Mitt Romney's painfully bad week  —  Editor's note: David Frum is a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Daily Beast and a CNN contributor.  He is the author of seven books, including a new novel, “Patriots.”  —  (CNN) — By any measure, the Mitt Romney for president campaign has had a painfully bad week.

Pawlenty Looked at as Romney Running Mate  —  EAGAN, Minn. — It was four years ago this summer, when Tim Pawlenty ranked high on the list of John McCain's potential running mates, and Mr. Pawlenty and his wife, Mary, were plowing through a voluminous questionnaire probing deep into their finances …

Republicans Turn Against John Roberts, U.S. Supreme Court  —  Democrats now positive about both  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans' opinions of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts are now much more negative than they were seven years ago, with the most recent reading coming soon …

‘Witness 9’ tells prosecutors Zimmerman molested her for years  —  A woman told authorities that while they were children, murder suspect George Zimmerman sexually molested her for a decade, according to prosecution records released today.  —  The woman, identified only as “witness 9,” …

Treasury probe cites officials for soliciting prostitutes, accepting industry gifts, FOIA docs reveal  —  Treasury Department officials have been cited for soliciting prostitutes, breaking conflict-of-interest rules and accepting gifts from corporate executives, according to the findings of official government investigations.

Democrats threaten to go over ‘fiscal cliff’ if GOP fails to raise taxes  —  Democrats are making increasingly explicit threats about their willingness to let nearly $600 billion worth of tax hikes and spending cuts take effect in January unless Republicans drop their opposition to higher taxes for the nation's wealthiest households.

Obama wedding registry fund-raising strategy not a hit with brides  —  President Obama's bizarre marriage-theme fund-raising scheme — where he asks couples to request campaign donations from their guests in lieu of wedding gifts — has been a total flop.  —  The desperate initiative …

Lt. Governor speaks out about sex scandal accusations  —  Lt. Governor Carroll made the comments Saturday in Orange Park, at the opening of a campaign office for Mitt Romney.  —  Carletha Cole claims she walked in on a sexual encounter between Carroll and Carroll's travel aide, Beatriz Ramos.

Retail sales fall for third straight month in June  —  (Reuters) - Retail sales fell in June for the third straight month, the longest run of consecutive drops since 2008 when the country was mired in recession.  —  Sales slipped .5 percent, with declines across a wide swath of industries …

Latest Word on the Trail?  I Take It Back  —  The quotations come back redacted, stripped of colorful metaphors, colloquial language and anything even mildly provocative.  —  They are sent by e-mail from the Obama headquarters in Chicago to reporters who have interviewed campaign officials under …

Deputies shoot, kill man after knocking on wrong door  —  FDLE looking into deputy-involved shooting  —  Lake County Sheriff's Office deputies shot and killed a man they assumed was an attempted murder suspect on Sunday, but they now know they shot the wrong man.

2012 Drought Rivals Dust Bowl … This year's drought ranks among the 10 largest drought areas of the past century, the National Climatic Data Center is expected to announce today.  —  Preliminary data computed from the Palmer Drought Severity Index shows that 54.6 percent of the contiguous 48 states …