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.”

In Defense of Richard Mourdock  —  It is his Democratic opponent who is engaging in Akin-style sophistry.  —  With less than two weeks to go before the election, the left is anxious to talk about abortion, and you can see why.  To be sure, Gallup found in May that Americans are considerably likelier …

AP-GFK POLL: ROMNEY ERASES OBAMA LEAD AMONG WOMEN  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — What gender gap?  —  Less than two weeks out from Election Day, Republican Mitt Romney has erased President Barack Obama's 16-point advantage among women, a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows.

How Bill Clinton May Have Hurt the Obama Campaign  —  When the histories of the 2012 campaign are written, much will be made of Bill Clinton's re-emergence.  His convention speech may well have marked the finest moment of President Obama's re-election campaign, and his ads on the president's behalf were memorable.

Paul Ryan's Poverty Play  —  Paul Ryan gave a speech on poverty and economic mobility.  —  No, that's not the beginning of one of those a-man-walks-into-a-bar jokes.  It actually happened.  —  Ryan delivered the speech Wednesday in Cleveland.  “In this war on poverty,” he said, “poverty is winning.”

Dear Donald, It's Over  —  It's not us.  It's you.  You've been annoying in the past.  You've also been good copy.  But your latest pitiful attempt to keep your name in headlines is one empty bid for attention too many.  By Lloyd Grove.  —  It's been fun, Donald.

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.

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.

My column: Why Romney hasn't surrendered Nevada  —  Mitt Romney campaigned in Nevada today for the second consecutive day.  The question is: Why?  —  Any reasonable analysis of the early voting numbers so far shows that the Democratic machine is crushing the Republicans' Rube Goldberg contraption.

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 …

The Bloomberg Way  —  The mayor of New York on his soda ban, why he doesn't worry about approval ratings, governing in the age of Twitter, and the dumbed-down media  —  You could look at Michael Bloomberg—astringent, profane, irritated by small talk, impatient with the politics of empathy …

Obama lead in Virginia up to 5 points  —  A new Public Policy Polling survey in Virginia, conducted on behalf of Health Care for America Now, finds Barack Obama expanding his lead in the aftermath of his debate victory Monday night.  He now has 51% to 46% for Mitt Romney, up from a 49/47 advantage last weekend.

TIME Poll: Obama Leads by 5 in Ohio  —  President Barack Obama, joined by Vice President Joe Biden, speaks during a campaign event at Triangle Park in Dayton, Ohio, on Oct. 23, 2012.  —  Buoyed by early voting in his favor, Barack Obama leads Mitt Romney by five points in the pivotal state of Ohio, according to a new TIME poll.

Will Ohio State's Football Team Decide Who Wins the White House?  —  How politically irrelevant events—like a college football game—can determine who wins an election.  —  “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”  —Winston Churchill"

Warren Buffett says despite global slowdown, U.S. economy will ‘inch’ ahead under Obama or Romney  —  The Oracle of Omaha supports Obama but says the economy could also improve under Romney.  Still, he says American businesses would be performing better if leaders would address the nation's fiscal problems.

GOP Rep Says Strike On Iran's Nuclear Facilities Would Not Be An Act Of War  —  Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on CNN last night that neither he, nor the Iranians, would consider an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities an act of war.

Rep. Moran's son resigns from father's campaign amid voter fraud scandal  —  Patrick Moran, the son of Virginia Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) and the field director for his father's reelection bid, resigned abruptly Wednesday after a video linked him to voter fraud.

WH: ‘We Decline to Comment’ on When Obama Learned of E-Mails, Met With NSC on Benghazi  —  (CNSNews.com) - The White House is declining to say when President Barack Obama first learned of three e-mails that the State Department sent to the White House on Sept. 11, 2012, directly notifying …