Top Items:
Rasmussen Reports:
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.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Wire, CNN, Real Clear Politics, The Daily, The Gateway Pundit, New York Times, FiveThirtyEight, Conservatives4Palin, Guardian, Weasel Zippers, Talking Points Memo, ABCNEWS, Wizbang, Politico, Ballot Box, The Fix, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Outside the Beltway, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Washington Examiner, No More Mister Nice Blog, Business Insider, Politicker, Riehl World News, Power Line, Taylor Marsh, The Hinterland Gazette, Michelle Malkin, The Daily Caller, Show Me Progress, The New Civil Rights Movement, American Spectator, National Review and AEIdeas
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Alexander Burns / Politico:
Huckabee digs in behind Akin — Todd Akin hasn't had many high-profile supporters with him in the trenches this week, but Mike Huckabee became an important and emphatic exception Thursday afternoon, sending a message to his own supporters accusing Republican elites of trying to drum a good man out of a winnable Senate race.
Mark Halperin / The Page:
Huckabee Goes All In for Akin — In an email that just went out to his supporters, the former Arkansas governor blasts the GOP establishment and says it is vital for conservatives to stand by his friend Todd. … Big-time DC and Missouri Republicans had hoped Huckabee could be the tool to get Akin to drop out.
Todd Akin for U.S. Senate 2012:
Akin Campaign Response to Rasmussen Poll
Discussion:
Politicker, CBS St. Louis, The Hill, National Review, Wonkette, Conservatives4Palin, Business Insider, The Gateway Pundit and Guardian
Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:
Akin mess could be watershed moment for conservative movement
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Power Line, A plain blog about politics and Washington Monthly
John Cook / Gawker:
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) …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, New York Times, Business Insider, Washington Post, News Desk, National Review, PubliCola, Guardian, Taylor Marsh, The Hinterland Gazette, Newsy, The Political Carnival, Runnin' Scared, Election 2012, naked capitalism, NewsBusters.org blogs, The PJ Tatler, The Raw Story, Boing Boing, Balloon Juice, Daily Kos, Angry Bear, The Daily Dish, Joe. My. God. and CBS DC, more at Mediagazer »
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Mitt Romney / Wall Street Journal:
What I Learned at Bain Capital — My business experience taught me how to help companies grow—and what to do when trouble arises. When you see a problem, run toward it before the problem gets worse. — The back-to-school season is here, and as parents take their children to shop for school supplies …
Discussion:
Fortune and Government Executive
Dan Primack / Fortune:
Gawker's worthless ‘Bain files’ — “Confidential” doesn't equal “important.” — FORTUNE — Gawker today published what it's calling The Bain Files, hundreds of pages of audited financials and private placement memoranda for old Bain Capital funds. Let me save you some time …
Discussion:
Salon, Gawker, Zandar Versus The Stupid, News Desk, FT Alphaville, Taylor Marsh and The Daily Dish
John Cook / Gawker:
Mitt Romney's Endless ‘Retirement’ Package
Discussion:
The Hill and Algemeiner.com
Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:
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.
Discussion:
CBS Denver, The Caucus, Daily Kos and Election 2012
RELATED:
Dylan Byers / Politico:
Romney prohibits Q's on Akin and abortion
Discussion:
The Political Carnival and ThinkProgress, more at Mediagazer »
Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Team Obama breaks precedent to try to spoil Romney's convention in Tampa
Discussion:
The Caucus, Politico, Hot Air, CNN, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Impolitic, American Power, The Hill, National Review, Nice Deb, Moe Lane, Taylor Marsh, Jammie Wearing Fools and Fausta's Blog
Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Mitt Romney Makes Reporter Agree Not To Ask About Todd Akin Or Abortion
Discussion:
Gawker, CBS Denver and First Read
Mark Hemingway / Weekly Standard:
Obama's Risky Convention Gambit
Discussion:
First Read, Betsy's Page, Post on Politics and Hotline On Call
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
The Morning Plum: The Obama campaign's theory of the presidential race
Discussion:
Salon, Washington Monthly, CNN, American Prospect, Prairie Weather, The Maddow Blog, Brad DeLong and The Fix
Dana Blanton / Fox News:
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.
Discussion:
Politico, Ballot Box, Hot Air and RedState
RELATED:
Frank Newport / Gallup:
Obama Remains Women's Presidential Pick; Romney, Men's
Discussion:
The Hill, The PJ Tatler and GOP 12
New York Times:
Polls Say Medicare Is Key Issue in 3 Swing States
Discussion:
CBS News, CNN, The Political Carnival, The Caucus, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, NewsBusters.org blogs, Washington Wire, First Read, Quinnipiac University, Mother Jones, ABCNEWS, ABCNEWS, The Future of Capitalism, theGrio, USA Today, The BLT, The Moderate Voice, Election 2012, Politico and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog
Paul Purpura / New Orleans Times-Picayune:
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 …
Discussion:
Joe. My. God. and Towleroad News #gay
Michael Grunwald / Swampland:
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 …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Political Carnival
Raphael Minder / New York Times:
Botched Restoration of Jesus Fresco Shocks Spain — MADRID — A case of suspected vandalism in a church in a northeastern village has turned out to be probably the worst art restoration project seen in Spain. — An elderly woman stepped forward this week to claim responsibility for disfiguring …
Discussion:
Jesus' General
Rob Kauder / KXLY-TV:
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.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Politico, Talking Points Memo and Wonkette
Justin Sink / The Hill:
Study: Romney criticism of controversial cancer ad effective with swing voters — A new study by Vanderbilt University found that an ad from Mitt Romney criticizing President Obama over a super PAC attack that insinuated the presumptive Republican nominee was responsible for the death …
Discussion:
UPI, Nice Deb, GOP 12, The New Republic, The Daily Dish and The Ulsterman Report
Thomas Burr / Salt Lake Tribune:
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.
Discussion:
Rumproast, emptywheel, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite, Firedoglake, The Hill, Daily Kos, Business Insider, Election 2012 and Balloon Juice
David Gibson / Washington Post:
Cardinal Timothy Dolan's GOP convention blessing prompts debate — The news that New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the nation's most prominent Catholic prelate, will deliver the closing blessing to the Republican National Convention in Florida next week was seen as a huge coup for Mitt Romney, the party's presumptive nominee.
Christian Newswire:
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
Discussion:
Advocate, Americans For Truth, Towleroad News #gay, Joe. My. God. and rightwingwatch.org
Justin Fishel / Fox News:
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 …
Financial Times:
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 …
Discussion:
Paul Krugman, Economist's View, Hullabaloo, LewRockwell.com Blog, Business Insider and Brad DeLong
Juana Summers / Politico:
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 …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Election 2012, CNN, The New Republic and The Ulsterman Report
New York Times:
News Analysis: Romney Would Give Reins to States on Drilling on Federal Lands — By proposing to end a century of federal control over oil and gas drilling and coal mining on government lands, Mitt Romney is making a bid for anti-Washington voters in key Western states while dangling the promise …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice and Lawyers, Guns & Money
BuzzFeed:
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.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Belmont Club
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