SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:52 P.M. ET: 

CLINTON LEAD NARROWS – FROM FOX:   With less than two weeks to go, the race for the White House has narrowed as Hillary Clinton now has a three-point advantage over Donald Trump.  That’s within the margin of error of the national Fox News Poll of likely voters.  Clinton is ahead of Trump by 44-41 percent. Another one-in-ten back a third-party candidate and four percent are undecided. Last week she was up by six points (45-39 percent) and before that by seven (45-38 percent).  But an AP poll shows Hillary up 14 points.  Go figure. 

HUMAN RIGHTS CRISIS – FROM FOX:   UNITED NATIONS – A U.N. expert says junk food is a human rights concern.  Hilal Elver, the U.N.'s special representative on the right to food, said Tuesday the rise of industrial food production combined with trade liberalization has allowed large corporations to flood the global market with cheap, nutrient-poor foods that force poor people to choose between economic viability and nutrition, effectively violating their right to adequate food.  I'll never look at French fries the same way again.  And we thought nuclear weapons were a problem.

MAJOR ISSUES DEPARTMENT – FROM FOX:   The Clinton campaign’s recent attacks on Donald Trump for his comments about a beauty queen’s weight problems were months in the making, according to an opposition research report uncovered in emails released by WikiLeaks on Sunday.  Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton invoked those comments during the first presidential debate on Sept. 26. Near the end of the showdown, during a sustained riff about the Republican nominee's past remarks about women, Clinton cited the case of Miss Universe 1996 Alicia Machado.   Nothing like a clear sense of priorities.

October 26, 2016