A Mystery Speaker for Thursday? ...  Could It Be... Her?  —  From the Tuesday edition of the Morning Jolt, now in the hands of the editors, and soon on its way to you...  The more you think about the idea, the more it makes sense - whatever controversy and intense reactions Sarah Palin …

The Real Romney  —  The purpose of the Republican convention is to introduce America to the real Mitt Romney.  Fortunately, I have spent hours researching this subject.  I can provide you with the definitive biography and a unique look into the Byronic soul of the Republican nominee:

GOP Rules Committee Rapidly Moving to Shut Out Grassroots at 2:00 p.m. Today  —  At 2:00 p.m. today in Tampa, the Republican National Committee, led by Team Romney, is moving to shut down conservative grassroots activists.  I've been on the phone with several individuals involved in the fight …

Leader of Army Plot to Assassinate Obama Apparently Attended the 2008 Republican Convention as a Page  —  Isaac Aguigui, the Army private and alleged ringleader of a plot to assassinate Barack Obama and “take over” Ft. Stewart in Georgia, apparently served as a page at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minnesota.

Fact checking for thee, but not for me  —  Get this: The Romney campaign's position is now that the Obama camp should pull its ads when fact checkers call them out as false — but that Romney and his advisers should feel no such constraint.  —  This is not an exaggeration.

Priorities USA does the disappointment ad  —  Priorities USA Action is releasing a new commercial today spotlighting a woman who says she was “duped by Mitt Romney” - and not because of his work at Bain Capital.  —  Back up a minute.  One of the staples of Republican messaging this cycle …

Arlen Specter hospitalized with a serious illness, friends confirm  —  Arlen Specter has been hospitalized with a serious illness, confirm friends of the longtime U.S. Senator.  One asked that people keep him in thoughts and prayers.  —  Specter, 82, announced in 2005 that he had Hodgkin's disease for which he underwent chemotherapy.

Karl Rove on the Defection of White Democrats  —  “Bush's brain” offers some casual remarks that reveal just how much this campaign is implicitly about race.  —  TAMPA — The emerging demographics of this campaign are pretty clear: To win, Barack Obama is trying to assemble a coalition …

Chris Matthews defends attack on Priebus: GOP ‘dividing country along racial lines’  —  TAMPA — In an emotional interview with POLITICO tonight, MSNBC host Chris Matthews defended his spirited attack against RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, in which he alleged that the Republican party was guilty …

McMahon By A Nose In Close Connecticut Senate Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Obama Tops Romney By 7 Points  —  Connecticut likely voters put Republican former wrestling executive Linda McMahon on the right side of a 49 - 46 percent too-close-to-call U.S. Senate race against Democratic U.S …

Court Rules Israel Is Not at Fault in American Activist's Death  —  JERUSALEM — An Israeli judge ruled on Tuesday that the state bore no responsibility for the death of Rachel Corrie, the young American woman who was run over by a military bulldozer in 2003 as she protested the demolition of Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip.

Who's on the inside track for a Romney Cabinet  —  Mitt Romney said his Cabinet and White House staff will be stacked with men and women from the business world, but his top advisers sketched out for POLITICO a team compromised of many familiar faces in Washington.

Sarah Palin: Dems addicted to ‘hope-ium’  —  Sarah Palin on Monday said Democrats who “still have that addiction to the hope-ium” President Barack Obama peddled four years ago need to “open their eyes” and vote for Mitt Romney this November.  —  “Some of us had [Obama] pegged four years ago.

US Consumer Confidence Tumbles to 9-Month Low  —  U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly weakened in August to its lowest in nine months as Americans turned more pessimistic about the short-term outlook, according to a private sector report released on Tuesday.

Gov. Jan Brewer: Obama is race-baiting  —  Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer says President Barack Obama is race-baiting and pandering for the Hispanic vote, while at the same time accusing Republicans of being “bigots.”  —  “It's all the time, that we're race-baiting; it's all the time, you know …

Dead voters & a dying democracy?  —  Americans will fight and die for democracy, but when it comes to the actual business of elections, stuffed ballot boxes and cemetery voters are the subject of jokes more than outrage — though a democracy in which elections are decided by fraudulent votes created …