Missouri Senate: McCaskill (D) 48%, Akin (R) 38%  —  What a difference one TV interview can make.  Embattled Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill has now jumped to a 10-point lead over her Republican challenger, Congressman Todd Akin, in Missouri's U.S. Senate race.

The Bain Files: Inside Mitt Romney's Tax-Dodging Cayman Schemes  —  Mitt Romney's $250 million fortune is largely a black hole: Aside from the meager and vague disclosures he has filed under federal and Massachusetts laws, and the two years of partial tax returns (one filed and another provisional) …

Romney Campaign Forbids Local Reporter From Asking About Akin, Abortion  —  This post has been updated.  —  Denver TV reporter Shaun Boyd wanted to ask Mitt Romney about Todd Akin and the abortion controversy roiling the GOP Thursday.  But the Romney campaign refused.

Fox News poll: Race for the White House tightens  —  Less than a week before the Republican convention begins, the race for the White House is a virtual tie.  According to a Fox News poll of likely voters, the Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan ticket receives the backing of 45 percent, while the Barack Obama-Joe Biden ticket garners 44 percent.

Rev. Grant Storms, critic of Southern Decadence, convicted of obscenity for public masturbation  —  The Rev. Grant Storms, the former “Christian patriot” pastor whose marches against homosexuality at New Orleans' Southern Decadence festival briefly put him in the national spotlight …

Ambassador Crocker arrested for hit and run, DUI  —  Author: Jeff Humphrey, KXLY4 Reporter , jeffhu@kxly.com  —  Ambassador Ryan Crocker, one of the most decorated State Department diplomats in the last half century, was arrested on August 14 by the Washington State Patrol for hit-and-run and DUI in Spokane Valley.

Romney says his Mormon tithing shouldn't be public  —  • Mitt Romney says in a new interview that one of the reasons he's distressed about disclosing his tax returns is that everyone sees how much money he and his wife, Ann, have donated to the LDS Church, and that's a number he wants to keep private.

EXCLUSIVE: Bin Laden raid tell-all author revealed, questions raised whether ex-Navy SEALs have freedom of speech  —  The author of a recently announced insider account of the raid that killed Usama bin Laden has been identified to Fox News as a 36-year-old former Navy SEAL Team 6 member …

The Party of No: New Details on the GOP Plot to Obstruct Obama  —  TIME just published “The Party of No,” an article adapted from my new book, The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era.  It reveals some of my reporting on the Republican plot to obstruct President Obama …

Racism Plays a Big Part in our Politics.  Period.  —  If you haven't read it, Ta-Nehisi Coates has a fantastic essay on Barack Obama's relationship to race and racism in the latest issue of The Atlantic.  There's too much to quote, but this paragraph captures the thesis:

Family Groups Urge FOX NEWS to Stop Providing Unchallenged Prime Time to Agitator  —  Bill O'Reilly ignores repeated requests to drop SPLC's Wayne Besen from show  —  Contact: Regina Griggs, Executive Director, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays, 804-453-4737, pfox@pfox.org

Paul Ryan to Obama: ‘Put up or shut up’ on sequester  —  FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Speaking south of Fort Bragg military base here, Paul Ryan said the White House should “put up or shut up” and lay out just how painful the sequester will be.  —  “The House has already passed, as well as the Senate …

Republicans eye return to gold standard  —  The gold standard has returned to mainstream US politics for the first time in 30 years, with a “gold commission” set to become part of official Republican party policy.  —  Drafts of the party platform, which it will adopt at a convention in Tampa Bay …

Obama Supporter Suggests Anti-Mormon Whisper Campaign  —  “I'm thinking that even though we don't LIKE campaigns to get nasty, we in the south (TN) come to EXPECT it,” a “team member” writes on the campaign Dashboard.  The campaign removes the post after an inquiry.

Barack Obama actually said this  —  Pete Souza / White House (Obama addresses staff)  —  Barack Obama has become accustomed to being the center of attention.  For many like him, that's one of the biggest appeals of politics, the television exposure it attracts and the power that seems to come with that instant recognition and fame.