Josh Hafner

USA TODAY

A new batch of swing state polling dropped Thursday showing Hillary Clinton’s lead over Donald Trump shrinking in some key states. Meanwhile, Trump and Clinton’s sparring from the previous night’s national security forum boiled over into the day’s headlines and tweets.

And Gary Johnson made the best gaffe of 2016 -- not because he embarrassed himself on TV, but because he got America talking about Aleppo in the process.

It’s For the Record: the politics newsletter from USA TODAY.

Swing states swing a bit closer to Trump

Quinnipiac University -- a school we’re pretty sure that, like Hogwarts, exists in a magical realm, appearing only to provide us excellent polling -- declared “Aparecium” on Thursday, revealing a poll of swing states that showed Clinton’s lead over Trump shrinking.

Here’s where it showed the two, plus third-party candidates Jill Stein and Johnson:

Florida: Clinton and Trump tied at 43%, with Johnson at 8% and Stein at 2%.

Ohio: Trump led at 41%, with Clinton at 37%, Johnson at 14% and Stein at 4%.

North Carolina: Clinton led at 42%, with Trump at 38%, Johnson at 15% and Stein not on the ballot.

Pennsylvania: Clinton led at 44%, with Trump at 39%, Johnson at 9% and Stein at 3%.

August’s version of the poll showed Clinton and Trump essentially tied in Florida and Ohio. In Pennsylvania, however, she led by a wider 9-point margin.

Suffolk University (the Ilvermorny School to Quinnipiac’s Hogwarts) also put out a poll Thursday showing Trump leading Clinton in North Carolina at 44%-41%, though that’s within the poll’s margin of error.

Obama and Clinton slam Trump from different hemispheres

On Thursday, Clinton thumped Trump over his criticism of the U.S. military during the previous night’s NBC forum. She even called a press conference -- an occurrence rarer than a Vaporeon in Central Park.

“We saw more evidence that he is temperamentally unfit and unqualified to be commander in chief,” Clinton said in White Plains, N.Y. “He trash talked American generals, saying they'd been, quote, 'reduced to rubble.'”

(Trump did say that, describing the generals’ state as “embarrassing for our country.”)

Clinton condemned other Trump statements as more or less ludicrous, including his assertion that his man-crush Vladimir Putin is a better leader than Barack Obama.

Obama himself chimed in that day from the other side of the world.

“I don’t think the guy’s qualified to be president of the United States,” he said during a conference in Laos. “Every time he speaks, that opinion is confirmed."

Back in New York, Clinton said that “Every Republican holding or seeking office in this country should be asked if they agree with Donald Trump” on his statements. Trump endorser Paul Ryan was asked, and he did not take kindly to it.

“I’m not going to sit up here and do the tit-for-tat on what Donald said last night,” Ryan said.

Trump responded on (of course) Twitter:

America talks about Aleppo, thanks to Gary Johnson

Gary Johnson, henceforth known as Gary “Gaffe” Johnson, a.k.a. Gary Gaffe, a.k.a. G-Gaffe, a.k.a. Lil Gaffey, bombed Tuesday on MSNBC.

He was asked what he would do as president about Aleppo, the center of Syria’s massive humanitarian crisis that has left more than 400,000 dead and forced millions to flee the country.

Johnson's response? “And what is Aleppo?”

Oh, G-Gaffe.

Soon, #WhatIsAleppo began trending on Twitter and, actually, something good happened. People began talking about Aleppo online and in the news, many for the first time .

Lil Gaffey’s embarrassment resulted in increased awareness about this awful crisis. Thanks, Gary Gaffe.

Around the campaign trail

FBI: We’re investigating whether someone *cough* Putin *cough* is messing with this election (USA TODAY)

Clinton gets vulnerable, real in ‘Humans of New York’ photo likely vetted by a dozen of her communications staffers (USA TODAY)

Colin Powell emailed Clinton on how to get around federal email requirements (USA TODAY)

Oliver Stone will eat his (expletive) shirt if Trump gets elected

A day after screening his new movie “Snowden,” director Oliver Stone dished about 2016 with USA TODAY’s Owen Ullmann.

"I don't think Trump has a chance. He's too erratic,” Stone said. "I will eat my hat — I don’t have a hat. I will eat my (expletive) shirt if he wins."

His shirt at the time was raspberry. We’re guessing it doesn’t taste like raspberries.