Did you hear? Colin Powell is racist. Maybe you heard that back in 2008, when it was a trope on right-wing blogs. But this week, Powell endorsed Barack Obama for president, even though logically there could be no reason to. So, if unreason it was, then it must've been race madness.

The Obama campaign just released its latest video ad, featuring none other than Girls creator Lena Dunham. In the clip, she offers advice on "your first time," describing one's first foray into the voting booth the same way a young lady might describe losing her virginity. In other words, a cute sex joke! And guess what? Right-wing bloggers flipped out.

President Barack Obama made presidential history today when he became the very first...president to vote early.

Gee, white voters really don't like Barack Obama. Huh.

Following Donald Trump's game-changing October Surprise — a decidedly unserious promise to donate $5 million to Obama's charity of choice if the president releases his college and passport records to Trump's "satisfaction" — Guardian writer Adam Gabbatt thought it would be only fair to ask Trump to release his own college and passport records, so he phoned up Trump's special counsel, Trump Organization executive VP Michael Cohen.

Politico's Mike Allen got his hands a copy of Rolling Stone's upcoming cover story, Douglas Brinkley's "Obama and the Road Ahead," and pulled out this gem of a quote:

Andrea Peyser—leading hate and sex and hate sex sexxxpert at New York's trashiest tabloid—has, at long last, issued her presidential endorsement. She has made her choice primarily on the basis of her feminist values.

President Obama stopped by The Tonight Show earlier tonight to discuss, amongst other things, Richard Mourdock's recent idiotic comments about rape.

You didn't seriously think Sarah Palin was going to sit idly by and let Donald Trump and Ann Coulter troll America without joining in on the fun, did you?

He once appeared in the background of a Presidential photo op — and became its focal point.

Professional birther troll and ugly haired human, Donald Trump has been parading around this week alleging that he had a bombshell so big that it was "bordering on gigantic." A story so big that it would "possibly" change the state of the election. "Possibly," everybody.

One of the many little thrills of being a part of the Obama campaign four years ago was a deep and abiding sense that, finally, a political leader had come along who could live up to our highest aspirations. Yes, Obama was cool and played basketball and was conversant in ironical youth culture, but when it came down to it, he was overwhelmingly serious. The other guys were hauling unlicensed plumbers onstage and suspending their campaign at the drop of a hat, but Obama kept his eyes on the prize and played the grown-up. Now he's talking about "Romnesia."

It's time for another presidential debate, but this one is different, because everyone will follow the rules and tell the truth. This is the foreign policy debate, which means we get to witness the Lucky Alien Sweepstakes, in which the two candidates' answers determine just which nation's people have won the right to be torched alive from airborne American hellfire. CROSS YOUR FINGERS, SYRIA.

I see all these people out here talking about how the presidential election this year "now appears to be a dead heat." Yeah right. You go right on ahead with that, Sherlock. Feed that one into the computer, good plan.

The small town of Leakey, Texas (pop. 387), is stirring with an excitement not felt since the Leakey High Eagles last won the state football championship in 1975. But this latest stir has less to do with victory and far more to do with pure ignorant hatred, compliments of Leakey's nondenominational Church in the Valley.

A recent post on the New York Times Campaign Stops blog discusses all sorts of Google search-related political factoids. The point of the analysis is, for the Times' purpose, to act as a predictor (or, the article's title puts it, a "crystal ball") for the election. But it also offers up important information about how often people do things like search for topless photos of Paul Ryan, or, on the more depressing end of the spectrum, how often people searched for "Obama" in conjunction with "KKK." Here are some of more interesting searches:

Finally a brave Cleveland radio jockey has asked Barack Obama the hard-hitting political question of the election: What do he and Jay-Z, you know, talk about?

The Salt Lake Tribune endorses Kenyan President Barack Obama. Has Mittens lost the Mormons?

Speaking at Virginia's George Mason University this afternoon, President Obama told the crowd he knows why his rival Mitt Romney has been "backtracking and sidestepping" so much lately: He's suffering from a condition known as "Romnesia."

The annual white-tie function known as the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner took place last night.