SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:  

NIKKI NAILS IT – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo got a chilly reception at a Midtown charity dinner Thursday night as both were greeted with boos and scattered clapping while being announced.  But the interaction – or lack of it – between both political rivals during the 73rd annual Al Smith Dinner was even colder.  As de Blasio arrived on stage and headed towards his seat, Cuomo turned his head and jumped out of his seat. He then briskly walked away to greet other dignitaries nearby who were already sitting down. ..Most other guests received huge cheers, including former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and outgoing United States Ambassador Nikki Haley, the keynote speaker at the event which is meant to serve as a good-natured roast.  Haley, who has told President Trump she plans to step down by year’s end, lampooned many of the guests but seemed to save her best material for de Blasio.  “Mayor, remember as a member of the UN delegation, I do have diplomatic immunity,” she said. “You’re all familiar with diplomatic immunity? It’s an exemption from prosecution, but as Mayor de Blasio calls it: a sanctuary city.”  Nikki did again, showing a funny side she doesn't show at the UN.  I hope she has a great future.

THE ELECTORAL DAY – Only routine campaigning today, as candidates prepare for the two-week mark, which will happen Tuesday.  Then things get intense, and the money gets spent.  Conventional wisdom as of today is that the Dems will take the House, but the GOP might well pick up a few seats in the Senate.  There were no surprises in the polls today.  The best commentators are reminding voters that midterm elections, where participation is often 40% or so of registered voters, are all about turnout.  And that may depend on which side is angriest.  Polling is difficult in individual state and local contests because it's so expensive.  I urge you to look only at LV polls – polls of likely voters.  They are more likely to be reasonably accurate.

ON TOP AGAIN – FROM IBD:  Competitiveness: It might not make a lot of mainstream newspapers, so let us inform you: The World Economic Forum just ranked the U.S. as the world's most competitive economy for the first time since 2008. A lot has happened since then, but mostly the U.S.'s No. 1 ranking is a result of the surprise election of Donald Trump.  It's also yet another bit of evidence for why policies truly matter. The last time the U.S. stood atop the WEF global ranking of 140-plus countries, President Obama had just been elected. But he had yet to sign the growth-killing Dodd-Frank and ObamaCare bills, or a wasteful "stimulus" of nearly $1 trillion.  For the next eight years, the U.S.'s competitiveness ranking slid, pretty much until Trump was elected and reversed the slide with tax cuts, deregulation and trade renegotiations that pushed U.S. GDP growth roughly 50% higher than it was under Obama.  It's hard to believe that the American people would throw all this away by electing a Democratic Congress, but suicide is always a national option, and many nations have chosen it.

October 18, 2018