Sununu walks back Powell jab  —  Former White House Chief of Staff John Sununu, a co-chair of GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's campaign, said in an interview Thursday night that retired Gen. Colin Powell's decision to endorse President Barack Obama's re-election bid appeared to have been driven by race.

Poll shows widening racial gap in presidential contest  —  The erosion of support Obama has experienced since his muted performance in the first presidential debate has been particularly acute among white men, whites without college degrees and white independents, the new tracking poll found.

JOE BIDEN TO FATHER OF FORMER NAVY SEAL KILLED IN BENGHAZI: ‘DID YOUR SON ALWAYS HAVE BALLS THE SIZE OF CUE BALLS?’ … The father of one of the former Navy SEALs killed in the terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya says President Barack Obama wouldn't even look him in the eye …

Is the Obama campaign taking commercial ideas from Vladimir Putin?  —  I see the Obama campaign has a new YouTube ad featuring Girls star (and fellow Oberlin alum!)  Lena Dunham:  —  “Your first time shouldn't be with just anybody.  You want to do it with a great guy,” she says, referring to casting your first ballot for Obama.

Family of Wen Jiabao Holds a Hidden Fortune in China  —  BEIJING — The mother of China's prime minister was a schoolteacher in northern China.  His father was ordered to tend pigs in one of Mao's political campaigns.  And during childhood, “my family was extremely poor,” the prime minister, Wen Jiabao, said in a speech last year.

National Income and Product Accounts  —  Gross Domestic Product: Third Quarter 2012 (advance estimate)  —  Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — increased at an annual rate of 2.0 percent in the third quarter of 2012 …

Noonan: When Americans Saw the Real Obama  —  Why the Denver debate changed everything.  —  We all say Ohio, Ohio, Ohio.  But it's all still Denver, Denver, and the mystery that maybe isn't a mystery at all.  —  If Cincinnati and Lake County go for Mitt Romney on Nov. 6 it will be because of what happened in Denver on Oct. 3.

Newt Gingrich: 300 electoral votes for Mitt Romney  —  Newt Gingrich is predicting that this election will be a near-landslide victory for Mitt Romney.  —  “I believe the minimum result will be 53-47 Romney, over 300 electoral votes, and the Republicans will pick up the Senate,” …

Gore's struggling Current TV on the block  —  Current TV, the ratings-challenged cable network started by former Vice President Al Gore, has put itself up for sale, The Post has learned.  —  “Current has been approached many times by media companies interested in acquiring our company,” CEO Joel Hyatt told The Post.

Oshkosh Corp. to lay off 450 workers  —  People make their way through a chicane on their way to initial interviews during an Oshkosh Corp. job fair in February of 2011 at the Oshkosh Convention Center.  Oshkosh Corp. said Thursday it will lay off 450 workers in January.  —  By Rick Barrett of the Journal Sentinel

Pointing Toward Prosperity?  —  Mitt Romney has been barnstorming the country, telling voters that he has a five-point plan to restore prosperity.  And some voters, alas, seem to believe what he's saying.  So President Obama has now responded with his own plan, a little blue booklet containing 27 policy proposals.

How to Bomb Iran  —  An Israeli attack is risky—and it might not even eliminate Iran's nuclear facilities.  —  Israel Defense Forces / Flickr  —  During the Napoleonic Wars, when it was reported that the French were preparing to invade England, Admiral John Jervis said …

Mitt Romney vouched for low price on Staples stock that traded 10 times higher a year later  —  CANTON, Mass. — Mitt Romney testified under oath in 1991 that the ex-wife of Staples founder Tom Stemberg got a fair deal in the couple's 1988 divorce, even though the company shares Maureen …

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’

Dem's amendment would give 29 more electoral votes to popular vote winner  —  The head of the House Democratic campaign arm this week proposed a Constitutional amendment that would give the winner of the popular vote in the presidential race an additional 29 electoral votes.