memeorandum: Democrats launch ad attacking Richard Mourdock's abortion comments (Cameron Joseph/Ballot Box)

6:30 PM ET, October 25, 2012

Top Items:

Washington Post endorsement: Four more years for President Obama — View Photo Gallery — Washington Post endorsements in 2012: A roundup of the Post editorial board's picks for November 6, including Virginia's and Maryland's Senate and House races, Maryland's referenda, and the D.C. Council race

Discussion: CNN, Weasel Zippers, NewsBusters.org, The Caucus, Election 2012, Rumproast, Hot Air, The Hill, Politico, GOP 12 and The Lonely Conservative

CBS News:

Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama for president — PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO — (CBS News) Former Secretary of State Colin Powell broke with the Republican party during the 2008 election, to endorse then-candidate Barack Obama for president, calling Obama a “transformational figure.”

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

McCain: Powell ‘harmed’ his legacy by endorsing Obama — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) ripped Colin Powell for endorsing President Obama again, saying the former Secretary of State had “harmed” his legacy by doing so. — “General Powell, you disappoint us and you have harmed your legacy …

Discussion: Reuters, Talking Points Memo, theGrio, The Hinterland Gazette and Washington Free Beacon

New York Post:
For America's future, The Post endorses Mitt Romney for president

Discussion: mittromney.com, Washington Examiner and Politicker

Quin Hillyer / American Spectator: The Dishonorable Colin Powell

Rolling Stone:

Obama and the Road Ahead: The Rolling Stone Interview — In an Oval Office conversation with a leading historian, the president discusses what he would do with a second term - and his opponent's embrace of ‘the most extreme positions in the Republican Party’

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Examiner, Washington Free Beacon and Election 2012

Mike Allen / Politico:

ROMNEY TRANSITION PLANS: early Dem outreach; pragmatism over ideology — Obama, Bill Clinton to barnstorm together — POTUS sees grand bargain by summer — FIRST LOOK - Rolling Stone cover, “Obama and the Road Ahead: The Rolling Stone Interview,” by Douglas Brinkley: “We arrived at the Oval Office …

Discussion: Guardian, Hit & Run, Yellow Hammer Politics, CNN and Gawker

BuzzFeed:

Obama Says Ayn Rand Is For Teens — The president tells Rolling Stone that Paul Ryan should have left Ayn Rand in high school. — In a new interview with historian Doulgas Brinkley and Rolling Stone executive editor Eric Bates — where Obama appears to suggest Romney is a “bullshitter” — the president also weighs in on Ayn Rand.

Discussion: TheBlaze.com and Hit & Run

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Obama: Romney's a ‘Bulls—’

Discussion: Washington Monthly, CNN, Althouse and Jammie Wearing Fools

Donovan Slack / Politico:
Obama: Kids know Mitt's a bullsh**ter

Discussion: Hot Air, Sun-Times Politics, The Daily Caller, Examiner and Conservatives4Palin

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Oct. 24: In Polls, Romney's Momentum Seems to Have Stopped — The term “momentum” is used very often in political coverage — but reporters and analysts seldom pause to consider what it means. — Let me tell you what I think it ought to mean: that a body in motion tends to stay in motion.

Discussion: The Fix, Washington Post, New York Magazine, KDVR.com, Princeton Election Consortium, Politicker, The New Republic, Taegan Goddard's …, Washington Monthly, Prairie Weather, Towleroad News #gay and Althouse

Jonathan Easley / Ballot Box:

Polls: Obama leads in Iowa, Wisconsin — Two new surveys from Democratic-affiliated Public Policy Polling (PPP) show President Obama ahead of Mitt Romney in swing states Iowa and Wisconsin. — In Iowa, Obama takes 49 percent support over Romney's 47. That's in line with the Real Clear Politics's …

Discussion: Politico

Joe Scarborough / Politico:
Two new polls scream ‘advantage Obama’

Discussion: CNN and msnbc.com

Associated Press:
AP-GFK POLL: ROMNEY ERASES OBAMA LEAD AMONG WOMEN

Discussion: Hot Air, National Review, Wake up America, LifeNews.com, Ballot Box, americanthinker.com, Washington Examiner, Jammie Wearing Fools and The Fix

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Obama lead in Virginia up to 5 points

Discussion: The Other McCain, CNN, American Prospect, Taylor Marsh, Ballot Box and Swampland

Amy Sullivan / The New Republic:

Why Liberals are Misreading Mourdock — Let's get one thing straight from the start. I am not defending Richard Mourdock's position on abortion, including his opposition to a rape exception. So take that twitchy finger off the “send” button. However, I do want to examine …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Mahablog, National Review, Politico, The Daily Beast, Hullabaloo, Washington Monthly, Courier-Journal, Daily Download and AEIdeas

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Democrats launch ad attacking Richard Mourdock's abortion comments

Discussion: Politico

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

Obama Endorses Marriage Ballot Measures — Supporters of marriage equality have the president's backing on votes in Washington, Maryland, Maine and Minnesota. Obama supports marriage equality measures in the first three and opposes a ban on same-sex couples' marriages in the fourth.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Susan M. Cover / Portland Press-Herald:
Obama spokesman: President supports Maine's Question 1

Discussion: Poliglot

Pablo Sandoval / detroitnews.com:

Mitt Romney for President — (Charles V. Tines / The Detroit News) — Americans will be making two choices when they cast their presidential ballots on Nov. 6. They will be selecting the individual who will lead the nation over the next four years, a period that promises to be every bit as challenging as the past four.

