Top Items:

More people watched Biden on ABC than Trump on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC — New York (CNN Business)Joe Biden's town hall on ABC averaged 13.9 million viewers on Thursday night, easily surpassing the Nielsen ratings for President Trump's town hall on NBC. That alone was a result virtually no one in the TV business expected.
Discussion:
The Wrap, Washington Post, Forbes, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Mother Jones, New York Times, Washington Free Beacon, Daily Kos, Breitbart, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, IndieWire, ABC News, The National Interest, The American Independent, Vox, Washington Times, New York Post, UPI, Little Green Footballs, Deadline, The Root and Conservative News Today, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:

TV Ratings: Biden Leads Town Hall Duel With Trump in Early Numbers … Presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump appeared in directly competing town halls on Thursday night, after the President dropped out of the second debate. — Trump's hourlong appearance on NBC …

Trump miffed by Guthrie's questioning at town hall — President Donald Trump cranked up the sarcasm on Friday as he swiped at NBC's Savannah Guthrie during the prior night's town hall special in Miami. — “Another evening in paradise, I call it,” Trump said at an unrelated event in Fort Myers, Fla.
Discussion:
Slate, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Reuters and Political Wire

The Presidential Town Halls Were Mister Rogers Versus Nasty Uncle Trump — Even Donald Trump has moments of self-awareness. During an interview last week with Rush Limbaugh, the right-wing talk-radio host whom he honored with the Medal of Freedom earlier this year, the President briefly abandoned …

Biden's ABC town hall questioners include former Obama speechwriter, wife of former Pennsylvania Dem candidate
Discussion:
Townhall, NBC News, OutKick, Vox, The Gateway Pundit, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, New York Post, Twitchy, The Hill, Associated Press, ABC News and Washington Free Beacon
Jon Allsop / Columbia Journalism Review:
Guthrie grills Trump, but NBC still has to answer for itself
Guthrie grills Trump, but NBC still has to answer for itself
David Bauder / Associated Press:
For grateful NBC, Savannah Guthrie changes the subject
For grateful NBC, Savannah Guthrie changes the subject
Discussion:
Politico, Reuters, KRQE-TV, Variety, The Hill, Damian J. Penny and The Gateway Pundit
Jessica Lipscomb / Miami New Times:
Woman Who Likes Trump's Smile: “I Wish He Would Smile More and Talk Less”
Woman Who Likes Trump's Smile: “I Wish He Would Smile More and Talk Less”
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Conservative News Today and IJR
Dan Gainor / Fox News:
Trump's NBC town hall turns into debate with moderator — and Trump wins
Trump's NBC town hall turns into debate with moderator — and Trump wins
Discussion:
New York Times, The Daily Beast and The Guardian

Scoop: Trump's advisers brace for loss, point fingers — Three senior Trump advisers who recently talked to campaign manager Bill Stepien walked away believing he thinks they will lose. — The big picture: The Trump campaign is filled with internal blaming and pre-spinning of a potential loss …
Discussion:
Politico, Breitbart, Washington Post, The Hill, POLITICUSUSA, Alternet.org, Progress Pond, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Slate, Mediaite, The Week and Fox News
RELATED:

Kushner and McDaniel bring back Katie Walsh Shields to offer strategic advice — In recent days, Jared Kushner has brought back 2016 Republican National Committee chief of staff Katie Walsh Shields to offer strategic advice in the RNC's collaboration with the Trump campaign …
Discussion:
Raw Story

Former White House chief of staff tells friends that Trump ‘is the most flawed person’ he's ever met — (CNN)Former White House chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, has told friends that President Donald Trump “is the most flawed person” he's ever known. — “The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me.
Discussion:
Raw Story

He's 32. He's Joe Biden's Press Secretary. And He Has Stage 4 Cancer. — TJ Ducklo found out what it's like to work a presidential campaign while you're battling a devastating personal health crisis. — Everybody on the Biden campaign remembers the day that TJ Ducklo got back on the trail.

