How The Romney Campaign Decided To Take The Gloves Off  —  Surrogates will bring up cocaine, Fast and Furious, and ties to Blagojevich, one aide says.  What Romneyland is thinking.  —  Image by Win McNamee / Getty Images  —  IRWIN, Penn.  — Standing before hundreds of roaring partisans …

Memo to Dem press secretary: Probably best not to imply GOP billionaire is a pimp  —  When Jesse Ferguson showed up for work yesterday as a Democrat press secretary on Capitol Hill, he found a three-page FedEx letter waiting.  —  It was from someone named Lewis R. Clayton.

Attack Kills Syrian Defense Minister in Damascus  —  BEIRUT, Lebanon — President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law and Syria's defense minister were killed on Wednesday when a suicide bomber attacked a crisis group of senior ministers and security chiefs meeting in central Damascus, according to state television and activists.

Anthony Weiner Shares a Family Photo  —  What's next for former New York congressman Anthony Weiner?  Baby's first birthday, of course.  —  “I'm very happy in my present life,” Weiner, 47, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview.  “The only next dramatic steps I'm planning on are Jordan's first …

Nancy Pelosi: Democrats should skip the convention  —  House minority leader Nancy Pelosi says that Democratic members should stay home and campaign in their districts rather than go to the party's national convention in North Carolina.  —  “I'm not encouraging anyone to go to the convention …

Obama jobs panel lays low  —  President Barack Obama's Jobs Council hasn't met publicly for six months, even as the issue of job creation dominates the 2012 election.  —  At this point, the hiatus — which reached the half-year mark Tuesday — might be less awkward than an official meeting …

Romney's Ticket Talk Is Heating Up  —  In the time before his party's national convention late next month, Mitt Romney still has one surefire way to draw the spotlight to his campaign: When he names a running mate, the choice will dominate the political conversation.

Did Mitt Romney pay any federal taxes at all in 2009?  —  On the issue of Mitt Romney's tax returns, my colleague George Will put it simply: “The cost of not releasing the returns are clear.  Therefore, he must have calculated that there are higher costs in releasing them.”

Wasserman Schultz Has Unreported Second Home in NH, Lives Large on the High Seas  —  DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and President Barack Obama's re-election campaign team have been waging a coordinated effort against Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney by repeatedly casting aspersion …

Christie keynote tip  —  The word is going out quietly to Republican activists across New Jersey: If you're going to the GOP convention in Tampa next month, be sure to be there by Tuesday night, Aug. 28, because Gov. Chris Christie is going to be giving the keynote speech that night.

Laid Off Steelworker in Anti-Romney Ad Says He Is Not Voting for Obama  —  “We didn't know who the hell Mitt Romney was when all that stuff started,” says former GS Technologies steelworker Donnie Box of Kansas City, Missouri.  “It wasn't until later we found out who Romney was.

Schumer calls for “limits on First Amendment rights” during Senate debate  —  The Senate has gone 1,175 days without passing a budget.  Taxmageddon and sequestration are threatening the economic livelihood of millions of Americans.  And yet the top order of business for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid …

Obama Descends into Self-Parody  —  It's time for the president to give his hope-and-change act a rest.  —  After much soul searching, Barack Obama has figured out where his presidency has gone wrong—and he shared it with CBS's Charlie Rose and viewers across the fruited plain Sunday morning.

Senate Democrats Propose Letting All Tax Cuts Expire  —  WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats — holding firm against extending tax cuts for the rich — are proposing a novel way to circumvent the Republican pledge not to vote for any tax increase: Allow all the tax cuts to expire Jan. 1 …

Possible serial foot-licker in custody after police bust 49-year-old Anthony Parri for inappropriately touching two young girls in upstate NY library  —  ‘I am being set up by the President Barack Obama and the city and the federal government,’ Parri said outside court.