Discussion: CNN, theGrio, Mediaite, Michelle Malkin and The PJ Tatler

Fox News:

NYPD officer plotted to kidnap, cook and eat women, authorities say — NYPD officer Gilberto Valle was arrested Thursday after it was discovered that he had plotted to kidnap and cook over 100 women.FACEBOOK — A New York City police officer plotted to kidnap, cook and eat women …

Joseph Goldstein / New York Times:
Gilberto Valle Accused in Plot to Kidnap Women and Cook Them

Discussion: CBS New York and The Raw Story

Felix Salmon:

CEOs' self-serving deficit manifesto — The WSJ has what it calls “CEOs Deficit Manifesto ” — a copy of the letter, signed by 80-something US CEOs, urging action on the debt and deficit. It's not a particularly impressive document. It starts like this: … This is ridiculous.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Firedoglake and Mother Jones

David Dayen / Firedoglake:
CEO's Bold Plan to Fix the Debt by Lowering Their Own Taxes

Discussion: Washington Post and Hullabaloo

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

Beneath the Surface — It's easy to assume that presidential campaigns are flawless machines whose directors cooly deploy and shift resources like Field Marshals, based on the very latest accurate data and finely honed strategies. — But then you read something like veteran reporter Jon Ralston's …

Discussion: A plain blog about politics

Jon.Ralston / Ralston Reports:
My column: Why Romney hasn't surrendered Nevada

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Daily Kos and First Read

Tara Culp-Ressler / ThinkProgress:

Pennsylvania Bill Would Reduce Welfare Benefits For Women Who Cannot Prove They Were Raped — A Pennsylvania House bill seeks to limit the amount of TANF assistance that low-income women receive based on the amount of children they give birth to while covered under the program.

Discussion: The Raw Story, Clutch Magazine, theGrio, Rumproast, Addicting Info and FIRST DRAFT

Josh Barro / Bloomberg:

The Presidential Candidate Who Would Destroy the Economy — Reason Magazine has put out its pre-election compilation of its writers' statements about whom they will be voting for and why. The Reason staffers are more unanimous than usual in their support for the Libertarian Party nominee, Gary Johnson.

Discussion: Hit & Run, Firedoglake and The Volokh Conspiracy

E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:

How the Right Wing Lost in 2012 — How the right wing lost in 2012 — The right wing has lost the election of 2012. — The evidence for this is overwhelming, yet it is the year's best-kept secret. Mitt Romney would not be throwing virtually all of his past positions overboard …

Discussion: American Prospect, Prairie Weather and The Reaction

Murray Waas / The Boston Globe:

Romney rejected new birth certificates for gay parents — As governor, he ordered review for each child — It seemed like a minor adjustment. To comply with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling that legalized gay marriage in 2003, the state Registry of Vital Records and Statistics …

Discussion: Advocate, AMERICAblog, Poliglot, Towleroad News #gay and Daily Kos

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Keith Olbermann Casts A Wide Net In Job Search — What's next for Olbermann? (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife) — Think Keith Olbermann has burned his last bridge in the television business? He doesn't think so. — Seven months after he got dismissed by Current TV …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Mediaite and The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

Monica Langley / Wall Street Journal:

For Clinton as Top Diplomat, Tumultuous Closing Chapter — Hillary Clinton's final weeks as Secretary of State were supposed to be more of a victory lap. But that quickly changed after the disastrous events in Benghazi. WSJ's Monica Langley and Jerry Seib discuss the end of her tenure and future prospects.

Discussion: New York Magazine, Michelle Malkin, The Caucus, Politico, White House Dossier, Taylor Marsh, Election 2012, Washington Wire, The Hill, Connecting.the.Dots, American Power, Prairie Weather and TheBlaze.com

Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:

Romney Hits the 50 Percent Mark, With a Clear Edge on the Economy — Mitt Romney has seized further advantage on economic issues at the core of the 2012 campaign, taking him to 50 percent support among likely voters vs. 47 percent for Barack Obama - Romney's highest vote-preference result of the contest to date.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Mother Jones and Jammie Wearing Fools, more at Mediagazer »

Jonathan Martin / Politico:

Former Joe Biden aide writes angry tell-all — Adding another wild-card to the 2012 campaign's final days, a former aide to Vice President Joe Biden has written a tell-all Washington memoir in which he lacerates the former Delaware senator as an “egomaniacal autocrat” who was “determined to manage his staff through fear.”