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10/20/2016 08:00 AM EDT


By Heather Caygle (hcaygle@politico.com or @heatherscope)

With assistance from Rachael Bade

'I'LL KEEP YOU IN SUSPENSE'- The third and final presidential debate is in the books but Donald Trump's outright refusal to say whether he'll accept the results of the election is sure to make waves for the remaining weeks until Election Day. "I will tell you at the time," Trump said when asked directly if he'd respect the outcome on Nov. 8. "I'll keep you in suspense," he added. Edward-Isaac Dovere reports from Las Vegas: "What Trump's doing runs so deep, said Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook, that everyone should be on edge, and everyone should be turning to Republican leaders to shut Trump down. 'This country is not a monarchy. We're not ruled by despots,' Mook said."

Democrats fear violent aftermath: "His team says he's blameless, no matter what he has said. But Democrats are warning that the GOP nominee will be to blame if his refusal to accept defeat and his insistence - without any evidence -- that the election is being rigged against him stokes violence. ...If there's violence, said Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) after the debate, 'I do believe that's on him because he's the one that's creating the doubt in people's minds.'" More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cef407510601306a4e014b8f0d8e39fa9fce78f03ac521f86cfb034d3920a140

BIPARTISAN RESPONSE: 'BEYOND THE PALE'- Democrats and many Republicans had the same response to Trump's rigged election comments: disbelief. "If he loses, it will not be because the election is 'rigged' but because he failed as a candidate," Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said. Donald Trump "saying that he might not accept election results is beyond the pale," GOP Sen. Jeff Flake tweeted. And House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi had almost the same remark earlier Wednesday, telling reporters Trump's refusal to accept the election results "is really so irresponsible it goes beyond the pale."

THE DOWN-BALLOT DRAIN- Trump's final debate performance did little to put to rest GOP fears of a down-ballot disaster and may have even made it worse with his latest comments on the election results, report Alex Isenstadt and Katie Glueck. "'The biggest loser tonight was not Trump, the presidential race is over,' said Robert Blizzard, a GOP pollster who is working on a number of congressional races. 'Instead, down-ticket Republicans lost tonight - they needed some help and got absolutely none.'"

"The debate could have longer-term repercussions, potentially increasing the urgency with which down-ballot Republicans begin presenting themselves as a 'check and balance' to a Clinton presidency. In doing so, they would all but concede that Trump is destined to fall short. It's an option that GOP strategists have been discussing, but have yet to put into motion in a widespread fashion." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cef407510601306a152d394ea77d8ea92ab3ff74d8d9989712040e9a80cda6bc

DEMS PREPARE FOR 'CHECK AND BALANCE' ARGUMENT- Democrats have been anticipating the GOP's "check and balance" argument and have a rebuttal ready in the hopper. "So what does 'checks and balances' mean? It's a euphemism for obstruction," Pelosi told reporters. And DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Lujan urged House Democrats to push back on those claims during a private caucus call Wednesday: "Voters will see right through this ruse for the obstruction that it is," he said, according to a source on the call.

WE CAN SEE THE FINISH LINE. Welcome to Thursday, Oct. 20. You're reading POLITICO's Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill.

WEDNESDAY'S MOST CLICKED- No surprise here: Sen. Ron Johnson's "diapers" campaign ad. But Bruce Mehlman's tweet about how lawmakers stack up to celebrities on Twitter was a competitive second.

TODAY IN CONGRESS- The House is out. The Senate meets in a pro forma session at 3 p.m.

AROUND THE HILL- After Wednesday's press conference with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, things are back to quiet again on Capitol Hill.

RYAN'S TRUMP-FREE BARNSTORMING CONTINUES- If you attended a campaign event with House Speaker Paul Ryan lately, you could be forgiven for not knowing Trump even exists. Ryan is in the middle of barnstorming the country, campaigning with vulnerable House Republicans while "carefully scripting his appearances to avoid any mention of Donald Trump," (which means taking no questions from the press) reports Bloomberg's Billy House.

Meanwhile, House Republicans are scrambling for cash to fend off a Democratic takeover, Jake and Bres report. More than 80 GOP lawmakers joined a Wednesday conference call "organized by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 3 House Republican, and Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, the chief deputy whip, also dialed into the teleconference. They were asking for cash from lawmakers who are in safe GOP seats and can afford to relinquish the money." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cef407510601306aef4c82fe841e6541b026b0a929a3abba33d3a8362a9ca285

CURBELO WARNS OF STOLEN ELECTION - A dispatch from Miami: He didn't use Donald Trump's word - "rigged" - but moderate Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo warned his campaign staffers Wednesday to watch the election results closely for cheating: "I'm running against someone who's cheated in the past," he told his campaign staffers. "We have to be vigilant."

