Charles Dharapak / AP Photo

Planning for a possible Romney presidency is well underway with a transition office open in Washington and the FBI doing background checks on likely appointees. House Republican leaders regularly convene “two scenarios meetings” to calibrate “the tone and tenor” of their response depending on the election outcome.

Justine Schiavo / The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Since the presidential campaign began, tens of millions of dollars have been spent heaping dirt on Bill Bain’s name. Bain Capital—the investment firm envisioned by Bain and led by his protégé, Mitt Romney—is likely the most-attacked private company in the history of American politics.

Welcome to the Obama Haters Book Club—a parallel universe of fear mongering for fun and profit. Over the past four years, no less than 89 obsessively anti-Obama books have been published, as now catalogued by The Daily Beast. I’m not talking about cool statements of policy difference, but overheated and often unhinged screeds painting a picture of the president as a dangerous radical hell-bent on undermining the Republic by any means necessary.

Mandel Ngan / AFP-Getty Images

President Obama joined a surge in hometown voters casting an early election ballot Thursday, trekking to an austere Chicago community center where the waiting-room seats are now off limits after becoming a hangout for drug dealers.

Whiny, Radical, Manchurian, Evil Communist Sharia Gangster: The Anti-Obama Canon

Michael Conroy / AP Photo

Republican Senate hopeful Richard Mourdock’s comment implying God intended women to get pregnant from rape is dominating the election discussion, much to Republican chagrin. Democrats have already spent $1.1 million on an ad in Indiana that attempts to implicate Romney, who says he disagrees with the comment, but will continue to support Mourdock for Senate.

Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images

When times are tough, it’s good to know you can always count on yourself for support. The president took a moment out from his busy touring schedule Thursday to cast an early vote in the 2012 election. “I can’t tell you who I’m voting for,” he told a crowd in Tampa.

Colin Powell has endorsed President Obama for second term and John McCain, for one, is pissed. Almost as pissed as he was the first time the former secretary of state endorsed Obama over McCain—a fellow Republican—in 2008. "General Powell, you disappoint us and you have harmed your legacy even further by defending what is clearly the most feckless foreign policy in my lifetime," McCain, a longtime Romney supporter, said on the Kilmeade and Friends radio show Thursday.

Steve Helber / AP Photo

The Washington Post is standing by its man. In an editorial published on Thursday, the paper endorsed President Obama for a second term, arguing that the achievements of his first term outweigh “the disappointments.” And they certainly don’t go easy on Mitt Romney.

MANDEL NGAN / AFP

Vote early, vote often, right? President Obama leads by 5 points in the pivotal battleground state of Ohio, according to a Time poll released Thursday. The poll counts Buckeye State residents who say they will vote on Nov. 6 and those who plan on voting early, finding that Obama has a 49 percent to 44 percent lead, with a margin of error of 3 points.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP Photo

In an interview to be published in Rolling Stone this month, President Obama doesn't censor himself in assessing his opponent. When the magazine's executive editor tells Obama that his six-year-old daughter is rooting for the president, Obama grins and responds,“You know, kids have good instincts.

The editors of the Detroit News gave Mitt Romney somewhat of a backhanded endorsement Thursday, putting their faith in the Republican presidential nominee's' 5-point economic plan "despite his wrong-headedness on the auto bailout.

Mandel Ngan, AFP / Getty Images

President Obama joked to Jay Leno on Wednesday night that there would be “candy for everyone” at the White House this Halloween, despite Michelle giving out fruit last year. On a more serious note, Obama criticized Richard Mourdock’s comments about rape, saying “rape is rape” and that “this is exactly why you don’t want a bunch of politicians, mostly male, making decisions about women’s health-care decisions.

Michael Conroy / AP Photo

Guess Richard Mourdock has learned one lesson from Todd Akin: don’t back down. The Indiana Republican Senate candidate insisted Wednesday that he would not apologize for his controversial comments that pregnancy from rape can sometimes be “something God intended to happen.

Susan Walsh / AP Photo

It’s late night in America, so President Obama must be appearing on another television talk show. Actually it could be any time of day. As Jay Leno joked in his monologue about Obama’s appearance on Wednesday’s installment of  The Tonight Show: “It’s a real treat.