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:

Who Is Thursday's Mystery Convention Speaker?  —  TAMPA, Fla. - Republican convention planners appear to have a surprise planned for those tuning in Thursday night.  —  Buried deep in the convention schedule released Monday is a vague reference to a mystery speaker scheduled for the event's final evening.

Romney Camp Bets On Welfare Attack  —  Their most powerful weapon, a top aide says.  “We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers,” says Newhouse.  —  Source: youtube.com  —  Mitt Romney's aides explained with unusual political bluntness today why they are spending heavily …

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.

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 …

Coal miners lost pay when Mitt Romney visited their mine to promote coal jobs  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — When GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney visited an Ohio coal mine this month to promote jobs in the coal industry, workers who appeared with him at the rally lost pay because their mine was shut down.

NYT reporter leaked advance copy of Maureen Dowd column to CIA  —  Newly available CIA records obtained by Judicial Watch, the conservative watchdog group, reveal that New York Times reporter Mark Mazzetti forwarded an advance copy of a Maureen Dowd column to a CIA spokesperson …

Obama lead declining in Iowa  —  PPP's newest Iowa poll finds Barack Obama's lead in the state declining all the way to two points.  He's at 47% to 45% for Mitt Romney.  In July we found Obama ahead 48-43 and in May it was 51-41.  —  Iowa makes yet another swing state where voters don't really care for either Obama or Romney.

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 …

James O'Keefe not allowed to fly to Tampa  —  Conservative filmmaker and activist James O'Keefe won't be in Tampa, but the show he was supposed to headline will go on.  —  O'Keefe will still speak via Skype on “the role of the citizen journalist” and take audience questions …

PolitiFiction  —  The website PolitiFact is going to be truth-squadding the Republican convention speakers this week, delivering verdicts on which claims are “mostly true” and which deserve a “pants on fire” rating.  Our advice: Pay no attention to those ratings.  PolitiFact can't be trusted to get the story right.

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.

Republicans call for crackdown on pornography  —  (Reuters) - The Republican Party is calling for a crackdown on pornography in a move that could pit social conservatives against hotel operators, television providers and other businesses that profit from the sale of sexually explicit material.

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 …

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.

Hooters Welcomes Joe Biden to Tampa  —  Vice President Joe Biden cancelled his scheduled trip to the Republican convention in Tampa because of the threat of bad weather, but that has not stopped a local Hooters restaurant (in nearby Clearwater, Florida) from welcoming him to the area anyway.

Security at the RNC: George Orwell Meets a ‘Call of Duty’ Cityscape  —  At a defining civic event, the establishment is insulated by an army of police officers from protesters camping unseen on a far away corner.  —  Reuters  —  Deep inside the Tampa Bay Times Forum …