The DNC cites last week's story by Tierney Sneed in its legal filing today seeking to have the RNC held in contempt by a federal court for violating that decades-old consent decree that bars it from engaging in euphemistic "ballot security" measures. I mention that not to brag on Tierney (though it is a good story) as much as direct you to some of the key backstory on how Donald Trump dragged the RNC into this mess.

The irony of Donald Trump perhaps consigning the RNC to another eight years of federal court supervision under a consent decree that has already lasted more than 30 years may be one of the richer ironies of the 2016 election. Tierney Sneed has more on today's big late breaking legal development on the campaign trail.

The retiring Harry Reid tells TPM's Lauren Fox that he has set the stage for Democrats to nuke the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees if Republicans block Clinton's nominee(s).

"They mess with the Supreme Court, it'll be changed just like that in my opinion," Reid said, snapping his fingers together.

Worth reading.

President Obama was mostly light-hearted and jokey in his Rose Garden press conference a few moments ago, clearly relishing how easy it is to get under Donald Trump's skin. Child's play, really. But don't let the tenor of his remarks obscure the underlying seriousness of the moment. A president of the United States was just urging the nominee of the leading opposition party to preserve America's democratic tradition of peaceful transitions of power.

Re-watch the critical debate exchange between Anderson Cooper and Donald Trump Sunday night that opened the floodgates.

Trump lays the groundwork for blaming GOP electeds for his defeat.

Donald Trump just held a press conference in St. Louis 90 minutes before the debate with three of Bill Clinton's most prominent accusers, including Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, and Juanita Broaddrick. (The fourth woman sitting with Trump was a child rape victim whose attacker Hillary Clinton defended when she was a lawyer.)

Various news outlets are now reporting that Mike Pence has cancelled a planned campaign appearance in Wisconsin, where he was to appear with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) in the place of Donald Trump, who was disinvited late Friday.

NEW: @NBCNews has learned Mike Pence is not going to the Wisconsin GOP event today.

— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) October 8, 2016

The cancellation comes in the wake of the Washington Post's bombshell revelation of a 2005 video recording of Trump making crude and derogatory comments about women and describing his own predatory advances on women, including grabbing their genitals.

We've been covering the GOP voter suppression movement for years, but we've never seen a situation quite like the one we're in now.

As things stand a month before the election, voting right advocates have won a series of legal victories rolling back or throwing out voting restrictions in multiple states. But rather than that putting an end to the matter and clearing the way for more liberal access to the polls, GOP states and elections officials are slow-rolling the courts: ignoring or defying court orders in some cases.

It has forced voting rights advocates to haul states back into into court and hold them to account. They're succeeding in most cases, but there's no reason to think this won't continue right through Election Day. Tierney Sneed reports.

So it turns out treating a charitable foundation like your personal piggy bank is frowned upon. Who knew!

Tierney Sneed talked with experts in the legal and tax implications of Trump's self-dealing, and this stuff is so out of bounds, so beyond the norm, that it could put the tax-exempt status of the foundation in jeopardy and incur serious financial consequences for Trump himself.

Worth your read this morning.