E Minus 6: The poll numbers are narrowing in the final days of the election. The RealClear Politics average of polls has Hillary Clinton leading by 2.2 points. The polls range from Clinton, up five, to Trump, up four.

As the numbers rise and fall, the NY Times “Upshot” still gives Clinton an 88 percent chance of winning to Trump’s 12. She leads in the states that may give her enough electoral college votes to win.

On the ground and in the airwaves, Hillary Clinton is focusing on Trump’s character, in both her speeches and television ads recounting some of the worst things her opponent has said. She’s trying to divert attention from the latest FBI inquiry into her email while she was Secretary of State.

Trump pressed his personal attack as well. “If she were elected it would create a Constitutional crisis and government would grind to an unbelievably unglorious halt.”

Just when it seems like the election couldn’t get nastier, it does. In a robocall to Utah voters, an avowed White Nationalist has accused the independent candidate Evan McMullin, who’s running close to Donald Trump in that state, of being a closet homosexual because he’s 40, unmarried, and doesn’t have a girlfriend. It’s an outright smear intended to turn off Mormon voters in that heavily Mormon state.

The recorded call by William Johnson says, “Evan has two mommies. His mother is a lesbian, married to another woman.” And he says, “I believe Evan is a closet homosexual.” Utah may be a critical state for Trump’s election hopes, but his campaign has denounced the Johnson calls.

Permawar: Iraqi special forces have entered the outskirts of Mosul, entering a new phase in the fight to pushing Islamic State fighters out of the city. The battle now changes from open-terrain to close urban warfare in a city occupied by a million people. ISIS is dug in, tunneled in, and using civilians as human shields. This could turn into Stalingrad in the sand.

A BBC reporter with the Iraqis says ISIS is fighting back with snipers, RPGs, and powerful explosives. Correspondent Joan Soley reports that, “The tunnels are often rigged with powerful explosives, set up as the enemy retreats further into the heart of the city.”

Nation: A manhunt is underway in the Des Moines area after the ambush murders of two police officers who were found dead in their patrol cars, about a mile apart. — Six people were killed yesterday when an empty Baltimore school bus close to its first pickup of the morning collided with a commuter bus.

Orlando: Police have released recordings of negotiators talking with shooter Omar Mateen during the Pulse nightclub massacre. Mateen tells a police negotiator, “You have to tell America to stop bombing Syria and Iraq. They’re killing a lot of innocent people so what am I to do here when my people are getting killed over there. You get what I’m saying?”

Separately, Mateen’s wife, Noor Salman, told the NY Times that her husband used to beat her and that while she knew he watched militant Islamic videos, “I was unaware of everything. I don’t condone what he has done. I am very sorry for what has happened. He has hurt a lot of people.”

Headlines and Deadlines: The Gannett newspaper chain has abandoned its bid to buy Tronc, the company that owns the flagship Chicago Tribune. Tronc’s papers escape ownership by the blandest media company in America, but still have to suffer working for a journalistic operation whose name stands for “Tribune Online Content.”

Cubs Fever: The Cubs opened Game 6 of the World Series with a first inning home run then exploded to a three-run advantage before Cleveland had a chance at bat. Chicago then loaded the bases at the top of the third and emptied them with a grand slam.

The Cubs won 9-3 and the deciding game of the Series is tonight in Cleveland.

Emoji This: Apple has re-designed its peach emoji so it doesn’t look like a naked human posterior anymore. There’s no emoji to express the sadness of the original peach’s fans.

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