Romney: Chick-Fil-A, Huma Abedin ‘not ... part of my campaign’  —  POLITICO's Ginger Gibson reports from the Romney press avail in Vegas:

RNC sends DNC 'you didn't bake this' Obama birthday cake  —  The Republican National Committee sent a birthday cake to the Democratic National Committee on Friday.  The cake reads, “you didn't bake this” over a picture of President Obama.  Icing text reads, “Happy birthday, Mr. President.”

Porn star Jenna Jameson endorses Romney  —  “I'm very looking forward to a Republican being back in office,” Jameson said while sipping champagne in a VIP room at Gold Club in the city's South of Market neighborhood.  “When you're rich, you want a Republican in office.”

TPMDC  —  Dem Lawmakers Want Answers About Romney's Enormous IRA  —  Leading House Democrats want to turn Mitt Romney's enormous IRA into more than just a political problem.  —  Romney's most recent financial disclosure form revealed that his tax-deferred individual retirement account holds upwards …

New SuperPAC, FightBigotry.com, Smears President Obama For ‘Racism Against White Folks’  —  FightBigotry.com, a new Super PAC registered with the Federal Election Commission this week, makes no bones about its aim.  It intends to run an attack ad that it says will hit President Barack Obama for …

Rafalca Delays VP Pick  —  Almost two weeks ago, I speculated on Fox News Sunday that Mitt Romney would announce his vice presidential pick early next week, on August 6 or 7.  It was, if I may say, a reasonably well-informed forecast at the time.  But I didn't take into account the existence …

Aug. 3: A Good Week for Obama in Forecast  —  The past week of polling and economic data was relatively newsworthy by our forecast model's standards, and most of the news was good for President Obama.  —  On Tuesday, Mr. Obama was helped in the forecast by a report showing an increase in personal income …

Judge guts vote registration law  —  GALVESTON - A federal judge in Galveston on Thursday partially blocked new Texas registration laws that critics say amount to vote suppression because they prevent large voter registration drives.  —  U.S. District Judge Gregg Costa blocked the state …

Comeback Nation: Why the U.S. Economy Is Much Stronger Than You Think  —  Quite like an Olympic sport, hand-wringing about “America's decline” is popular, practiced all around the world, and often dominated by Americans, themselves.  Unlike an Olympic event, it's wasted energy.  —  Reuters

Obama's Magic Number: 316,000  —  A rhetorical milestone appears to be in reach.  —  With three months to Election Day, today's tepidly positive July jobs report has prompted Republican attacks on an increased unemployment rate and relief from the Administration that it could have been worse.

Amtrak Lost $834 Million on Food in Last Decade, Audit Finds  —  WASHINGTON — Amtrak lost more than $800 million on its food and beverage services over the last 10 years, largely because of waste, employee theft and lack of proper oversight, government auditors have found.

The Bad History Behind 'You Didn't Build That'  —  The controversy surrounding President Barack Obama's admonishment that “if you've got a business — you didn't build that.  Somebody else made that happen” has defied the usual election-year pattern.  —  Normally a political faux pas lasts little more than a news cycle.

Dems Nominate Anti-Gay Conspiracy Theorist for Senate  —  Update, 2:55 p.m.: Via the Tennessean, the Tennessee Democratic party has condemned Clayton, saying in a statement that he is “associated with a known hate group” (a reference to Public Advocate of the United States) …

Can Obama's “Chemical Warfare” Keep The White Vote Down?  —  John Ellis on the president's negative campaign.  Romney hasn't figured out an antidote.  —  Image by Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images  —  President Barack Obama's re-election campaign has spent more than $100 million on advertising over the last 3 months.

Rand Paul: Right to privacy predates the Constitution, comes from God  —  Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) argued on Thursday that people have a legal right to privacy that predates the Constitution and comes from God.  —  “I think some conservatives get this thing wrong.

Heeding critics, Mitt sharpens pitch for long run  —  Popular in Politics  —  The Romney campaign likes to project an image of great confidence.  It sees itself as an organization that doesn't panic when things go wrong and doesn't jump when critics, especially nervous Republicans, urge Romney to change direction.