EXCLUSIVE: 1-On-1 With Rudy Giuliani — What Haven't We Seen From The Hunter Biden Hard Drive, And Why Won't He Release It In Full? — New York City — Direct evidence implicating former Vice President Joe Biden in a pay-for-play corruption scandal will be released to the public 10 days prior …
Discussion:
TheBlaze
RELATED:

National security adviser warned Trump in December 2019 that Giuliani was target of Russian disinformation campaign
Eric Tucker / Associated Press:
AP source: FBI probing if emails part of influence operation
AP source: FBI probing if emails part of influence operation
Discussion:
Forbes, The Daily Caller and NBC News

Major Democratic group pulls out of Colorado Senate race — DENVER — A major Democratic group on Friday pulled its last remaining ads from Colorado's closely watched U.S. Senate race, a sign that the party thinks its nominee has the crucial race in the bag.
Discussion:
Politico, The Hill, The Colorado Sun and CBS Denver
RELATED:

Karl Evers-Hillstrom / OpenSecrets.org:
Democratic Senate candidates have an unprecedented financial advantage
Democratic Senate candidates have an unprecedented financial advantage

Supreme Court will review Trump plan to exclude undocumented immigrants from calculations for congressional seats — The Supreme Court announced Friday that it will review President Trump's attempt to exclude undocumented immigrants when calculating how congressional seats are apportioned among the states.
Discussion:
ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Bloomberg, Political Wire, Alternet.org, WTOP and KRQE-TV
RELATED:

Supreme Court will hear Trump appeal to exclude undocumented immigrants from census count used to determine congressional districts
Discussion:
Politico, Axios, SCOTUSblog, Raw Story and New York Post
Pete Williams / NBC News:
Supreme Court to decide whether census can exclude undocumented immigrants
Supreme Court to decide whether census can exclude undocumented immigrants
Discussion:
Townhall, CNN, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, IJR and NPR

Donald Trump Has At Least $1 Billion In Debt, More Than Twice The Amount He Suggested — The president's liabilities are spelled out in dozens of documents, published here. — No aspect of Donald Trump's business has been the subject of more speculation than his debt load.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, CNN and Raw Story

Exclusive — ‘This is China, Inc.’: Emails Reveal Hunter Biden's Associates Helped Communist-Aligned Chinese Elites Secure White House Meetings — Newly obtained emails from a Hunter Biden business partner lay out in detail how the Vice President's son and his colleagues used their access …
Discussion:
Redstate, Power Line, Townhall and The Gateway Pundit

In Ohio, a Printing Company Is Overwhelmed and Mail Ballots Are Delayed — The company was until recently flying a “Trump 2020” flag over its Cleveland headquarters. The problems it has had underscore the stress that mail voting has put on the nation's election process amid the pandemic.
Discussion:
Political Wire and Ohio Capital Journal

Teacher in Paris suburb decapitated, allegedly after showing cartoons of prophet Muhammad in class — PARIS — A high school teacher in a Paris suburb was decapitated Friday afternoon, French authorities said, in an attack that occurred after the teacher had allegedly shown caricatures of the prophet Muhammad to his students.
Discussion:
NBC News, UPI, One America News Network and The Daily Beast

Susan Collins Backs QAnon Believers for Maine Legislature — Candidates advocate “God-declared executions” for “traitorous” Jews, Catholics, Black Lives Matter and environmental activists — Sen. Susan Collins is financially supporting the state legislative campaigns of two fellow Maine Republicans …
Discussion:
Bangor Daily News and Balloon Juice

Fearing a ‘Blood Bath,’ Republican Senators Begin to Edge Away From Trump — The statements offer an answer to the question of when Republicans might begin to repudiate the president after years of embracing him: the moment they believed he threatened their own political survival.
Discussion:
New Republic, Roll Call, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Fox News, Vanity Fair, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Breitbart and Slate

Pfizer Says It Won't Seek Vaccine Authorization Before Mid-November — Friday's announcement represents a shift in tone for the company and its leader, who has repeatedly emphasized the month of October in interviews and public appearances. — The chief executive of Pfizer said on Friday …
Discussion:
Politico, No More Mister Nice Blog, Al Jazeera, Raw Story and The Week
RELATED:

In Reversal, Twitter Is No Longer Blocking New York Post Article — The latest change underlined how rapidly social media platforms are shifting their positions in the days leading up to the election. — SAN FRANCISCO — It is the 11th hour before the presidential election.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Wired, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Columbia Journalism Review, The Week and Reason, more at Mediagazer »
The Babylon Bee:
Twitter Shuts Down Entire Network To Slow Spread Of Negative Biden News … SAN FRANCISCO, CA—In a last-ditch effort to stop negative stories about Joe Biden and his family from spreading, Twitter shut down its entire social network Thursday. — After seeing account after account tweet …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Politico, Vox, Raw Story, Rolling Stone, Variety, Vanity Fair, The Hill, Bloomberg, Breitbart, The Wrap, The Daily Caller, Slate, USA Today and Talking Points Memo

