It’s the talk of Twitter and of our comment threads, so here’s a dedicated post to let your imaginations run wild.

https://twitter.com/DRUDGE/statuses/253208624489459713
https://twitter.com/DRUDGE/statuses/253223344441270272

Bad for Romney or bad for Obama? Ace is in eeyore mode as a defense mechanism to prepare his brain and heart in case it’s bad for Mitt, but that would be a surprise given how pro-Romney the Drudge Report has been during the campaign. (“No one has displaced [Romney campaign manager] Matt Rhoades in the Republican firmament as the go-to Drudge guy,” said one top GOP operative last year.) On his site, Drudge says the video was recorded six years ago, which means it can’t be the long-sought Khalidi tape. That was recorded in 2003. It can’t be the Michelle Obama “whitey”/”why’d he” tape either, which was allegedly recorded in 2004. This is likely something new.

Can’t wait to find out which campaign pulled the pin and tossed this grenade by feeding oppo to the media the night before the debate. Excitement! While we wait, here’s Paul Ryan converting a turnover by America’s sexiest grandpa into one of the easiest lay-ups in political history.

Update: Tomorrow’s debate should be a humdinger:

One thing to bear in mind per Drudge’s mention that the tape is six years old: Obama was already two years into his Senate term at the time and well along in thinking about running for president. A guy in that position normally isn’t given to saying Drudge-worthy things about race publicly, so I’m assuming the tape must have been made in a semi-private setting — at a fundraiser, say, a la Romney’s “47 percent” comments. I wonder if Hillary’s camp knew about it all along in 2007-08 but sat on it because it was too politically explosive or if this will be news to them too.

Update: It’ll air on Hannity’s show. The teaser on his site: “It’s a bombshell video that you will only see tonight on ‘Hannity,’ and it’s one that could dramatically impact the race for the White House”.

Update: Haven’t had a chance to watch yet, but a reader notes that this video from 2007 looks a lot like the screencap that Drudge just posted. Drudge is also now teasing, though, that the Daily Caller will have an “unscrubbed” version of the video. Tucker Carlson says on Twitter that it’ll be up on the DC at 9 p.m.

Update: A reporter on Twitter points to this Roland Martin piece for CNN in 2007 noting that the Hampton speech drew fire from some on the right at the time, mainly for O’s references to “quiet riots” as a way of describing economic despair among minorities. Martin downplays it, but he’s an O supporter. Let’s see what the DC has.

Update: Here’s the transcript — as prepared for delivery — of O’s 2007 speech at Hampton. Still not positive if this is the speech Drudge has in mind, but the screencap does match up.

Update: A friend e-mails to point out that some of the bits quoted on Drudge are *not* in the transcript. Right — it’s only the remarks as prepared for delivery. To find out how O ad-libbed, we’ll have to wait for Hannity and the DC.

Update: More from Drudge:

https://twitter.com/DRUDGE/status/253276183570030592