Clint Eastwood Delivers Bizarre, Rambling Speech To Empty Chair  —  TAMPA, Fla. — Clint Eastwood opened up the primetime portion of the Republican convention with a rambling, mumbling and often incoherent address next to an empty chair that was meant to represent President Obama.

Romney to Visit Areas Damaged By Hurricane Isaac  —  LAKELAND, Fla. — In a last-minute change of plans, Mitt Romney will head to visit storm-affected areas in New Orleans today, skipping a previously scheduled joint rally with running mate Paul Ryan in the battleground state of Virginia this afternoon.

The most extraordinary story of the GOP convention  —  Popular in Politics  —  TAMPA — When CNN asked top Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom to assess Clint Eastwood's performance on stage at the Republican convention Thursday night, Fehrnstrom answered simply, “It's improv.”

Romney Aces Convention Test  —  A few hours before Mitt Romney spoke to the Republican convention last night, his campaign did something clever.  It's normal procedure before a major speech is to release excerpts so the evening TV news shows can preview the address.

What War?  —  The United States has some 68,000 troops fighting in Afghanistan.  Over two thousand Americans have died in the more than ten years of that war, a war Mitt Romney has supported.  Yet in his speech accepting his party's nomination to be commander in chief, Mitt Romney said not a word about the war in Afghanistan.

Exclusive: Inside Karl Rove's Billionaire Fundraiser  —  On the final morning of the Republican National Convention, Karl Rove took the stage at the Tampa Club to provide an exclusive breakfast briefing to about 70 of the Republican party's highest-earning and most powerful donors.

‘Honey Boo Boo’ Ratings Top the Republican National Convention  —  The TLC series hits another high in its fourth episode, nearing 3 million viewers and topping cable news and broadcast network coverage of the RNC among adults 18-49.  —  Perhaps we spoke too soon.

Monetary Policy since the Onset of the Crisis  —  When we convened in Jackson Hole in August 2007, the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) target for the federal funds rate was 5-1/4 percent.  Sixteen months later, with the financial crisis in full swing, the FOMC had lowered the target …

The One Line To Rule Them All  —  I generally agree with Scott that Romney's speech could have been a lot stronger, and still had the same personal structure and done what he wanted to do with it.  Who are his chief speechwriters, I wonder?  Is it the same crew (McConnell and Scully) that did Paul Ryan's speech?

Behind the Latest Palin-Fox Fight  —  Last night's kerfuffle between Sarah Palin and Fox News was a classic display of Sarah Palin being, well, Sarah Palin.  But her Facebook outburst complaining about Fox canceling her appearance at the Republic National Convention reveals something deeper …

David Koch breaks from GOP on gay marriage, taxes, defense cuts  —  TAMPA, Fla. - Billionaire industrialist David Koch, who is helping steer millions of dollars to elect Mitt Romney and congressional Republicans, on Thursday told POLITICO he disagrees with the GOP's stance on gay marriage …

RNC Delegate Offended By Presence of ‘Mexican’ At Disney's Epcot Center  —  During a trip to Epcot at Disneyworld, Pennsylvania delegate Mark Harris and his wife were shocked and offended to find a Mexican employee working at the amusement park's American pavilion, which showcases the different cultures in the United States.