Happy Hour Roundup

* Katie Zezima reports that our long wait to find out what Ted Cruz will do in the voting booth is finally over:

Sen. Ted Cruz is endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, the latest chapter in a rocky relationship between the two men that has ricocheted from fawning expressions of support to searing personal insults to, now, a kind of detente.

In a Facebook message posted Friday, Cruz said he has had “areas of significant disagreement” with Trump but cannot allow  Hillary Clinton to become president.

“After many months of careful consideration, of prayer and searching my own conscience, I have decided that on Election Day, I will vote for the Republican nominee, Donald Trump,” Cruz said, noting he is honoring a commitment he made to endorse the Republican nominee – something he stepped back from earlier this year.

And you thought you couldn’t dislike Ted Cruz any more than you already did.

* On the other hand, Kim Kardashian is still on the fence.

* Michael Isikoff has the latest tale of people with questionable ties to Russia within the Trump campaign:

U.S. intelligence officials are seeking to determine whether an American businessman identified by Donald Trump as one of his foreign policy advisers has opened up private communications with senior Russian officials — including talks about the possible lifting of economic sanctions if the Republican nominee becomes president, according to multiple sources who have been briefed on the issue.

The activities of Trump adviser Carter Page, who has extensive business interests in Russia, have been discussed with senior members of Congress during recent briefings about suspected efforts by Moscow to influence the presidential election, the sources said. After one of those briefings, Senate minority leader Harry Reid wrote FBI Director James Comey, citing reports of meetings between a Trump adviser (a reference to Page) and “high ranking sanctioned individuals” in Moscow over the summer as evidence of “significant and disturbing ties” between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin that needed to be investigated by the bureau

I’m sure all Republicans will agree that this is really no problem at all and nothing to be concerned about.

* Steve Benen wonders, given how much Republicans claimed in 2008 that Barack Obama had a messianic streak, what would have happened if one of his aides had said something like this:

“Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump. It’s everyone who’s ever doubted Donald, who ever disagreed, who ever challenged him. It is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe.”

That has to be one of the great quotes of 2016. Kneel before Zod!

* Glenn Kessler offers a handy guide to some falsehoods, lies, and misleading statements Clinton and Trump have made regularly, so the debate moderators can be ready when they come up again.

* A new Democracy Corps poll shows Clinton ahead in North Carolina by four and in Pennsylvania by nine, tied with Trump in Nevada, and trailing him by a hair in Ohio.

* The Cincinnati Enquirer, a paper that reliably endorses the Republican presidential candidate, has endorsed Hillary Clinton. We’re going to be seeing a lot of this.

* Zachary Tracer and Sahil Kapur share the results of a new study showing that under Trump’s health care plan, nearly 20 million Americans would lose their health coverage, while under Clinton’s plan, the deficit would rise somewhat more, but nearly 10 million people would gain coverage.

* Adam Serwer explains how Trump’s “outreach” to African-Americans is actually way for him to spread ugly stereotypes.

* Robert Schlesinger says that while presidential debates normally don’t have much of an impact on the race, this year could be the exception that proves the rule.

* Catherine Rampell argues that Millennials may get over their ambivalence about Clinton and come around to supporting her.

* Mother Jones offers some good questions that the debate moderators could ask of both Trump and Clinton.

* And Michelle Goldberg reports that patients with Trump-induced anxiety are turning up in therapists’ offices all over the country.