The vulnerable Miami-Florida Key's representative has run his campaign on the exact opposite track as Trump - and said from the start he wouldn't support the GOP nominee. So it was odd that he struck a rare accord with Trump in expressing worry about election-results integrity - just a foot beside Speaker Paul Ryan, no less, who was then campaigning for him in Miami.

Of course, Curbelo's situation is different: A top staffer for his opponent, former Rep. Joe Garcia (D-Fla.), was actually convicted of voter fraud a few years back, paying a straw-man tea party candidate to siphon votes from his GOP opponent. Indeed, Curbelo told reporters Trump's refusal to accept the election results and rhetoric calling the system "rigged" was unfounded - but he said Trump's situation is not the same as his own.

"It's wrong, I don't agree with it," Curbelo said of Trump's comments. "I am confident that state officials are going to do everything in their power to guarantee the integrity of this election. In South Florida... in this district, there is a very pronounced history of election fraud, which is why I have asked the FBI to closely monitor the election in this district. But that's based on facts, not some theory."

Speaking of Miami... The speaker spent Wednesday in the sunshine state campaigning for Curbelo. They toured a school that specialized in teaching children English, then rallied up campaign volunteers at Curbelo headquarters. "In order to fix our country's problems, we need to send people like Carlos Curbelo to Congress to fight for us-people of integrity, people of vision, people of principals," Ryan said.

HATCH MULLS RUNNING AGAIN-- Sen. Orrin Hatch, 82, chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, may reverse his past decision to retire after this term and run for reelection again in 2018. Burgess and Anna: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cef407510601306aeed7c947d945f12763514bf318d6c64b3e0f4a986e9fea97

DEMS INTENSIFY TRUMP ATTACKS- Democrats are stepping up their efforts to tie more and more Republicans to the top of the ticket, "savaging an ever-increasing number of GOP candidates as pawns of their party's embattled presidential nominee," report Alex Isenstadt and Kevin Robillard. "The choreographed assault, funded by millions of dollars from Democratic candidates, party committees, and deep-pocketed outside groups, is taking place in battlegrounds spanning the geographic and ideological spectrum." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cef407510601306a0af914493b4c2d4aaf151f32f730fb6954e153931793ebda

LAME DUCK PREVIEW: FUNDING FIGHT LIKELY- Democrats have no plans to board Speaker Ryan's mini-bus when government funding is up for renewal in December, Pelosi told reporters Wednesday. "For weeks, Republicans have been talking about a funding plan that involves longer-term 'minibus' bills for certain departments ...The rest of the government would be funded by a continuing resolution," reports BuzzFeed's Paul McLeod. "Pelosi isn't having any of it. She said she wants an omnibus bill that covers the entire government. ...[she] dismissed the Republican plan as 'too cute' and said Democrats will oppose it."

YOLO REID STRIKES AGAIN: Sen. Harry Reid was in the spin room post-debate with some Trump zingers ready to go: "The only 'rigged' thing I've seen in this election is his mind," Reid said of Trump. Edward-Isaac Dovere: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cef407510601306a948173598c44147e9441362b98a316deec554b8d972d157e

Reid on Trump fundraiser: 'Beautiful woman there'- The Washington Post's Paul Kane with Reid's remarks when he found a 1992 picture of him with Trump: "'He was doing a fundraiser for me, so what would you think I'd think of him? Nice to go to his beautiful home, with gold gilding around the ceiling, and a beautiful woman there with him. ...He wasn't much of a big shot then, neither was I,' Reid recalled Tuesday in an interview here." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cef407510601306a38eb9167ddebef970f2f0d3dd3032e12ae6caf143d4d35ed

HOUSE DEMS LIKELY TO PUSH LEADERSHIP ELECTIONS- House Democrats are likely to push their caucus leadership elections until after Thanksgiving, Pelosi told members on a conference call Wednesday. Several sources said the plan was already a done deal but a House Democratic aide said there's been no final decision yet. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cef407510601306a27628f6553ffd325a2894130718f26e0e432b8830eb44cf2

'TOMORROW IT COULD BE US'- Sen. Marco Rubio is encouraging his GOP colleagues not to use information released in WikiLeaks email hacks, which have targeted Democrats including John Podesta and the DNC. "Today it is the Democrats," Rubio said in a statement. "Tomorrow it could be us." More from the Wall Street Journal's Allison Kite: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cef407510601306a993015307320200f6ee7ed48a82d7db897fc5b73576d229f

WEDNESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER- Shelby Boxenbaum was the first to guess that both former Rep. John Spratt and Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx are Davidson alums.

TODAY'S TRIVIA- Shelby with today's question: Who was the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in tomorrow's Huddle. Get at me: hcaygle@politico.com

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