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 …

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 …

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.

Todd Akin Claims Breastmilk Cures Homosexuality  —  Missouri U.S. senate candidate Todd Akin has stoked more outrage today by claiming that male homosexuality is a disease and that the medical establishment has found the cure.  —  The Republican congressman, already under fire …

Obama Administration Finalizes Historic 54.5 MPG Fuel Efficiency Standards  —  Consumer Savings Comparable to Lowering Price of Gasoline by $1 Per Gallon by 2025  —  WASHINGTON, DC - The Obama Administration today finalized groundbreaking standards that will increase fuel economy to the equivalent …

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.

CNN Poll: Party unity on Romney nomination?  —  Tampa, Florida (CNN) - As the formal nomination of Mitt Romney gets underway at the Republican convention, a new survey indicates that a minority in the GOP would like to see someone else as their party's presidential nominee.

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 …

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.

Sasquatch stunt takes a tragic turn on highway  —  Kalispell man, 44, dies  —  A man dressed in a military-style “Ghillie suit” who was attempting to provoke a Bigfoot sighting was struck by two vehicles and killed on U.S. 93 South of Kalispell Sunday night.

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 …

Chinese media slams Romney as convention begins  —  Tampa - China's state-controlled media lashed out at GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney Monday, warning that his policies would poison U.S.-China relations. … “By any standard, the U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's China policy …

Wisconsin Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch: Some Rapes Are More Equal Than Others  —  In a masterful bit of Orwellian dissonance, Wisconsin's recall-surviving Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch (R) last week called Rep. Todd Akin's attempt to categorize rape “abhorrent, insulting” and “disgusting …

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.