The GOP has spent $150,000 on spiffing up Sarah Palin and her husband. Way to reach “Joe the Plumber”. . . obviously.

THIS EVENT CAN BE WATCHED ON LINE AT THIS LINK. Tonight at Washington’s National Cathedral, I will be helping to introduce a major event — attended by more than 1,200 people — titled “America and the World: Picking Up the Pieces.” The program will start at 7 pm and conclude at 9 pm EST.

This morning, a friend of mine, Marwan Kreidie, has a passionate and smart oped in the Philadelphia Inquirer that challenges the slur that John McCain indirectly embraced when an elder woman at a McCain rally said “I don’t trust Obama. . .He’s an Arab.

Just saw this. Apparently, Schmidt is going to hit the trail for Obama despite his company’s relationship with the McCain campaign and a host of other Republican campaigns across the country. According to a well-placed source, the McCain folks are absolutely livid.

Oakley, Annie, and Buddy send their best.

— Steve Clemons

Powell’s statement on the young American Muslim killed in Iraq is incredibly powerful and poignant. Like me, Powell agrees that this embedded racism and bigotry against Muslims who are American and Muslims abroad has to be reversed.

(This article appears today at Tina Brown’s “The Daily Beast.” Here is the actual link to my piece.) This morning, about a nanosecond after Colin Powell gave his endorsement of Barack Obama for President, I called his long-time aide and former State Department Chief of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson.

This morning on Meet the Press, Colin Powell endosed Barack Obama for President of the United States. Take that, Bill Kristol. . .