The Note: Skidding Toward Election Day

— -- NOTABLES

--PENCE 'REALLY GRATEFUL' AFTER PLANE SCARE: Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said he is "really grateful" for quick action that kept all passengers and crew safe when his campaign plane skidded off the runway at New York's LaGuardia Airport last night, ABC’s KATIE KINDELAN notes. "Thank God everybody was fine," Pence, Donald Trump's running mate on the Republican presidential ticket, said today on "Good Morning America." "I’m just really grateful, really grateful for some quick action," he said. "Not only by the pilots but also by first responders who were literally, it seemed like they were on the scene at LaGuardia before the plane even came to a halt." http://abcn.ws/2e3TPcz

--BACKSTORY: According to the FAA, there were no injuries among the 37 people on board the Boeing 737. The charter aircraft's slide off the runway at around 7:40 p.m. prompted a temporary closure of the entire airport. "We just immediately felt heavy braking on the runway and the plane fishtailed a little bit," Pence said of the accident. "Just for a few seconds you could feel us bouncing off and with mud splattered up on the windows we figured we were off the runway." Pence, a father of two, said the accident reminded him of advice from his son, Michael. "My son is a Marine Corps aviator, and Michael always tells us, ‘Every landing you walk away from is a good one,'" Pence said. http://abcn.ws/2e3TPcz

--WHAT TRUMP SAID: At a rally in Ohio last night, Trump told supporters, "I just spoke to our future vice president and he's OK. He was in a big accident with a plane. The plane skidded off the runway and was pretty close to grave, grave danger ... He's fine, he got out, everybody's fine, everybody's fine." More from ABC’s DAVID CAPLAN: http://abcn.ws/2dQNRIK

--ANALYSIS -- ABC’s RICK KLEIN: Is the Clinton campaign letting the conversation get away from itself – just a bit? Hillary Clinton hit an Adele concert and Tim Kaine went to the World Series this week. The election-night venue has been chosen – giant glass ceiling and all. Someone is floating, via Politico, the possibility that Joe Biden would serve as Clinton’s secretary of state. Meanwhile, the ABC News tracking poll has Clinton’s lead down to four; it was 12 over the weekend. That, plus narrowing state polls, may actually be the best kind of news for Clinton a week and a half out. Complacency is a campaign’s enemy now, and signals from the top aren’t necessarily helping.

BY THE NUMBERS -- CLINTON'S LEAD NARROWS TO 4 POINTS, WIDER MAJORITY EXPECTS HER TO WIN. Presidential preferences have narrowed in the ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll -- but not expectations of the outcome. Fifty-nine percent of likely voters polled say they expect Hillary Clinton to win the election, essentially the same was it was in early September. That includes nearly all of her own supporters and a fifth of Donald Trump’s, according to ABC’s GARY LANGER. There are vast divisions, as well, on the question of vote fraud: More than nine in 10 Clinton supporters think votes nationally will be counted accurately; just 50 percent of Trump’s agree. And 70 percent of Trump backers think voter fraud is common. A mere 11 percent of Clinton’s say the same. Vote preferences, for their part, show the narrowest division in the tracking poll to date, with 48 of likely voters polled for Clinton, 44 percent for Trump. Trump’s gained 6 points since the start of tracking, while Clinton’s -2 (not a significant change). This reflects slight shifts in intended turnout and recent consolidation for Trump in his party. http://abcn.ws/2dOjwPH

YESTERDAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC’s ADAM KELSEY

TRUMP: 'WE SHOULD JUST CANCEL THE ELECTION AND JUST GIVE IT TO TRUMP.' Donald Trump suggested Thursday that the election should be canceled and called for him. While speaking in Ohio, the Republican presidential nominee questioned why an election was even being held, saying that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s policies are “so bad," reports ABC’s CANDACE SMITH and JOHN SANTUCCI. "In just thinking to myself right now, we should just cancel the election and just give it to Trump right?" Trump said.

TRUMP DISMISSES MICHELLE OBAMA'S BARBS AS PART OF 'THE GAME.' Michelle Obama continued her criticisms of Donald Trump today in her first joint campaign appearance with Hillary Clinton, but the Republican presidential nominee appears to be unfazed by such attacks. "Look, what is she going to say? Is she going to say I'm fantastic?" Trump asked ABC's GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS. "Is she going to say, 'Trump is better at that than any other human being in the world'? OK, which I believe I am," he said. ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY has more: http://abcn.ws/2fk0cdE

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH FORMER KKK LEADER DAVID DUKE. Former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke has shed the Klan robes and closed his KKK-themed store, but his message hasn’t changed, not even in his bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Louisiana. Throughout his campaign, Duke has consistently professed his support for Donald Trump and criticized fellow Republicans for not doing the same. “I'm kind of like Trump,” Duke said, noting his passionate support for ending illegal immigration, his sense that law enforcement have been unfairly demonized by groups such as Black Lives Matter, and his disgust with political correctness, write ABC’s DAVID WRIGHT and VICTORIA THOMPSON. http://abcn.ws/2eK4x6e

EXPLAINING THE PROCESS BEHIND THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE. Controversies during the primaries and talk of a "rigged" general election have piqued interest among voters about the process through which the president is elected. There have been four times when the winner actually lost the popular vote but won the electoral college, which landed him the job in the Oval Office, notes ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY. That split between the choice of all the people versus just some of the people dates back to Congress' decision to create a system that tried to tie in elements of both processes. http://abcn.ws/2dQCT5R

WHO’S TWEETING?

@ryanstruyk: 2016 bank account balances: Clinton campaign: $62.4 million Priorities USA Action: $15.2 million Trump campaign: $16.0 million

@ShaneGoldmacher: Trump has been running for president for 500 days. I chronicled 100 of them this summer to give idea of a Trump WH: http://politi.co/2beoBAn

@marianaatencio: Floridians have cast nearly 3 million pre-Election Day ballots (absentee plus early vote). Almost amounts to 1/3 of the vote

@JamesPindell: When the presidential candidates polling numbers go low, her popularity goes much higher. http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/10/28/michelle-obama-real-winner-campaign/Gd3yNakvNZfoYhXlyO4b5M/story.html?event=event25 … via @BostonGlobe

@evanmcmurry: 7 in 10 Trump supporters believe voter fraud is a frequent occurrence, per ABC/WaPo tracking poll, vs just 1 in 10 Clinton supporters.