Hillary Clinton Extends Her Battleground Map Lead

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by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann 

First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter. 

Clinton expands her battleground-map lead

After one of the craziest weeks we can remember in the 2016 race -- the Access Hollywood audio of Trump, WikiLeaks, the nasty debate in St. Louis, the accusers against Bill Clinton, the accusers against Donald Trump, and plenty of new polls -- here's where the NBC battleground map stands. Hillary Clinton has expanded her lead and now has 287 electoral votes in her column, which is more than the 270 needed to win the White House. Trump has 157 electoral votes in his column, which is down more than 30 for him from last week. And we have 94 electoral votes in Tossup. Last week, our map was Clinton 268, Trump 190, and 80 in Tossup.

Likely Dem: CA, CT, DC, DE, HI, IL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, OR, RI, VT, WA (182 electoral votes)

Lean Dem: CO, ME (3 EVs), MI, MN, NH, NM, NC, PA, VA, WI (105)

Tossup: AZ, GA, FL, IA, ME (1EV), NE (1 EV), NV, OH, UT (94)

Lean GOP: AK, IN, KS, MO, MT, ND, SC, SD, TX (85)

Likely GOP: AL, AR, ID, KY, LA, MS, NE (4 EVs), OK, TN, WV, WY (72) 

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Source: NBC News