–FLORIDA VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINE WON’T BE EXTENDED DESPITE HURRICANE: Florida Gov. Rick Scott said that he will not extend the deadline for voter registration in the state despite the potential impact from Hurricane Matthew, ABC’s TOM LIDDY reports. “I’m not going to extend it, if you, whether it’s the registration date, you’ve had, everybody has had a lot of time to register,” Scott told reporters. “So on top of that we got lots of opportunities to vote, early voting, absentee voting and election day so I don’t intend to make any changes.” http://abcn.ws/2e7sIP5
–WHAT THE CLINTON CAMPAIGN IS SAYING: On Thursday, the Clinton campaign had called for an extension of the Oct. 11 deadline in light of the storm. “The voter registration deadline in Florida is October 11th and our hope would be that a little bit more time will be given for people who were expecting to be able to get registered before the election and we certainly expect that the governor and local officials will make that possible,” said Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook. Mook also said that the campaign was focused on the safety of Floridians. “Our first priority on Hurricane Matthew is that people are safe,” he said. “We have been doing everything we can on social media and email list to make sure that all Floridians heed the warnings of public officials that are saying this could be a very deadly storm.” http://abcn.ws/2e7sIP5
–THE DEBATE MUST GO ON: A senior official on the Commission for Presidential Debates tells ABC’s TOM LLAMAS they see no scenario in regards to the hurricane that would impact them from changing the date or time of the debate. They are monitoring the news but the debate is going forward as planned.
–MEANWHILE, MARCO RUBIO’S SENATE CAMPAIGN IS PUSHING BACK AGAINST CRITICISM of a fundraising email sent to supporters as Floridians prepare for Hurricane Matthew, ABC’s BEN SIEGEL notes. In a Thursday afternoon email, the campaign asked supporters to “stop what you are doing right now” to listen to a recorded audio message from the senator. (The link now redirects to the campaign’s website, and not a message from Rubio). While Democrats criticized the appeal, Olivia Peres-Cubas, a Rubio spokeswoman, said the message was an old email that was sent to supporters Thursday by the campaign’s digital vendor. “It was not sent to people in Florida, Georgia or South Carolina since we know they’re preparing for the storm,” she said in an email. On Wednesday, Rubio emailed campaign supporters asking for donations to the Red Cross and Salvation Army ahead of the hurricane.
YESTERDAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC’s VERONICA STRACQUALURSI and ADAM KELSEY
ERIC TRUMP DISMISSES QUESTIONS ABOUT TRUMP DEBATE PREP. One of Donald Trump’s children is dismissing suggestions that the Republican presidential candidate is not doing enough to prepare for his second presidential debate against Hillary Clinton. “He doesn’t lock himself in a room and memorize sound bites. That’s not who he is,” Eric Trump said in an interview with ABC’s JONATHAN KARL and RICK KLEIN on the ABC News Powerhouse Politics podcast. “He speaks from the heart, he goes with his gut. He’s unconventional in that way, but that’s also what makes him endearing and compelling to some people.” Asked if Trump is doing anything different to prepare for his second head-to-head debate with Hillary Clinton after his shaky performance in the first debate, Eric Trump criticized the moderator — NBC’s Lester Holt — for not asking Clinton about the 2011 Benghazi attack or the Clinton Foundation. “He’s having to fight the entire media as well,” Eric Trump said of his father. http://abcn.ws/2dCnYyj
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE EVAN MCMULLIN PICKS RUNNING MATE. Evan McMullin, the long-shot independent presidential candidate, has chosen his running mate — veteran political and digital strategist Mindy Finn. Finn, 35, has worked for former President George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, Twitter and Google. This cycle, she was a senior digital strategist for the RNC and oversaw digital programs for the NRSC’s targeted races in 2014, writes ABC’s SHUSHANNAH WALSHE. http://abcn.ws/2dPYFME
5 HOT-BUTTON TOPICS MISSING FROM THE DEBATES. Donald Trump has said that he wants policy to be the focus of the presidential debates, but with one of his and Hillary Clinton’s face-offs down, along with the vice presidential debate, some notable subjects have been conspicuously absent. ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY highlights some hot-button issues that haven’t been discussed in the tickets’ first two debates: http://abcn.ws/2dhSuvZ
THESE TRUMP SUPPORTERS REJECT THEIR BELIEFS ARE ‘DEPLORABLE.’ It was arguably Hillary Clinton’s stickiest gaffe. Speaking at an LGBT gala in New York City, she said, “To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call ‘the basket of deplorables.’ In interviews with over a dozen Trump supporters across the country within the past month, ABC News has sought to divine the values of these Americans on the topics of Islam, illegal immigration, same-sex marriage and the birther controversy, ABC’s CANDACE SMITH reports. http://abcn.ws/2cXoWTh
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
FLASHBACK — BILL CLINTON’S HISTORY OF VERBAL CAMPAIGN MISSTEPS. Former President Bill Clinton may be known as one of the best retail politicians in American politics, but there have been a number of instances where his off-the-cuff remarks have gotten him in trouble. The latest instance — when he said that small businesses “were getting killed” by Obamacare — is not the first time that one of his statements has caused trouble for his wife’s campaign, both this year and in the 2008 race. ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY and MATTHEW CLAIBORNE have more: http://abcn.ws/2dikv6n
WHO’S TWEETING?
@thehill: Two boxes filled with Clinton’s emails went missing during FBI probe: report http://hill.cm/G7GosPh
@RealClearNews: Team Trump is still fleshing out its anemic ground operation while relying heavily on the RNC, @rebeccagberg reports http://bit.ly/2dxVslj
@mikiebarb: The Understudy. We talk VPs and their power (or lack of) with @peterbakernyt, @amychozick & @jmartNYT on The Run-Up: http://nyti.ms/2cWNYqt
@MSNBC: Democrats entered the fall campaign with a 5-to-1 paid staff advantage: http://nbcnews.to/2djPVcw
@mviser: Who will win the World Series? Donald Trump, in New Hampshire, doesn’t hesitate. “Of course it’s Boston.”