Howard D. Fineman, a Pittsburgh native who’s editorial director of The Huffington Post Media Group, speaks at Pitt on Thursday.

His topic — who’d have guessed? — is that campaign thing. The talk is titled “Down to the Wire: The 2012 Presidential Election.”

In Fineman’s latest post, on tonight’s debate, he calls out Romney as “a ruthlessly ambitious, shape-shifting politician with enormous wealth, even wealthier friends and a proven reputation for using whatever means necessary to destroy anyone in his path and for blithely disregarding numbers, logic and truth in the pursuit of power.”

Other than that, Mr. Fineman, how did you like the play?

His 7:30 p.m. talk in the J.W. Connolly Ballroom, on the first floor of Pitt’s Alumni Hall (4227 Fifth Ave.) is presented by University of Pittsburgh’s Dick Thornburgh Forum for Law and Public Policy and the University Honors College.

The talk is free, but seating is limited, so registration is required at www.thronburghforum.pitt.edu. Want more info? Try [email protected].

After the talk, there’ll be a Q&A moderated by former Pennsylvania governor and U.S. Attorney General Thornburgh himself.

In addition to his HuffPo duties, Fineman is an analyst for NBC News and MSNBC.

Fineman, a Taylor Allderdice grad, made his name at Newsweek, where he covered national politics at positions including deputy Washington bureau chief.