June Job Creation at 80,000; Rate Holds Steady at 8.2%  —  The U.S. economy created just 80,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate held steady at 8.2 percent, reflecting continued slow growth in the economy with the presidential election just four months away.

Akron restaurant owner dies hours after meeting Obama  —  The owner of an Akron restaurant where President Barack Obama stopped for breakfast this morning died, apparently of a heart attack, shortly after meeting him.  —  Josephine “Ann” Harris, 70, of Copley Township …

Ohioan to Obama: Let's arm-wrestle for vote  —  A voter in Amherst, Ohio, offered to arm-wrestle President Obama in exchange for his vote.  —  The president responded he'd prefer a basketball game, according to a White House pool report.  —  Obama was in Ohio wrapping up day one of a two-day bus tour …

Gov. Chris Christie — Fightin' Words On the Jersey Shore [VIDEO]  —  GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE  —  FIGHTIN' WORDS  —  On the Jersey Shore  —  EXCLUSIVE  —  Things got downright HOSTILE on the Jersey Shore last night — with NJ Governor Chris Christie getting into a heated verbal altercation right …

Turncoat Roberts  —  Chief justice's surprise ruling means limited government is dead  —  Yogi Berra said that when you come to a fork in the road, take it.  When supposed-conservative Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. came to a judicial conservative-liberal fork in the road, he veered left.

IN OBAMA WE TRUST  —  For the first time in decades, The Advocate has a candidate it can endorse for president.  That candidate is Barack Obama.  —  Never has the substantial progress in equal rights and treatment of LGBT people been more at risk than in this presidential contest.

So.  It Has Come To This.  —  The scene is a security screening station at Los Angeles International Airport, August 2012.  —  Screening Officer Jules: Greetings, prospective passengers!  Looking to travel through the public airways?  Now don't be distressed!  You know who we are?

Obama hits Romney: ‘Principles matter’  —  President Obama sharply attacked Mitt Romney over the individual mandate on Friday, hitting him for “abandoning a principle” he fought for in the past due to political considerations.  —  “One of the things that you learn as president …

Crime of the Century  —  Forget Bernie Madoff and Enron's Ken Lay — they were mere amateurs in financial crime.  The current Libor interest rate scandal, involving hundreds of trillions in international derivatives trade, shows how the really big boys play.

Romney-Rice?  —  Erin McPike's “close examination of the [Romney] campaign's activity” at RealClearPolitics suggests four leading contenders for Mitt Romney's vice presidential pick—former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, Ohio senator Rob Portman, Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan, and Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal.

Ralph Nader: ‘Cowering’ Democrats face defeat  —  If the “cowering” Democrats — who “are tortured daily by Republican leaders” — come away the losers in November, they will have only themselves to blame, according to Ralph Nader.  —  “If the Democrats in Congress were all drinking water …

Louisiana Republican: When I Voted for State Funds to go to Religious Schools, I Didn't Mean Muslim Ones  —  In Louisiana, Republican Governor Bobby Jindal pushed for a voucher program that would allow state funds to be used to pay for religious schools.  It's unconstitutional …

Duke Energy CEO Bill Johnson resigns after one day, gets $44 million in severance  —  When Duke Energy announced its merger with Progress Energy last year, the two companies agreed that Progress CEO Bill Johnson would assume the same position at the combined company.

Broken Record, Broken Promises  —  Today, the Obama Administration told Americans “not to read too much into” monthly jobs reports.  —  As it turns out, they've been encouraging Americans to do that for years.  But after 41 straight months of unemployment over 8%, you don't have to read between the lines to see the truth.

A plan that offers Obama a fighting chance  —  At this point in 1980, Jimmy Carter was on the path to oblivion but didn't know it.  Barack Obama may share Carter's fate if he doesn't change course soon.  —  The 1980 presidential race was neck and neck until the end.

Honor Code  —  Henry V is one of Shakespeare's most appealing characters.  He was rambunctious when young and courageous when older.  But suppose Henry went to an American school.  —  By about the third week of nursery school, Henry's teacher would be sending notes home saying that Henry “had another hard day today.”

‘No Child’ Law Whittled Down by White House  —  In just five months, the Obama administration has freed schools in more than half the nation from central provisions of the No Child Left Behind education law, raising the question of whether the decade-old federal program has been essentially nullified.

96 Year-Old Latino Former Arizona Governor Detained By Border Patrol In 100 Degree Heat  —  This man is Raúl Héctor Castro.  He is 96 years old, a former Arizona governor, and a former United States Ambassador to El Salvador, Bolivia and Argentina.  He was born in Mexico, and is a United States citizen.

Rand Paul on Civil Rights: Private Restaurants Wouldn't Have To Serve Martin Luther King  —  What's Your Reaction: … Wednesday on “Hardball,” Jack Conway charged that Rand Paul wanted to do away with the Civil Rights Act.  In fact, Rand Paul's words to the Courier-Journal …

Aide: Trump not a lock for the convention  —  POLITICO's Ginger Gibson reports: … It was not many weeks ago that Trump tweeted out a link to a story floating him as a potential convention keynote speaker, in which he said people would love to hear it.  But removing himself …

5 Ways Republicans Have Sabotaged Job Growth  —  New numbers released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the economy added a mere 80,000 jobs in June.  That's down from an average of 150,000 jobs a month for the first part of the year, and far too little to keep up with population growth.

Texas: Ted Cruz Internal Poll Shows Lead Over David Dewhurst  —  Ted Cruz (above) led Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in a recent internal poll.  (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)  —  Ted Cruz led Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst by 9 points in a recent internal poll conducted for the former Texas …

Huntsman to skip national GOP convention  —  • Still smarting from his unsuccessful presidential campaign, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman says he won't attend the Republican's national convention or future gatherings until the party starts to tackle the bigger issues.