Sex banned indoors for Tier 2 couples living apart, Number 10 confirms — {{#singleComment}}{{value}} comment{{/singleComment}}{{^singleComme nt}}{{value}} comments{{/singleComment}} — ES News email — The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates

The federal budget deficit hit a record $3.1 trillion in the 2020 fiscal year. — The federal budget deficit soared to a record $3.1 trillion in the 2020 fiscal year, official figures showed on Friday, as the coronavirus pandemic fueled enormous government spending while tax receipts plunged …
RELATED:
Vince Golle / Bloomberg:
U.S. Budget Gap Tripled to Record $3.1 Trillion in Fiscal 2020
U.S. Budget Gap Tripled to Record $3.1 Trillion in Fiscal 2020
Discussion:
Washington Post

End Our National Crisis — whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. — It is separate from the newsroom. — THE VERDICT — Donald Trump's re-election campaign poses the greatest threat to American democracy since World War II.

What About the Rest of the Constitution? — Amy Coney Barrett's originalism ignores the significance of the second American Revolution. — On Tuesday, Judge Amy Coney Barrett took a few minutes during her confirmation hearing to discuss her judicial philosophy, best known as originalism.

Who Was ‘El Padrino,’ Godfather to Drug Cartel? Mexico's Defense Chief, U.S. Says — Drug enforcement agents had long tried to solve the mystery of “El Padrino,” a shadowy, powerful force. They've now identified him as Salvador Cienfuegos, Mexico's defense chief from 2012 to 2018.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera, WTOP, The Daily Caller and Washington Free Beacon

Trump administration rejects, then approves, emergency aid for California fires, including biggest blaze in state history — SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Fueled by extreme heat and dry, windy conditions, wildfires ravaged California in September, blazing through almost 1.9 million acres …
Discussion:
CNN, Axios, Al Jazeera, Politico, NPR, One America News Network and Forbes

State Department signals it will keep most details of its spending at Trump's properties hidden until after election — The State Department says it has about 450 pages of records showing government spending at President Trump's properties. But this week, it signaled that it plans to release …

Trump Organization Considers Sale of Its Seven Springs Property — Westchester, N.Y., estate has been difficult to develop — The Trump Organization is considering selling its sprawling Westchester, N.Y., estate, according to people familiar with the matter, after years …

Alaska Is More Competitive, but Republicans Still Lead — A fondness for minor-party candidates injects some uncertainty, making the state an unlikely late-stage battleground. — New York Times/Siena College poll of likely voters in Alaska — Trump — 45% — Biden — 39% — Jorgensen
Discussion:
Fox News, Liberty Unyielding and Siena College Research …

A Regulatory Rush by Federal Agencies to Secure Trump's Legacy — With the president's re-election in doubt, cabinet departments are scrambling to finish dozens of new rules affecting millions of Americans. — WASHINGTON — Facing the prospect that President Trump could lose his re-election bid …
Discussion:
Rolling Stone and The Week

How the GOP learned to love QAnon … - The far-right QAnon conspiracy theory — which holds that a cabal of Satan-worshiping, child-trafficking Democrats is plotting to oust President Donald Trump — has grown increasingly mainstream in the GOP base. — At an NBC News town hall on Thursday night …
Discussion:
Politico, Al Jazeera, Raw Story, Mother Jones and The Atlantic

The Latest: Topics for 3rd presidential debate are released — WASHINGTON (AP) — The latest on the presidential campaign (all times local): — President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden will face questions on the coronavirus, race issues and climate change in the final presidential debate next week.
Discussion:
The Hill, Politico, Associated Press, Power Line and Breitbart

What George W. Bush Plans to Do About Trump — George W. Bush doesn't like Donald Trump. He doesn't like how Trump is behaving as president. He clearly doesn't like the division in the country Trump has fostered. He knows American democracy is under threat.

More Than 1,000 Current and Former CDC Officers Condemn U.S. Covid-19 Response — An open letter calls for the federal agency to play a more central role in addressing the pandemic — More than 1,000 current and former officers of an elite disease-fighting program at the U.S. Centers …