Exclusive Romney Interview: On Humility and Tax Returns  —  Much of the case you make to voters is that you're a successful entrepreneur and a successful executive, and thus you'll make a successful president.  Why were you so successful as a businessman?  —  Well, I had the privilege …

Why Not Paul Ryan?  —  Romney can win a big election over big issues.  He'll lose a small one.  —  The whispering over Mitt Romney's choice of a running mate is getting louder, and along with it we are being treated to the sotto voce angst of the GOP establishment: Whatever else Mitt does …

City officials pull the plug on vibrator giveaway, leaving thousands dissatisfied  —  They must have rubbed Mayor Bloomberg the wrong way.  —  City officials pulled the plug on a vibrator giveaway by the Trojan condom company yesterday, disappointing potentially thousands of pleasure-seeking women …

Landslide on the Horizon  —  When I read Nate Silver, Sean Trende, Charlie Cook, Jay Cost, and the others who make a profession of political prognostication, I pay close attention to their attempts to dissect the polling data and predict what is to come.  But I also take everything that they say with a considerable grain of salt.

Man who claimed he was beaten for being gay admits he made it all up after police receive video of him hitting HIS OWN head after back-flipping off a curb  —  A young man who told police he was beaten up in a would-be hate crime appeared in court today admitting that he made the entire incident up.

The Contempt of Women  —  The rise of men.  And the whining of girls.  —  In the constantly progressing and deteriorating and rapidly revolving kaleidoscope of misunderstanding and disgust and hunger that constitutes gender relations in the twenty-first century, a new gesture has emerged to define us …

The Komen Foundation's very big leadership shake-up  —  Top officials at Susan G. Komen for the Cure stepped down Wednesday, months after the the breast cancer charity found itself embroiled in controversy when it halted grants to Planned Parenthood affiliates.

For Romney, Even Means Ahead  —  After absorbing three months of negative ads from President Obama, the GOP challenger is raising his game in time for the nominating convention.  —  Wednesday's Gallup poll had President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney essentially tied, with Mr. Obama at 47% and Mr. Romney at 46%.

Romney Campaign Carefully Chooses Speakers for Convention  —  TAMPA, Fla. — Newt Gingrich hoped to get a coveted speaking slot at the Republican National Convention.  Instead the Romney campaign will have him teach a series of workshops they have nicknamed Newt University.

Young in G.O.P. Erase the Lines on Social Issues  —  CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Matt Hoagland, the county leader of a group of young North Carolina Republicans, is busy trying to ramp up enthusiasm for Mitt Romney at the grass-roots level.  So there are a few things he avoids mentioning …

Leading LGBT Group Weighs In On Gambling Fight  —  National Gay and Lesbian Task Force claims a political synergy.  “Opponents of the gambling expansion are clearly using the marriage issue for their own political gain,” says Levin.  —  A top LGBT civil rights group jumped unexpctedly …

Editor Fired Following Harassment Accusation  —  CONWAY, Ark. — The gathering, Marc Smirnoff said, was intended as a morale-boosting retreat for his staff at The Oxford American magazine, a July 4 overnight party at a mountain cabin that would fuel the creative intellect.

Jason Sudeikis might bolt ‘Saturday Night Live’  —  His movie career is on upswing with ‘The Campaign’ and 'We're the Millers' with Jennifer Aniston.  More chances to spoof Mitt Romney might not be enough.  —  Jason Sudeikis stars in the new movie, “The Campaign.”  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Was Romneycare A War On Religion?  —  Mitt Romney continues to attack President Obama for policies he supported as governor of Massachusetts with a new ad Thursday morning that accuses the administration of waging “a war on religion.”  —  The commercial claims that an Affordable Care Act …

Deli owner: Take my store out of Obama ad  —  Krause's will lose business, she says  —  The owner of Krause's at Findlay Market said she was misled about the filming of an Obama TV ad.  / The Enquirer/Jane Prendergast  —  The owner of a specialty deli at Findlay Market wants …

Blink!  U.S. Debt Just Grew by $11 Trillion  —  By Laurence Kotlikoff and Scott Burns 2012-08-08T22:30:26Z  —  Republicans and Democrats spent last summer battling how best to save $2.1 trillion over the next decade.  They are spending this summer battling how best to not save $2.1 trillion over the next decade.

GLENN GREENWALD  —  Mark Halperin of Time provides some important insight into the behavior of his colleagues  —  Few media behaviors are more pitiful than the intense fixation over the “Veepstakes”: a word that is at once nauseatingly vapid and yet incomparably valuable as a symbol of our nation's pointless, juvenile political media.

The Recession and Its Causes  —  In a post today, Matt Yglesias borrows Brad deLong's graph to show that “the back-and-forth swing of business investment has been the main motor of the recession...But the chart also shows us that contrary to a lot of myth-making, the recession is not identical to the downturn in housing.”

Groups' Campaign Spending Scrutinized in New York  —  Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman of New York is escalating his inquiry into the fastest-growing but darkest corner of the campaign world, requesting in recent weeks tax returns and other financial documents from dozens of tax-exempt groups …

Romney: Japanese In Century-Long Decline Says U.S. doesn't have to go down that path.  —  NEW YORK — At a fundraiser this morning, Mitt Romney took a shot at Japan, saying that country's economic decline is not a path the United States will follow under his leadership.