to blackmail David Letterman — Former TV producer Robert “Joe” Halderman now helping Project Veritas with guerrilla filmmaking — With $10,000 in funding from Donald Trump's “charitable” foundation, guerrilla filmmaker James O'Keefe …

Discussion: Business Insider, Raw Story, electionlawblog.org and Washington Times

Kenneth Lipp / The Daily Beast:

AT&T Is Spying on Americans for Profit — On Nov. 11, 2013, Victorville, California, sheriff's deputies and a coroner responded to a motorcyclist's report of human remains outside of town. — They identified the partially bleached skull of a child, and later discovered the remains …

Lukas Mikelionis / Heat Street:

Left-Wing Berkeley Protesters Demand ‘Spaces of Color’, Harass White Students Trying to Pass — Left-wing students at the University of California, Berkeley are protesting again. This time, however, these students are calling for “safe spaces” for transgendered people, as well as …

Mark Hensch / The Hill:

Obama reads round two of ‘mean tweets’ on Kimmel — President Obama will appear on ABC's “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” late Monday night, reading a second batch of “mean tweets” about himself. — ...bro, do you even lift?" he read. “ Well, I lifted the ban on Cuban cigars. That's worth something.

Discussion: Vox, ABC News, Politico and Raw Story

Pippa Norris / Washington Post:

How will Trump supporters react if he loses? — What will happen if Hillary Clinton wins the U.S. presidency, as is widely predicted? Will Trump's supporters raise pitchforks and torches on Nov. 9, rejecting the results — or will they accept the loss? — Donald Trump has ratcheted …

Discussion: Guardian

CNN:

How the GOP's first female presidential campaign manager manages Donald Trump — Conway on Trump: ‘He delivers his own speeches’ — (CNN)Morning at the Conway household is like mornings in most homes with children. It's a scramble to get the kids fed, dressed and out the door on time for school …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Week, New York Magazine and Mediaite

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:

WOW! Tim Kaine Holds Rally and ONLY 30 PEOPLE Show Up! — THIS IS JUST EFFING INCREDIBLE! — Hillary's VP pick Tim Kaine Held a Rally today AND NOBODY CAME! — There were literally like 30 people there — in West Palm Beach, Florida. — And that includes journalists and operatives.

Discussion: TruthFeed and The Week

The Brickmuppet / Brickmuppet Blog 2.0:

Steven DenBeste 1952(?)-2016 — Steven DenBeste has passed away. — I just received word from Steven's brother, graciously thanking me for making the welfare call to the police and confirming that what many of us feared had indeed come to pass. I did not inquire as to specifics …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, Samizdata, neo-neocon and Outside the Beltway

Josh Barro / Business Insider:

Fact-free conservative media is a symptom of GOP troubles, not a cause — My colleagues Oliver Darcy and Pamela Engel have written a good account of the Republican Party's captivity to its own disinformation complex of talk radio and conservative websites that push both extremism and false information.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Examiner, bradford-delong.com and RedState