GOP pros fret over Paul Ryan  —  You've heard them on television and read them on POLITICO — cheerful, defiant statements from Republican political professionals about Mitt Romney's bold masterstroke in tapping Paul Ryan as his running mate, and turning the 2012 presidential race into a serious …

Gov. Chris Christie to deliver keynote at GOP convention  —  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will deliver the keynote address that launches the Republican National Convention in two weeks, telling USA TODAY he plans to make an “emphatic” argument on behalf of GOP approaches and shared sacrifice to face the nation's biggest challenges.

McCain rebuts Reid on Romney, says “nothing in his tax returns shows he did not pay taxes”  —  Arizona Sen. John McCain said today that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is wrong about his assertion that Mitt Romney did not pay taxes for 10 years, saying his team that vetted the presumptive GOP nominee in 2008 found no such thing.

Boehner's Office Says Obama Avoiding Personal Responsibility For Drought  —  On its website and in an email Monday, House Speaker John Boehner's office said President Obama needs to take personal responsibility for the drought ravaging the Midwest.  —  Obama, “continues to blame anyone …

Treasury: U.S. to lose $25 billion on auto bailout  —  Washington -The Treasury Department says in a new report the government expects to lose more than $25 billion on the $85 billion auto bailout.  That's 15 percent higher than its previous forecast.  —  In a monthly report sent to Congress on Friday …

Mitt Romney is Stumping In Miami at Eatery Owned By Convicted Coke Smuggler … Today, Mitt Romney is foregoing a Miami political campaign tradition by skipping over Versailles restaurant in Little Havana.  Instead, Mittens will be hobnobbing with a convicted cocaine smuggler.

Two Dark Money Groups Outspending All Super PACs Combined  —  Two conservative nonprofits, Crossroads GPS and Americans for Prosperity, have poured almost $60 million into TV ads to influence the presidential race so far, outgunning all super PACs put together, new spending estimates show.

Romney/Ryan: The Real Target  —  So, let me clarify what I believe is really going on in the choice of Paul Ryan as VP nominee.  It is not about satisfying the conservative base, which was motivated anyway by Obama-hatred; it is not about refocusing on the issues, because R&R are both determined …

Gave ‘Single Girl’ a Life in Full (Sex, Sex, Sex)  —  Helen Gurley Brown, who as the author of “Sex and the Single Girl” shocked early-1960s America with the news that unmarried women not only had sex but thoroughly enjoyed it — and who as the editor of Cosmopolitan magazine spent …

Archbishop Desmond Tutu protests NBC reality series ‘Stars Earn Stripes’  —  Cast of “Stars Earn Stripes” (NBC - CHRIS HASTON/NBC) Nine Nobel Peace Laureates, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, have demanded NBC scrub its new reality series “Stars Earn Stripes” because, “war isn't entertainment.”