Romney's bounce from convention looks short-lived: Reuters/Ipsos poll  —  (Reuters) - A modest bump in popularity for U.S. presidential hopeful Mitt Romney from this week's Republican Party convention looks to be short-lived, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Rains wash away Mount Obama in Charlotte, N.C.  —  CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A torrential downpour that struck Charlotte Saturday afternoon damaged the Mount Rushmore-style sand sculpture bust of President Obama — an ominous beginning to what many fear is a plagued convention.

Iowans' Message to Obama: ‘We Did Build This’  —  SIOUX CITY, Iowa — President Obama received a less than warm welcome and a warning upon arrival at the airport here on the second stop of his Iowa visit, which was aimed at recapturing some of the magic the state gave his run to the White House in 2008.

Romney Staffer Committing Charitable Fraud  —  Bill Murphy, Mitt Romney's Social Media Director, and his colleague Ali Akbar have ripped off a lot of people.  They ripped off the Tea Party with the American Liberty Alliance.  They ripped off movement Conservatives with the National Bloggers Club.

Harris-Perry Loses Cool Over Guest's Comment, Yells ‘I Am Sick Of The Idea That Being Wealthy Is Risky’  —  On her show Saturday morning, MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry grew visibly frustrated over a guest's assertion that the “big thing” missing in the President's “you didn't build that speech” …

Teen killed after sticking head through party bus roof near George Washington Bridge  —  Sixteen-year-old Daniel Fernandez died when his head smashed into an overpass.  —  Twitter photo showing Daniel Fernandez of Sayreville, N.J. who was killed when he apparently stuck his head through …

Inquiry on Tax Strategy Adds to Scrutiny of Finance Firms  —  The New York attorney general is investigating whether some of the nation's biggest private equity firms have abused a tax strategy in order to slice hundreds of millions of dollars from their tax bills, according to executives with direct knowledge of the inquiry.

Number of Republicans in America Reaches Record High  —  After falling for two straight months, the number of Americans who consider themselves Republicans jumped nearly three points in August.  —  During August, 37.6% of Americans considered themselves Republicans.  That's up from 34.9% in July and 35.4% in June.

Why Campaign Reporters Are Behind the Curve  —  It becomes popular around this time of year to lament the fact that media coverage treats the presidential campaign as little more than a “horse race.”  Journalists, this line of argument goes, choose to fixate on which candidate is a superior campaigner …

Ale to the Chief: White House Beer Recipe  —  Ed. Note: There's been a lot of buzz online recently about the recipe for the White House Honey Ale and White House Honey Porter, including a popular petition on We the People, the White House's online petition platform.

Protesters camp at uptown's Marshall Park  —  CHARLOTTE, N.C. Eight months after evicting Occupy Charlotte protesters from public property, police now appear ready to let protesters camp at an uptown park that has become the center of protest activity during the Democratic convention.

Isaac Victim Loses Home; Says Mitt Told Her to Go Home and Call 211  —  I don't know.  When one loses their home in a storm and the GOP nominee for president comes to town with his entourage ostensibly to offer sympathy and rhetoric, I'd think they should maybe do that.

Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan Speeches Make Me Miss George Bush  —  I didn't watch Mitt Romney's acceptance speech last night.  I can't do it: even under normal circumstances, watching politicians of any stripe talk about anything at all makes me unable to sleep.  And a convention speech …